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$12K valve mono blocks

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I was gonna buy them, but couldn't get through the text without going blind.

Effing white text on a black/dark background. Grrrr - the biggest intarweb peeve of mine.
 
There's a thread on these already:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=294649&highlight=carver+tube

The owner is the administrator/owner of www.carveraudio.com & I'll vouch for his character (I'm sure snow will debate that)-- these are the REAL DEAL. The tubes alone cost @ $2k. He has the black KT-88 tubes as well; I'm sure for an extra $4k he'd include those~

kt88_1.jpg


With the new KT-120 tubes, I'll bet you could get 600+ watts out of these!
 
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Hey! No remote?!

Big problem! You wouldn't want to be too close when you cranked these critters....

Seriously, he's holding down the price by using an online auction. These would fetch more at a high end art/collectables house, like Christies or Sothebys. I'd expect six figures.
 
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brutal said:
I was gonna buy them, but couldn't get through the text without going blind.

Effing white text on a black/dark background. Grrrr - the biggest intarweb peeve of mine.
Click to expand...

Just for you:

" A picture is worth a thousand words "
I didn't want to clutter the photos with a bunch of text. So here are the details.



Feel free to contact me with additional questions.



AUCTION DETAILS:

This set of amplifiers is a 100% complete matching set. Each unit has its original Serial Number: 00125 stickers intact.
This amazing set of amplifiers has been taken out of 10+ years of storage.
Earlier this week, (with Bob Carver's help) very slowly and carefully, using a variac, we have brought them back to 100% functionality.
We have been running them now for about 4 days, and everything is working perfectly,
and they are as amazing today, as the day them came off the assembly line.
The chassis do have a few small scuffs and scrapes, but nothing really bad, and no bare metal. I would rate the cosmetics a 9/10.
This auction will also include the original SIMS isolation pads for each unit, and the original matching granite slab bases (not shown)
We will also be supplying the winner with a brand new pair of 2-meter CARVERaudio interconnect cables.
We are also going be throwing in (2) additional Silver Eagle II KT-88 Vacuum Tubes with this auction.
(just in case you should ever need one, as they are impossible to find elsewhere)

If you have ever lusted over a set of these beauties, don't let this pair get away.
I don't think there has been another pair up for auction in the last 5-10 years.

\Question & Answer

Q: Hello, can you tell me a bit about the refurbishment of these amps. When were they refurb. by whom, and exactly what services were performed? Best Regards. Tim. May-18-10

A: We refurbished them ourselves about a month ago, with Bob Carver's help. The amplifiers were in storage for the last 10 years, and needed to be brought up on a variac, to charge the massive computer caps. We have checked all electrolytics, diodes, and all 38 the vacuum tubes. Both amplifiers are running well within original specs, and sound amazing. We have test run them for approx 100 hours, with no problems what so ever. I choose the "refurbished" option, as they are vintage, used, but in very good, verified working condition. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Thank you, James
 
I have a question. Aren't you suppose to have a load on tube amps before turning them on? I see no speaker wires connected.:scratch2:
 
triode4 said:
I have a question. Aren't you suppose to have a load on tube amps before turning them on? I see no speaker wires connected.:scratch2:
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Asked & answered in the other thread on this topic:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=294649

From the owner over at carveraudio.com:

"Evidently, there seems to be some concern about the fact I was running the tube amps with no load (no speakers connected)
In fact, this IS a concern for the majority of tube amps. However, none of the Carver tube amps are affected by this.
The majority of tube amps WILL go into oscillation if there is no load placed on them. The Silver tube amps will NOT.
The circuit Bob designed is so stable, you can run these amps with an input signal... no load, and they will just sit there and purr away.
Where the majority of tube amps will start popping tubes like they are cheap light bulbs.

The other question I got was, Why is the right meter reading 0, as where the left bias meter is reading .2
The answer is, I took some of the photos before the output relay engaged on the right amp. The meters stay at 0 for about 4-5 minutes while the tubes are warming up.
The left amp was turned on before the right amp was. I saw a spot that needed dusting, and wound up turning on the right amp a few minutes later than the left.
Yes both meters work perfectly, and both read the same bias, around .2

I'll ask Bob to write up a little something on the circuitry and stability of the Silver amps, and post it here later."
 
TNRabbit said:
A: We refurbished them ourselves about a month ago, with Bob Carver's help. The amplifiers were in storage for the last 10 years, and needed to be brought up on a variac, to charge the massive computer caps. We have checked all electrolytics, diodes, and all 38 the vacuum tubes. Both amplifiers are running well within original specs, and sound amazing. We have test run them for approx 100 hours, with no problems what so ever. I choose the "refurbished" option, as they are vintage, used, but in very good, verified working condition. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Thank you, James
Click to expand...

Hmmm...bringing them up on a Variac does not equal "refurbished" by any means. Neither does checking caps, diodes and tubes. I don't know these people, so I can't say anything one way or another, but I would have an issue with calling them refurbished. Then again, he was upfront about what they did. Still, it's a tiny red flag.

Sort of reminds me when I bought a vintage BMW from a guy way back in the 90s. He sold it to me as having a rebuilt engine; that was a big selling point for me. But when I talked to the mechanics who actually did the work, they told me no, they hadn't rebuilt anything, they just took another engine out of a junked car and installed it. It worked, so they were done. It could have had 200K miles on it. Got my money back...:nono:
 
They brought them up carefully and put in a lot of detailed testing time, with Bob Carver participating. They have verified them to be in like-new condition. They chose 'refurbished' to communicate a higher verified condition than is typically implied by 'used'. This has been explained.

I understand you are sensitive on this issue after the bad experience with the car, but I think you're overreacting in calling this any size of a 'red flag.' Bob Carver has his rep all over these units, and I'm sure the quality and condition would not be allowed to be lacking in any way.
 
Well, they went for $18,100.00.

I think potential buyers were put off my the previous high reserve...

Still, not too shabby~
 
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