Bob Carver 180 Mono-blocks perform superbly

Hi Vic, thanks for the description of sound of the NuForce.

I would contact Bob Carver, LLC and make sure those tubes won't cause a problem if you decide to directly plug them into your amp without rewiring.

Has anyone tried the cherry 180 amps with Thiel 3.6 speakers? Any opinions if the Thiels would be better driven with the Black Beauty amps? I am currently driving the Thiels with an older Bryston 4b (200w/ch into 8ohms) which has been a good combination.

According to Bob Carver, there should not be a significant difference in sound between the two amps except for the extra headroom of the BBs. I have heard that the KT120s on the BBs may sound a little sweeter up top than the stock KT88s in the Cherry 180. But you got so much choice in KT88s, you could probably get the sound you're looking for by tube rolling. You can't with the KT120, which is only made by one manufacturer. Based on what I've heard from the latest Bryston amps in different systems (but not in my own), I can almost guarantee you that Bob's amps will have better sound staging/imaging, more harmonically correct and less fatiguing sound than the Bryston. Bryston will probably have tighter bass. That's my edumacated guess based on my experience. I think Thiels relatively lean sound will benefit from a good tube amp.

Looking at the stereophile measurements of the 3.6 the impedance dips to 4 ohms at approximately 50Hz then continues down to 3 ohms for the remainder of the test and occasionally bottoming at 2.3 ohms.

While this might be a problem for many tube designs the Carver VTA's have a 2 ohm tap if needed. My Eidolons are a load that dips below 4 ohms and the 8 ohm tap sounds great.

I'd suggest calling Underwood HiFi, they may have experience with the 3.6.

Have anyone try KT120s with Cherry 180?
I read that KT120 has sweeter sounding like EL34 on steroid.
KT120 has same spec as KT88 ? aka Super KT88
As long as we bias these just like KT88, we're not stress the 180' transformer ?
I would live to try these on Cherry 180 - I currently roll mine with Gold Lion reissued KT88. Definitely step up sounding from stock Shuguangbtubes
TIA
Thuan