Bob Carver 180 Mono-blocks perform superbly

Vic! Great to have you back in the thread. Apparently emotiva kept some of carvers staff when they purchased the company. Since my last post I have talked to another emotiva staff member was a carver tech and didn't know I had talked to the first guy. He told me the same thing the first guy did and that the amps can have that much of a variance in them. He mentioned that the amps are a very simple design and are built like tanks and very rare do they have to do any warranty work. Most times it's a problem with tubes.

I went onto the goldpoint sight and looked at the attenuators. If I purchase some can anybody recommend a technician to do the work? I don't have anybody local. Would be willing to ship.

Thanks

Paul

Not assure what you mean when you say, "...carver didn't match the mono blocks when the were shipped." I have totally different tubes in, than the tubes that came with the amps. My Cherries appear to be matched when I have all the new tubes in and bias each amp with one another. Again, I'm not sure if this is the "matched" you are speaking about. Please elaborate.

When the tech spoke of biasing in the 140+ range, I think that was pertaining to the KT-88's being used in the Cherry 180's and not the KT-120's. I believe the KT-120's can be driven fairly hard and not be worn so easily, but I could be wrong.

Not sure why your bookshelf speakers would cause the meters to "peg" more than your floor-standing speakers other than the bookshelf speakers being far less in their efficiency rating. My speakers aren't too efficient and are power hungry, so I think that's why mine "peg" hard at high volumes.

Not sure what city-state you are in to recommend a tech. there, but I'm in Compton, CA. Yes, THE Compton lol Anyhow, I have had my tech in Westminster, CA, (a really nice part of town) rebuild my x-over network in my Infinity IRS Beta mids/highs towers; fix a troublesome woofer in my Thiel CS5i speaker; along with several other amp and transport/DAC work. I'm sure he could handle the attenuator and/or the V-cap upgrade. I am not sure if you can do PM's on this forum, but here is my email address dblf@pacbell.net
Hit me and I'll shoot you his info. and you can talk with him directly and get a feel for him. He was recommended to me by a Volleyball dad on my daughter's volleyball team about a year or so ago.

I think what he meant was with a brand new set of tubes you could have one amp that will max out at 130 and one at 150. I am guessing that carver didn't match the amps from a max bias stand point ( 140 with a 140 or 130 with a 130) and just shipped completed units.

Thanks for the suggestion. I live just outside of Louisville. Think I may call vintage hifi in Pittsburgh since they were a carver dealer and repair facility at one time.

Mil, You've confirmed my suspicion, hemoe was forced to hire someone who could actually diagnose and solder rather then simply shotgunning wire boards and power supplies to repair the rest of their dreck. Love to hear any actual inside information regarding the tube amp legacy, keep it coming.

I'm so confident of their build I strongly doubt my twins will ever be forced to breath scanky mississippi air. Only time will tell.

Recently, I was so put off by the YouTube power measurements that I queued up some Jimi, cranked them up and quickly fugotaboudit. The 180s spanked my Eidolons into submission with no discernible ill effects.

What is meant by "that much of a variance in them?

Can the 180's really handle KT150's?

Get dem Gold Points!

Whew! I'm kinda glad I ended up getting mine straight from Bob himself if that's the case.

Curious if you used any of the Sunfire amps and what were your impressions, good or bad, of them? If so, with what pre-amp & speakers?