Really Good Gear... That You Just Got Tired Of

[Rudy]

I guess in a final defence of Bob, he did introduce a ton of great technology, he did shake up the market, he did adjust to where the market went, and all the stuff he introduced worked. And he has designed a huge assortment of really good sounding gear. If there is ever an audio designer hall of fame, he deserves to get inducted in the first round.

Indeed. So many manufacturers these days are making only incremental improvements on their past products. Bob does tend to go off on his own path and find new ways to, say, amplify a signal. While his Sonic Holography was perhaps a bit gimmicky at the time, I'm also vaguely recalling some technology he applied to stereo FM signals that would reduce noise and make the sound more usable--can't remember what it was called offhand. (Proton had a similar circuit at the time as well.)

Even his latest tube amps have a few innovations, like a long warranty even on the tubes, and circuitry to repair tubes that are beginning to fail from impurities. I'd love a pair of Crimson 350 monoblocks. (Maybe after I win that Lotto, eh?) The recent speakers were called the Amazing Line Source, but reading the site just now, they are apparently discontinued.

Amazing Line Source | bobcarvercorp.com

www.bobcarvercorp.com

Another designer that comes to mind is Nelson Pass. His "gift" is in working with the DIY community with simple yet nice sounding circuits that employ his designs. And in his products, he seems to find a new way to utilize a transistor in a circuit, or utilize a lesser-known type of transistor, and builds a great product around it. He learns the characteristics of those components and designs around them.

 

[Tedrick]

Indeed. So many manufacturers these days are making only incremental improvements on their past products. Bob does tend to go off on his own path and find new ways to, say, amplify a signal. While his Sonic Holography was perhaps a bit gimmicky at the time, I'm also vaguely recalling some technology he applied to stereo FM signals that would reduce noise and make the sound more usable--can't remember what it was called offhand. (Proton had a similar circuit at the time as well.)

Even his latest tube amps have a few innovations, like a long warranty even on the tubes, and circuitry to repair tubes that are beginning to fail from impurities. I'd love a pair of Crimson 350 monoblocks. (Maybe after I win that Lotto, eh?) The recent speakers were called the Amazing Line Source, but reading the site just now, they are apparently discontinued.

Amazing Line Source | bobcarvercorp.com

www.bobcarvercorp.com

Another designer that comes to mind is Nelson Pass. His "gift" is in working with the DIY community with simple yet nice sounding circuits that employ his designs. And in his products, he seems to find a new way to utilize a transistor in a circuit, or utilize a lesser-known type of transistor, and builds a great product around it. He learns the characteristics of those components and designs around them.

I believe the tuner circuit you are referencing was the Asymmetrical Charge-Coupled FM Detector - ACCD for short. It was intended to reduce interference caused by multipath distortion and reduce noise in weak FM stereo signals. I owned a Carver CT-17 preamp/tuner with ACCD quite a few years ago, and can't say that ACCD made much of a difference to my FM listening experience, but perhaps my circumstances were such that ACCD was not necessary.

 

[pustelniakr]

Responsive to the OP...

Get tired of good gear and get rid of it? Never have. Heck, I have a hard time sending client gear back to them after it has spent time in my restoration spa.

Sell good gear, after restoration? Surely. As that is the reason I picked it up. My rigs are outfitted, and don't change very much , over time. Anything else stacked around here is "inventory."

Enjoy,
Rich P

 

[Chops54]

I do find it hard to let go of kit I no longer use. Maybe I just can't cope with the tyre kickers and time wasters. I did sell all my Leak stuff though I kept my Troughline tuner. I also let go of my Garrard turntables but I knew they would sell easily because there is always a demand. I have quite a bit of unused kit sitting around the house and I know the day is fast approaching where I'm going to have to make an effort

 

[joe83]

An AudioNote 300B kit one my grandfather gave me, i had it as my sole amplifier for about 10 years then messed around with some other amplifiers only to go back to it for another 5/6 years but i never found it dynamically satisfying, a leak stereo 12.1 and quad both sounded better dynamically but not as detailed.i came to the conclusion push pull is the direction for me. Curently putting togeather (very slowly) a push pull 2a3 and hope its going to have the best bits of SET and Push Pull.

 

[JohnVF]

I do find it hard to let go of kit I no longer use. Maybe I just can't cope with the tyre kickers and time wasters. I did sell all my Leak stuff though I kept my Troughline tuner. I also let go of my Garrard turntables but I knew they would sell easily because there is always a demand. I have quite a bit of unused kit sitting around the house and I know the day is fast approaching where I'm going to have to make an effort

A friend of mine knew my predicament with excess gear and hating the selling process, and offered to sell it all for me for a cut and the ability to live with it and play with it while selling it. He’s an excellent seller and thoroughly enjoys the process so it worked out for the both of us. I don’t think anybody here would believe how much gear I had. I could have opened a store. Getting rid of the mental and space burden of it all was the biggest change in my audio life in years.

 

[prime minister]

A friend of mine knew my predicament with excess gear and hating the selling process, and offered to sell it all for me for a cut and the ability to live with it and play with it while selling it. He’s an excellent seller and thoroughly enjoys the process so it worked out for the both of us. I don’t think anybody here would believe how much gear I had. I could have opened a store. Getting rid of the mental and space burden of it all was the biggest change in my audio life in years.

If you need a witness....

 

[JohnVF]

If you need a witness....

Especially as the guest room was also the gear storage room.

 

[JohnVF]

Another addition to this category: my VAC setup. Consisting of a PA 100/100 amp and a Vintage Mk III pre, it was really nice tube gear. At 100 wpc it really worked well with my Harbeths. And yet it just never clicked with me. I ran it both as a set and later just the amp for a long time. I bought fancy Shuguang Black Treasure KT-88Zs for it. And another matched pair when one of them died prematurely. And fancy nos driver and splitter tubes. All in an attempt to love it more and I just never did. I ended up going back to the solid state amp I was running before I got it. The grass is always greener until it’s undeniably brown.

The set got sold recently, and I haven’t thought of it since. Good if not great gear, just not for me. And tubes can be a huge pain in the ass...that’s my lasting memory of the pair.

 

[Rudy]

Especially as the guest room was also the gear storage room.

I think I might have a problem. I am storing a pair of speakers in my daughter's bedroom. (She hasn't stayed here since COVID, but was here on occasional weekends before that.) I seriously need a purge....

 

[JohnVF]

I think I might have a problem. I am storing a pair of speakers in my daughter's bedroom. (She hasn't stayed here since COVID, but was here on occasional weekends before that.) I seriously need a purge....

A pair of speakers ? Novice .

I think there was a point where I could have assembled 10 complete systems with leftovers. It’s possible to really get in over your head without realizing what is happening.

Selling most of my gear is how I bought my Luxman L507u, the JBL L-77 Classics, and the BMW Z-3 in our garage. I did keep a few of my favorite turntables though. That was how I got into this hobby and it’s still what’s closest to my heart. Record playback.

 

[Rudy]

I do have piles in the basement and too many pairs of speakers, but nothing except for a few components is worth much of anything. I refer to it as the Temple of Mid-Fi. Anything of value (especially the two cartridges) I'm afraid to sell since I've been burned in the past.