My name is Ray Campbell and I've been a big fan of Bob's for a very long time. My first Carver audio system was comprised of a C-19, TX-11, SD/A-490t, C-9, TD-1400, a pair of bridged TFM-55s and a pair of Silver Amazing Loudspeakers. Most of it sat dormant until I found the CarverAudio forum in 2007. I sent the 55s to Rita and used the silver oxide pen fix to repair the Silver's ribbon.
I was back in business.
Several weeks prior to CarverFest'07 I acquired a Carver Research Lightstar Direct Pre and a Lightstar Reference 2.0 amplifier from a guy named Matt Riley. Matt was Bob's lab assistant at Sunfire for 12 years. The gear was pristine. When Bob autographed it at CF'08 he asked if it had ever been used, it is still that nice. I made a nice score. This was the first Lightstar gear any of the attendees of CF'07 had ever seen. It met with more than a little awe. Lightstar was able to take the Original Amazings (I got from TREX) places previously unheard by my other Carver gear.
Since then I've amassed a system comprised mostly of Carver Research Lightstar pre/power gear. I currently run a Lightstar Direct pre, a pair of Lightstar Reference 2.0 vertically bi-amping a pair of Carver Amazing loudspeakers crossed with a Carver TA-25 mobile x-over@97hz, TX-11/8/2 tuners, Carver TD-1400/1700 cassette decks, a Carver ECS-U, a Carver C-9 (SHG) a Carver DPL-33, DBX-3BX, NX-40, DBX-21 range expanders/signal processors, a DBX-200XG that provides processor/tape unit switching , DBX-120X sub-bass management/enhancement system, an Optimus DCT-2000 Digital Compact cassette recorder, and a Pioneer RT-1011r Reel-to-Reel deck and a Tascam CC-222mkII CD/cassette recorder and a home built 8 cu.ft. sub cabinet featuring twin 18in drivers. I have 2 pairs of Carver Amazing loudspeakers, a pair of carver Silver Amazing loudspeakers, a pair of James Sauter's ALVs and a bastardized Carver ALIII featuring 60in ribbons. I'm currently in negotiations to acquire a pair of Heil/ESS Air Motion transformers('cuz I dig 'em).
some pics
ray
