The Carver Challenge

[OCCD]

http://www.carveraudio.com/CarverChallenge.pdf

[Kingman]

TRUE CLASSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OCCD]

Don't mess with the Bob!!![/size]

[BB3]

^^^^^^^
That's For Damn Sure Tom.

Thanks For Posting Partner.--------------------BILL(BB3)

[F1nut]

Back to reality....

He achieved a successful result by live tweaking a prototype, a process that proved unstable and unsuitable for series production. Later Carver himself, said that it was impossible to duplicate his results in production amplifiers. 

and....

Carver was able to duplicate the sound of the selected C-J amp. However, the results were unstable and the similarity faded over time. Carver had to continually tweak the amps during the challenge and was never able to duplicate the sound over the long term, which is why the production models sounded nothing like the C-J.

 

[BB3]

Hmmmmm....I never knew that Jesse. Thanks for the info.---------Bill

[Bill Cain]

That link didn't work for me.   

http://carvermk2.com/Docs/Carver%20Stereophile%20Challenge.pdf

Bill Cain

[Kingman]

This time, the listening went on through
the whole afternoon and much of the evening,
until all of us were listened out. More
leisurely listening, refreshed by a good
night’s sleep, failed to turn up anything. As
far as we could determine, through careful
comparisons and nit-picking criticisms, the
two amplifiers were, in fact, sonically identical.
It is a gross understatement to say that
we were flabbergasted!

...Jesse ..Did I miss something??? I surely believe you but can't find it???

[F1nut]

Wayne, the quotes are not from the Stereophile article. That info was culled from other articles.

[Bill Cain]

From http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-231621-p-3.html

F1nut                                                                                                                                10-31-2010, 12:42 AM

We're talking about a guy who stumped two audio magazines in a challenge and won, that has never been done before. How then can anyone imagine his products being mediocre? I never owned any Carver transfer function amps. But if the staff at Stereophile couldn't tell it apart from their $12,000 Conrad Johnson Premier five (or in the other case a Mark Levingson ML-2 for The Audio Critic), those must have been some pretty awesome sounding Carver amps.
- Sushimaster

A little over a year ago I was able to directly compare a pair of 9t's (transfer function), a Sunfire 600x2 and Bob's new KT88 tubes amps with him in the room. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the new tube amps put the previous amps in the mediocre category with the 9t's being the worst of the lot. Everyone in the room was of the same opinion.

Some might ask, what is this transfer function all about? It is very simple, add a 1.5 ohm, 50 watt resistor at the outputs.

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[F1nut]

Let me help ya out there a bit, Bill.

We're talking about a guy who stumped two audio magazines in a challenge and won, that has never been done before. How then can anyone imagine his products being mediocre? I never owned any Carver transfer function amps. But if the staff at Stereophile couldn't tell it apart from their $12,000 Conrad Johnson Premier five (or in the other case a Mark Levingson ML-2 for The Audio Critic), those must have been some pretty awesome sounding Carver amps.

My response....

A little over a year ago I was able to directly compare a pair of 9t's (transfer function), a Sunfire 600x2 and Bob's new KT88 tubes amps with him in the room. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the new tube amps put the previous amps in the mediocre category with the 9t's being the worst of the lot. Everyone in the room was of the same opinion.

Some might ask, what is this transfer function all about? It is very simple, add a 1.5 ohm, 50 watt resistor at the outputs.

You see the problem with Sushimaster's comment is that he doesn't have his facts straight. The amp Bob made up for the challenge was not what became known as a Carver transfer function amp.

[Bill Cain]

Let me help ya out there a bit, Bill.

You see the problem with Sushimaster's comment is that he doesn't have his facts straight. The amp Bob made up for the challenge was not what became known as a Carver transfer function amp.

Thanks for the help.   
Your explanation is interesting.

Bill Cain

[SunnyDaze]

All I know is, from a pure applied mathematical standpoint, using null-difference testing to compare the output of each device in a set-theoretical framework was absolutely genius.

[Kingman]

absolutely genius

...And Bob IS!!!!!! 

[SunnyDaze]

I'd be willing to bet that Bob wouldn't admit to that.

I'd like to have a conversation or two with him at CF.