Stereo Pair Monoblock Tube Amplifiers Amps Carver KT88

Being an old Carver guy and now selling Sunfire i found this interesting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Stereo-Pair-Monoblock-Tube-Amplifiers-Amps-Carver-KT88-/180502457652?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item2a06c8ed34

It starts about have way down page.

Hi Avi

Frankly this ad & accompanying description had me baffled. I have the utmost respect for Carver products, but the wording in this ad smacks of Charlatanism....

First of all, I may be wrong but there is no such a thing as "Adamantine Steel". As far as I know it was invented in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game (probably in the early 1990s) as some kind of amazingly hard, impenetrable steel for armor with magical properties - in other words, the stuff is totally a figment of the imagination. And now there are supposed to be output transformers made from the stuff???? I can't wait to tell my fellow Guild members in World of Warcraft about this!

Secondly, sorry - Bob & Tim (the ad. posters) just don't sound like real Electronics engineers to me. Far too many "Audiophool" terminology being used instead of real hard measurements. I have a lifetime of work in the field of Digital and Software engineering behind me, and those two guys just don't fit the bill.

I look forward to being proven wrong, until then I will give it a pass and stick with my Dynaco.

-- JunkyJan

Hi Junky Jan

If you are right that is a hell of a scam that pair sold for $7500.00 the last pair for 10,500.00.
But bob carver is the real thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Carver

And my st-120 vta sounds great to me.

Hi Avi,

I stand corrected - did a search for pictures of Bob Carver on the web, and that appears to be him. A controversial person, for sure! I maintain that there is no such thing as "Adamantine Steel" though - at least not outside the realm of Fantasy Role-playing games.

I guess the world of digital electronics etc is very different from Audio Electronics - he uses terminology that would get him fired in one day ... I guess it is the difference between different Engineering disciplines, subjective impression versus measurable, repeatable results.

-- JunkyJan

This picture is from Carverfest 2009 that a very close friend took of BOB'S amps.
As I type this that is the man in the pictures on ebay. I will post some more pictures of BOB and my good friend TOM the owner of www.vintagehifipgh.com. My friend TOM even has some of BOB'S autographs on some of the equiptment in the shop,the best on is the 1400watt sunfire sub.I am posting this just to clear the air on what was being said.
https://s960.photobucket.com/albums/ae83/haffer66/BoB%20Carver%20is%20the%20real%20deal/

thanks,pete

JunkyJan wrote:Hi Avi,

I stand corrected - did a search for pictures of Bob Carver on the web, and that appears to be him. A controversial person, for sure! I maintain that there is no such thing as "Adamantine Steel" though - at least not outside the realm of Fantasy Role-playing games.

I guess the world of digital electronics etc is very different from Audio Electronics - he uses terminology that would get him fired in one day ... I guess it is the difference between different Engineering disciplines, subjective impression versus measurable, repeatable results.

-- JunkyJan

Just for the record, it appears that the term "Adamantine" was indeed used generically by the steel industry, at least in the early 20th century, to categorize steel of a high hardness factor. The definition of this adjective is: hard and or unyielding. My assumption is that Mr. Carver was using this term in a similarly generic and non-specific way.

Best Regards,
Charlie

The first time I ever heard the expression Adamantine steel was as a young child when I watched the classic science fiction movie, “Forbidden Planet”, the screen adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. William Shakespeare loved Adamantine steel. It appeared in several of his plays, most notably “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in which a sword of Adamantine steel was crafted. In recent times my use of the expression Adamantine steel derived not from the Fantastic Four comic book, rather the Conan comic book in which the minor wizard Xolotan (sp?) crafted a beautiful sword of Adamantine steel. The most enduring image I have of Adamantine steel is when the Krell monster from the Id of “Forbidden Planet” broke through an impenetrable steel door crafted of Adamantine steel. It seems that more than one audiophile has used the Krell of Shakespeare’s forbidden planet to define something regarding amplifiers.

In truth, Adamantine steel is an actual steel developed early in our century (I think in the 1930’s or 1940’s) to define the hardest steel known to man. And it still is. At least as early as 1952, U.S. Steel had a catalog including Adamantine steel with a hardness rating at the top of the list of all the steels it produced.

I chose the Krell Adamantine steel for my output transformers because to this day it is the hardest steel known to humankind. And the harder the steel, the lower the induced eddy currents and the better the transformer.

As for designing this amplifier without true science, using only the language of audiophiles severely misses the mark. It’s not possible to design an amplifier at this level of performance without extensive use of physics, science, and mathematics. To believe otherwise exposes one’s own knowledge to be of a meager and shallow kind.

A final word. Since I invented these output transformers, I get to call them anything I want.

Bob Carver

Bob wrote:A final word. Since I invented these output transformers, I get to call them anything I want.

Bob Carver

Well said, and funny.

Did anyone like Freed or the likes use this type of iron ?

Regards,


Steve

Bob and some leftover Adamantine Steel.
Do Not Dis his transformers.

Tom wrote:Do Not Dis his transformers.

I wish I could afford them.


Steve

Bob,

I always enjoy your posts, and your ebay ads. Your stories are great. And your amps have stood the test of time.

Got any Dynaco ST70 stories to share???? Come on, you must have messed with one at some point.......

The Bob has spoken!

Well, I was trying to entice him to speak some more.....

I know there was a saga of winding transformers and he talked to Hafler I believe.......

Jason

The Man, the Myth, the Legend.