THE REAL STORY OF PHASE LINEAR & BOB CARVER

[@brucestanley9656]

I was hired by Bob Carver when I was 19, Phase Linear. I was a speaker builder he had heard about. I helped him with the Andromeda Three speakers. I worked with AP Vanmeter (formerly of Bozak). It was a very exciting time for me. Carver got a divorce and his wife had 52% voting share of Phase'e stock. Carver went on to start --- Carver Corp. He recently moved into my neighborhood, and I see him from time to time. Loved your video.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Oh wow so cool! Being someone who knows the story well, glad it was something you enjoyed!!

[@brucestanley9656]

@@LennyFlorentine Im so glad you covered Phase Linear! I have a lot of stories from then. Love your channel. Always check it out.

[@tonyclark3932]

I have a pair of Andromeda III I purchased about 40 years ago. They still sound awesome to this day.

[@DPSingh-px4xu]

In the middle 80's I worked for at a great audio store in Vancouver BC that sold Carver products including The Amazing loudspeakers....Bob lived in Washington so he drove up to Vancouver to do an audio show and invited me to man the Carver room .....the time I spent with Bob was "amazing" because of his humility yet toughness when it comes to amplifier circuit designs...it was very cool to have met this man....

[@davidnord1979]

I know Bob carver personally, he's a genius, taught me much about tube amps, I got to know him from my cardiologist here in ND where he doctors

[@RobertBoston-n4d]

bob carver is my mom

[@ethimself5064]

@@RobertBoston-n4d Rare indeed

[@AN-ce1nd]

“ Tube amp adapts to the room”. Bob Carver 1978

[@jbauern57]

I was in the AIR FORCE serving in ENGLAND. 1978-1980. All these audio components bring back good memories, on what guys would purchase for the dorm rooms. 👍

[@scottlowell493]

One guy had four klipsch la scalas in a dorm room....

[@thomasperina2990]

Hello Captain Sub: Thank you for the background history of Phase Linear. Your research is spot on + being educational. I still say that you guys are the best audio shop on the East Coast. Your loyal customer and subscriber, TMP from N.J.

[@robg915]

This channel is gold glad I found it. I'm 50 and I've been into audio since my early teens.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Thanks for watching Rob! Glad to have you join in!

[@pongyang8705]

Noice! I purchased a 400 series II and 2000 series II combo from an old woman in “unknown” condition. Sure enough, the amp had issues and upon doing some research, I learned about the White Oak upgrades. I purchased their upgrade kits and did all the soldering myself being one of my biggest audio projects to date. I was one happy puppy when I finally played music through it. Even in today’s market, my White Oak upgraded 400 II (with Mundorf bypass caps) competes with products in the $1500-$2000 range. It’s a beast!

[@jbeckva499]

Absolutely. Built a few, a few years back with the full set of replacements. Still have a WOPL'd 400 and 700. The 400 is all I'm needing at the moment. That one 400 replaced everything from a Yamaha M-80 to NAD 2400 dual PE's, and it'll stay where it is until I'm pushing up daisies. PS.. yep, same person here as with "Phoenix".. :)

[@SurnaturalM]

That's the kind of upgrades I do for my clients and my own stuff. I do repair, restore, upgrade and refurbish audio devices since the 80s. It's a good idea to upgrade the rectifier, and the power supply section will modern parts too. I always suggest that to my clients. Phase linear is really deserving of such upgrades. They look and sound really good when put back to original specs. Their documents are also very detailed and complete, at least, those I've had to work with.

[@howmit6361]

I had a DRS250 paired with Ohm F's. Stunning. FYI, the Andromeda's head transfer function chicanery beat Polk's SDA technology to market by years with the added bonus of servo-controlled subwoofers. My Ohm F's are gone now, but I have a small collection of audio unobtanium including Polk SRS SDAs and the later year's phase linear separates with some second gen Klipsch Cornwalls thrown in for good measure. With a MC2100 out of a famous recording studios live van, because. My garage rocks. Ask me sometime about my DBX 3 band dynamic range expander.

[@RUfromthe40s]

those were amazing i know a guy who bought the entire DBX system for home use that allthough it sounded perfect never caught on ,maybe because of the excessive price also everything even Lp´s had top be recorded with dbx encoder and not many were released but it felt like the future in late 70´s or early 80´s ,not sure now, i already saw some videos about it on youtube and a holographic projection of the milenium falcon on star wars O.S.T, above the record , that i only saw it here on youtube some years ago ,not that many

[@johnpeschke7723]

i am the original owner of a Phase Linear 700b. Still works beautifully. 45 lbs of sheer power

[@willbum6951]

had a 700b back in the 70s driving a pair of Klipsch Cornwallis “let there be rock” had a lot of fun with that system!!

[@davej3487]

If you contact Bob Carvers shop I bet they would recap it a low price. In the 11990's he recapped my D-500 for free.

[@BillDouglass-m9d]

Back in the day I owned at least 1 of every Carver amp made. Had all Carver tuner, tape deck. Still rocking the Silver 9ts today! 😊

[@LennyFlorentine]

Thanks for sharing!

[@ethimself5064]

Can you remember if Phase Linear made a digital time delays during the 70s? Or who did? I almost bought one back then, yikes expensive/$450 in 77. Looking for one for my next audio system and can't really remember the name although it was a golden colour/Thanks

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@ethimself5064 i have the 7000 wich as two tones, the model similar to the 80´s Pioneer CT-A1 ,which looks plastiqui when compared side by side, it´s a very nice deck at the best ever level in what concerns to cassette decks

[@ethimself5064]

@@RUfromthe40s A digital time delay?

[@michaelsadowski9863]

Bought a 400 Amp and 4000 Pre-amp back in '75 and loved them. When my union went on strike I made the mistake of telling my brother-in-law that I was considering selling them off since things were getting tight. One day he arrived at my house at 7:00AM and made the declaration he wasn't leaving until I sold them to him. 14 hours later he wore me down and I succumbed. He has had some work done on them but he's abused them for the last 40 years, uses them to power his guitars. There was a drag strip close to where I lived that used a 400 for their PA and had them red lined constantly with a cooling fan. The dragsters were no match for the PL 400. I later picked up a used Carver integrated Amp that I absolutely loved but it got fried in a lightening strike. So many great memories of Bob Carver's genius combined with tragic ones as well.

[@AudioFileZ]

Boy am I aging...I don't consider 70's Hi-Fi old enough to be "classic" vintage. Heck yeah it's old for sure, but I'm thinking further back as vintage. Brands such as Fisher, University Sound, Pilot, Philco, Allied Radio, Jensen, Harmon-Kardon, Altec, Shure, McIntosh, Bozak as vintage. Though Phase Linear was first known about the mid-seventies I think of this Bob Carver brand as anything but vintage. More like the future, now. It changed hi-fi once and for all. Power for the people. That Carver (Pioneer) cassette deck floored me. I read hi-fi rags all the time and don't even remember an ad for it. I don't know but could those speakers be called Andromeda as in "The Andromeda Strain"? I think the early and even middle story of Bob Carver would be a text book business school case as to how a talented visionary who needs capital pairs with investors who have no musical or audio soul and only are interested in numbers. Instead of letting the visionary proceed with his talent instead he was hit with monetary goals that stymied him. Though I don't follow the industry any longer, I get the feeling this last company he's the head of is what makes him happiest. He makes stuff that costs a good bit that has his special personality and interests. He's got to be getting up there in age now, but I hope he's still going strong health-wise and keeps doing things that showcase his special knowledge talent and interests. I remember he challenged Stereophile magazine that he could make one of his Carver amps sound like any tube amp they chose and in a double-blind listening test he claimed they wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I think they did tell some kind of initial difference and Bob felt he must have missed something and in something like 48-hours he figured it out and they reconvened and they actually couldn't tell a difference. I think hi-fi needs more visionaries like Kloss, Vilchur, Gow, Fisher, Marantz, Harmon, and, yes, Bob Carver. What these guys did forced the Japanese (who regarded them with awe) to do the great things they did in the seventies up to about the mid-eighties...meaning really good mass market priced hi-fi. Today's there are only a scant few visionaries (they exist, think Bruce Thigpen and Vandersteen) that can wipe the sweat of these giants. I love audio gear still, but quit chasing it as my wife considered it a nuisance to our home and, in my case, a mental illness. I have bought stuff I've never listened to like Innersound Eros Speakers and Acura's Palladium Mono Blocks (new still in box and never even tried out), so I had to agree with her the whole thing had gotten out of hand. When I retire I would work for you Lenny just to be able to play with all this stuff. I think you have my dream job. Great video.

[@kennethanway7979]

I have bozak speakers that I use to this day...sounds like a movie theater!!

[@tennissir1986]

Please give more detail.

[@glenncurry3041]

The word back in the day was Bob Carver started by building basic copies of Crown DC300's in coffee cans in his college dorm room.

[@brucestanley9656]

He repaired TV's when he was in School. He once got thrown in jail (DUI). It was then he told himself he would build the most powerful home amplifier. It was based upon a design from RCA and used a couple MJB coffee cans for heat sinking. He took around the many (at the time) stereo shops, and eventually got advanced some $$ to start Phase Linear. I went to work for him when I was 19 or 20. I worked with Bob, and AP Van Meter on their wild Andromedia 111 speaker system. I was in heaven.

[@glenncurry3041]

@@brucestanley9656 The coffee can was well known.

[@ncfamily4]

I own and still use to this very day, the CT-17 pre-amp, TFM-45 and CB-15 power amps. I have had them re-capped and they sound wonderful.

[@tonybeef1142]

Back in the day in Smithers B.C I happened to walk into a hi😊fi shop and was demoed a full Carver system.Those Amazings did sound Amazing. My first exposure to a Real hifi system. I have been hooked since that day.

[@PaulImprota]

Carver M-400 "cube" was an oddity.

[@USCanthony]

Carver made some great power amps and pre-amps but he really had a thing for the side toys. Those cool equalizers and the room delays were all leading to something that many people dismiss as a rumor. The C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator. It wasn't perfect but with the right music it would build a 3D image of the soundstage and place the instruments in their proper locations. It worked best with a 2.1 setup since side and rear surrounds were the enemy of a Sonic Hologram. But give it the proper speaker configuration and speakers that were not designed to bounce their image off walls and it would leave your jaw on the floor as you were enveloped within the soundstage. The device only has 3 buttons on it's front panel. There is "Injection Ratio" Normal or Theoretical ; " Listening Aperture" Narrow or Wide and " Sonic Hologram" Engaged or Disengaged. The back panel also includes this somewhat curious statement; The purchase of a Carver C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator gives an implied license only to use the apparatus to play sound recordings, but not to make sound recordings. I took that directly off of the back panel of the C-9 that has been sitting under my bed in its original box for many decades. My current speaker configuration of Klipsch front, center channel, sub-woofer, side surrounds and rear surrounds don't get along well with the C-9 but then again, the C-9 was never intended to be used in a home theater configuration. 2.1 music is its sweet spot.

[@festerofest4374]

I had one! With the Carver Receiver and Ohm Walsh2's (no sub). It was interesting to play around with.

[@danieldavid9031]

Loved the sonic holography on my 6200 integrated receiver-amp (gave music a live feel due to the separation). I bought a C9 that I never got around to installing, with a power inverter, for a car system. Accidently left SH on when recording a radio concert, I attended using a hi-fi VCR connected to the 6200 tape loop - sound was a bit muddy/highs cut.

[@danieldavid9031]

Sonic Holography was still included in the Sunfire TGR-3 - my current favorite

[@tmdillon1969]

When I was 13-14 my sister moved in with her high school friend Sue after having my nephew. This had a lot of consequences. Sue's ex had money and in the divorce, she got the complete Phase Linear stack. The amp was that second-generation 700 series with the LEDs but I swear that in addition to the volume knobs, there were knobs to control the sensitivity of the LED response. I can't remember the speakers but the whole system probably weighed 50 pounds more than I did a the time. Because they had that system my sister gave me hers. So at 14, I was gifted a Marantz 2216b receiver, a nice Sansui turntable, and an Akai tape deck. Pretty sweet! I'm fairly sure that by the time I was a senior in high school, Sue would have sold that system to me for pennies or given it to me outright. She complained about moving it and she despised her ex. Oh, well.

[@MickeyMishra]

What I remember most from my Early school days in Grade middle school, I was asked who my Hero was at the time, and I said Bob Carver after reading about his "Coffee Can Amplifier" article written in Stereo review as I recall. Yea, nobody knew who that was. I'm glad my Teachers were so forgiving of my eccentricities. Always wanted to get the Carver Amazing Loudspeakers, and never heard about the one from Phase Linear. First time I heard about Phase Linear was in the Car Audio world where a truck had many of them doing an SPL Build.

[@ricardoflot2787]

That was DAMN good Amp, if you had one that worked.

[@play2bfree435]

I'm still rocking a Carver m 1.5 paired with a Carver C2 preamp with a set of C.V. AT10s 😊

[@firesurfer]

My Carver 1.5t uses a Mcintosh C-27 preamp with a Pioneer Tx-9500 tuner, Teac Se-9 eq, Tascam 112 cassette deck. My original radio shack (made by pioneer) speakers have replacement 12'' cerwin -vega drivers.

[@MarkMiller-i8q]

Thanks for the education. And the laughs. If I'm ever in the market for vintage audio stuff, I know where I'd shop.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Thanks Mark! Glad you got some laughs out of it!

[@DJ_Renn]

You didn’t mention the most powerful Phase Linear amp, the D500. Repaired and recapped one a few years ago. Just replacing the 36 output transistors was quite the task.

[@kennethdias9988]

700 D

[@DJ_Renn]

@@kennethdias9988 I don’t think there is a 700 D. The 700 series were around 345 watts per channel and the D500 was 500 watts per channel.

[@kennethdias9988]

@@DJ_Renn you’re right it was the 700 B

[@RJ986S]

Thanks for the fascinating back story. Much appreciated. I never owned any Phase Linear products, but I had a co-worker in the late 70's who was absolutely mad about them. He would go on endlessly about their excellence. I had my Marantz 2270, a pair of Rectilinear III's, and a Dual turntable. That's all I could afford back then, lol.

[@andershammer9307]

I used to go to Carverfest and got to be friends with Bob and I built his tube amp there. We sold some of his tube amps at Vintage HiFi of Pittsburgh where I used to work.

[@PerfDayToday]

Great review.. the 700 B was the one in high school to wish for.. those meters… 😢

[@Philip-xk5ui]

Once had a little Amp that was a cube m400 that had 200 watts per channel.

[@eykensf]

Nice to see at 4:51 - it's a white faceplate 700 series two, abandoned and restored but painted withe by myself in my workshop in Belgium. So proud that he is in this PL documentary

[@avguytx4361]

I just picked up a Model 200 & 2000 Series II this past weekend and had been doing some research on them. Probably will clean them up and sell them after some testing. Still own a Carver C-1 and M-1.0t of which both have been gone through and rebuilt with latest mods and upgrades...including remote volume/mute on the C-1. The C-1 has been my main preamp for about a decade now and the M-1.0t, and a DTL-200 CD player, have both been signed by Bob Carver. I was a Sunfire rep from 2003 till 2009 and we had an even with him there. He also worked on the CD player before signing it.

[@williamfindley6703]

In 1987, I tried Phase Linear's 6x9 3-way automotive speakers; mylar dome tweeters were so sweet sounding. Also, accompanied by a 3" mid-range and graphite woofer; they were wonderful.

[@melockavich9596]

still use carver stuff today and I have lots of it love it

[@curtisscott9251]

You missed the biggest effect Carver had on Pioneer. In the 90's, pioneer released a series of cassette tape decks such as the CT-W606DR. These Cassette decks were REVOLUTIONARY because their audio performance used a new type of single sided (NON-encoded) noise reduction that many have joked: "Perfected the cassette moments before it became obsolete". How did Carver play into these cassette decks (the best ever produced -hands down chapping Nakamichi's ass)? These decks used a DSP chip that was built around Carvers Auto-correlation, noise reduction patent. Playing back tapes WITHOUT ANY NR ENCODING, these decks could outperform Dolby C specs! Playback of Dolby B tapes with the added DSP could outperform Dolby Spectrum + Dolby HX combined! All models of these Pioneer decks are currently collectors items!

[@RUfromthe40s]

i never used dolby ,i might have tried it as it were released new dolby formulas and other brands NR such as high-com ,Nakamichi had it in a NR component for their older decks without any NR system, the top end models have good quality recording sound the hiss only in bad tapes or cassette decks without any maintenance, as i don´t hear hiss in any of my cassettes and i always bought type I tapes as in reels when nobody used a NR system m, they still sound perfect and my surprise is some reels from the 70´s i re-recorded them and stayed well recorded without a flaw, at high speed and low speed, allthough my first open reel deck was a grundig from late 50´s or early 60´s , a giant beast with 7 speeds, the biggest reels stay inside the deck casing, first i had them horizontal but in 74 i started to use a akai X-165D crossfield from the 1970 catalog, still plays and records perfect , allthough i have several from other brands i still have in use a 78-84 GX-4000D, not saying they are the best but are really good, for home use

[@knivesandfire1]

Excellent overview of Bob Carver and Phase Linear, it literally hits home for me. I live in Lynnwood WA, the former home of Carver Corp. HQ, and Edmonds is the next city over so I’m very much familiar of that ACE Hardware store on 5th Ave in Downtown Edmonds. In the early 90s my Dad and I (I was six or seven by then) would be auditioning gear at the old Magnolia Hi-Fi (pre-Best Buy era) in Lynnwood and from there he bought the Carver CT-17 preamp tuner, TFM-35 and TFM-15 power amps, and the Amazing Loudspeaker AL-III floor standers with the full length ribbon tweeters and finished in that fashionable 90s oak veneer. Still have them after all these years. Fast forward a few years after Carver Corp, Bob Carver then introduced his first Sunfire product, the Cinema Grand power amp. I remember he held a demo of the amp at Magnolia Hi-Fi’s Everett store and afterwards my Dad got to meet Mr. Carver himself. That’s my Carver story and pretty much how my hi-fi journey started at a young age growing up here in Western Washington State.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Wow thanks for sharing all that! Hopefully I got some of those pictures right! But the real question is have you gotten a churro there?

[@knivesandfire1]

@@LennyFlorentine lol Honestly I wasn’t aware the Alberto’s Churros people were operating around the corner from the ACE entrance. They don’t have a store front where one could buy a churro, but they distribute their product to local area Mexican restaurants and through Sysco Food Service and US Foods, so I probably might had their churros at some point.

[@knivesandfire1]

⁠@@LennyFlorentineAnother fun fact, the site of the former Phase Linear and later Carver Corp. production facility at 48th Ave W is now a regional transit center and light rail station just a mile from my house. 48th Ave W runs right behind in my backyard so I drive by there everyday on my commute and yeah that area is currently being redeveloped to a future town center adjacent to the new light rail station. Carver Corp. also had their offices at 33rd Ave W near Alderwood Mall. Anyway, all this Phase Linear and Bob Carver talk made me go browse for old Phase Linear gear now.

[@LennyFlorentine]

@@knivesandfire1 oh man awesome fact!!! Thanks!

[@PUNKY.011]

Dynaco next ?

[@RobertBoston-n4d]

Vector Research after that?

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@RobertBoston-n4d brands i´m very familiar with ,as dynaco was my first tube amp. it belonged to my grandfather and victor research was me not wanting to buy more pioneer as in the 70´s some used to say . "The best brand without a doubt". They do work perfect after more than 50 years without one repair, but i own a victor research complete system under my furniture in the living room, it´s nice, a cassette deck with equalizer amongst other particular functions, the VR-7000 is a nice receiver, the cassette deck VCX-800 was very good while it worked ,this built in the 80´s

[@RUfromthe40s]

@@RobertBoston-n4d have a old dynaco tube amplifier and vector research i only got now the deck with equalizer for being so unique but i had one that was really good

[@thebigguys1345]

Just got ahold of a phase linear 4000 series 2, and the legendary Carver c-4000. I could go on for days about the carver, sonic holography is a topic of its own. Bob carver was way way ahead of his time creating surround sound before anyone else did

[@GM_766]

Another great video. I really enjoy your channel both because of the great info you impart and because of your delivery style. I'm looking forward to your chapter on the Carver company. I own a CT-17 tuner/preamp and TFM-25 amplifier. Bought them both new in the 90s as "lifetime purchases" for listening, along with a pair of Boston Acoustics T1030s.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it! Be sure to leave any carver stories in these comments to help with the future video!

[@williamberger2178]

I remember the Phase Linear 700B as the "end all" amplifier in 1975. It was in the top tier listening room of "Pacific Stereo" and it sounded amazing. But my pockets could only afford a Pioneer SX750 (wish I still had). This is the first review of Phase Linear amps I've seen on KZbin of this almost forgotten label.

[@joe841984]

Good to see A.P. VanMeter finally get some credit for the series 2 units he designed as well as many other great products i think most people mistakenly think Bob Carver designed every product in the Phase Linear line when that was not the case at all George Empfield Edmonds WA

[@LennyFlorentine]

My first time hearing of him as well. I thought maybe someone made his name up cause his last name said Meter and he made amps. I thought I was getting tricked lol

[@andyevans2336]

It’s amazing how a divorce. Will bend the path of a company…. Best part was when Bob got to get his building back years later, sweet!

[@Dass-Charles]

Thanks for the Information.

[@itube1893]

Nicely done video, Lenny. I worked for Pioneer when they bought Phase Linear from Bob Carver, and then I was with Jensen when they bought the company from Pioneer. I still have a P9500 CD player that I bought when I worked there. It still works, sort of; the laser tracks but skips. A local tech here in Arizona couldn’t fix it.

[@Dirtyharry70585]

Tap the door last sec before it closes and reads

[@itube1893]

Thanks…I’ll try that.

[@garp32]

Proud owner of three PL400 series one amps. 2 were bought with issues and repaired by myself. One lived it's whole life in a recording stuidio and was absolutely perfect. The guy even gave me the original box with it. ❤ My last one purchased came with the original sales receipt and the product catalog you showed in the video. Thanks for telling their story!

[@RUfromthe40s]

PL= phono line, TURNTABLES NOT AMPLIFERS AND NEVER HEARD OF A 400 SERIES,MAYBE 20 SERIES OR EXCLUSIVE ?BUT WHAT ARE YOU MENT TO SAY. SORRY FOR THE CAPS LOCKS IT SEEMS BUILT BY NAKAMICHI IT WORKS BUT THEN IT GOT A MIND OF IT´S OWN, now it works, well it´s what you get by buying expensive stuff in a chinese store

[@Sunnbobb]

I have 4 PL400's, 1 PL400 Series 2, and one PL700 Series 2. All have been brought up to date with White Oak Boards, caps, light boards, and Watts Abundant Speaker relays. I also have other accessory units you mention. You did leave out the 5000 and 5100 FM tuners.. LOL. I rock a pair of JBL L7's with the PL700. It is amazing when fed with a high quality digital source.

[@wallypez]

Did you leave out the Dual 500 amp for a reason? I owned the 200, 400, and now own the D500, since 1980. I own the Andromeda III’s, still using. The 500 is rated at 505 watts per channel into 4 ohm speakers; maybe 800 watts into 4 ohms.

[@ReginaldDj1]

You did a great job on this but i have a question will you also do CROWN and there series and who owned it you know tell us there history 🤔 because coming up when ever i would go to concerts i would get there early just to see the sound engineer and grips set up and back then in the late 70's & 80's they would always use CROWN and i was always BLOWN AWAY that they would set those amps on Hot Ice this baffled me at the time why they would do that so yeah give us a video explainer about Crown and how they corner the market especially when it came to concerts which expanded to Dj's and home enthusiast.

[@wlrdwds]

Phase Linear was bought by PIONEER electronics in the late 1970s. Pioneer made Phase Linear stuff afterwards until Jensen bought PL from Pioneer Bob Carver was bought out of PL. The Cassette deck in Risky Business is a Phase Linear..

[@RUfromthe40s]

i do not remenber as i saw that movie decades ago, but i own a late 70´s, 928 GTS

[@garyhilbolt4363]

I remember listening to the Phase Linear equipment in '74-78. The same dealer offered me a fantastic deal on the Harmon Kardon Citation 17 and 19, which I still have. I distinctly recall the Phase Linear being indestructible.

[@omtech]

hey, maybe you could do a story on GAS, Great American Sound (Ampzilla) and James Bongiorno? I still have my Ampzilla (and a Son), and as I recall, the Ampzilla was originally available as a kit.

[@stuartwinter2758]

These og units are probably still some of the best quality 2 channel hifi units you can get even today. I would love to own one of these. I never new about the relationship with jensen either. I have some jensen stuff and i have to say I'm a big fan. Fantastic episode. I really like the history you dig up on these brands time after time. Keep up the great content.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Thanks Stuart!!

[@philipotis3467]

two things that I do remember is, they never seem to get the 901's sounding good or right. secondly that the set up to these speakers is usually impossible

[@karaDee2363]

I forgot all about Phase Linear, since I haven't seen one in years...

[@johnmessina9721]

I had a Phase Linear amp went on to all Carver equipment and then finally the original Sunfire Receiver. Loved all the equipment.

[@jeremiahchamberlin4499]

Love your videos. You tell us the story behind the name.

[@stevenstjohn9207]

Just bought a PL 700 Series 2- Recapped w/ Mundorf EVO Caps & Speaker Protection- Preamp is tubed Quicksilver. Great video by the way. 😊

[@dalemettee1147]

I had the luck to use a P/L 4000 preamp with its "downward expansion" circuits and 4 channel joy stick. Impressive. Sadly, I had to give it back, but loved it the whole time I had it. My shinning experience was with Technics RS 1500 RTR decks. I says decks because I had two of them. One for the original recording and one for post production. Both were 1/2 track machines with 15 IPS speed. The best audio recorders made for the price. First cost me less than a $1K. The second purchased less than 6 months later was over $1K.

[@redstarwraith]

Cool video! I own a Bob Carver Crimson 275. Am thinking about stepping up to his latest RAM 285.

[@jim010109]

Ive got a old Carver TFM 15 that i bought in the late 80's. Its in storage. Still functional, but ive sine upgraded to a Parasound A21. Cool video!

[@LennyFlorentine]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing! Great upgrade!

[@ripmcmanus773]

Had the 400 Series 2 amp, which eventually blew the woofers on my JBL L100s while playing Telarc's recording of the 1812 Overture. Those were the days!

[@scottlowell493]

that's because it clipped.

[@quiksr20]

Cool video, The neat thing I find is that even though Phase Linear more or less turned into Carver some the models seem to have overlap in design.. Likethe Carver Preamp - Model: C-4000 / Phase Linear 4000 Series II ( the whole series )... Cool stuff.

[@MrRonnmaui]

Cool stuff. I had no idea about some of those facts. It is hard to believe these companies could start out so small and grow into so many markets.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Yeah that’s just insane, thanks for watching and joining the comments!

[@TheRealZygmo]

I had a rack mounted 700B. Those things were monsters. If I remember correctly, all the weight was in the back right corner where the huge black transformer was located making it awkward to carry. That amp, with my Klipsch Corner Horns was my best sounding ever system. However, the 700 did develop a noise in one channel which, after sitting in a repair shop for a solid year without being fixed forced me to sell it. Now, those amps have a reputation of not being trustworthy and liable to go out with a bang, taking your speakers with it. Wasn't it Carver who came out with those little black cube mono amps, supposedly drawing their power from the line so not needing big transformers? I didn't think they sounded worth a d---.

[@Gtcyclone]

I just sent my phase 400 and 4000 to carver products in Washington state. I loved it so much I paid over $2,000.00 to have everything gone thru and up graded. Got it back recently hooked it all back up. Just luv it once again Need help call Rolland at carver

[@davidbartochowski7832]

Phase linear used to be the absolute best of all time. Probably would beat out most things that are out there today. Lenny how about a video on the history of Advent with Henry Kloss

[@LennyFlorentine]

I’ll add it to the polls!

[@manic_stewie]

This makes me laugh as I used to have double stacked advents powered by the 400 series two. I did upgrade to the wharfdale lintons.... purchased through Just audio over Black Friday 22'.

[@audiosaucer2124]

@2:30 - A cassete deck but wrong picture or a CD-Player? @5:28 - 450 Watts? The DRS900 was 2x150?? Nice historic walkthrough :)

[@PGHJR002]

Phase Linear Andromeda Phase III speakers, owned them for over 40 years. Nothing like them was sold in 1976(I bought mine in 1980) and still despite many competitive designs from the early days of three-way sound with subwoofer included, they were a pioneering effort and still gives me a thrill today.

[@LennyFlorentine]

That’s so cool to hear!!

[@jimmyhawke]

I had a Phase Linear 3300 preamp with a Phase Linear 300 amp. Great sounding system!

[@flight505]

Enjoyed a Carver Cube for many years.

[@grabir01]

Phase Linear Power Amps are the best! I have several of their power amps from the 1970's and after all these decades they perform perfectly!! I do have one that has a burned out bulb on the left VU meter, other than that, perfect sound and very powerful. By that I mean high current. Very very stiff amps!! Amazing is the word. If you have a pair of Magna Pans or the like that need high current, get a Phase Linear to drive it. You will be amazed!!

[@Dirtyharry70585]

I sent my m400 and later c1000 to Bob in late ‘90’s. Just a nobody I called him in Washington and each time he said how they brought back memories. I still have a C1, M500t, and Carver digital time Lens CD. Saturdays they get exercised only running at 30 watts (125db my own girls, home made ar9’s)Thanks so much for the time warp back. Hope you talk about his genius challenge of the m500 sound like a tube amp in front of one of the major audio (by hand with solder and parts) enthusiast editors and blowing his mind

[@EdMorales-r3m]

Still own a C1 and M500 that I bought in early 81, always loved the sonic holography sound for some of my vinyl, Mr Carver was on the money with his creations

[@AeroSS87]

I'd like to see you beak down all the options and price for the White Oak upgrades.

[@ChessIsJustAGame]

I still use my Carver receiver I bought about 1990 while living in Tacoma WA from a defunct hifi store. Anybody remember Magnolia HiFi?

[@ChessIsJustAGame]

All of my late 80's early 90's stereo stuff still work. Including my Technics direct drive turntable and Sony cassette tape deck. OK, so the tape deck needed new belts and I bought a new P-mount cartridge for the turntable, but all the electronics still work and work well even after 20 years stored away in a garage. My 20-something children are still fascinated with it all, especially vinyls, but they want nothing to do with it. They have iPhones and ear buds. 😒

[@knivesandfire1]

I loved Magnolia. My Dad and I bought a lot of gear from either the old Lynnwood store or their old flagship store in Roosevelt. Wish they hadn’t sold to Best Buy, it’s just not the same.

[@georgecovetskie6717]

I had the 700 with the red led meter lights back in 1980. I got it cheap for 50 bucks because it needed serving. I changed all the MJ outputs and all other parts involved and it worked well. I had it in my home sound system but I pushed it hard using it as my Sub driver for my bands PA. The amp drove 1 15" Altec hlf size voice of the theatre on each channel. We ware impressed at it fast attack and clean punch, so we left it in the rack and used it for 2 years like this. Then the band broke up, I put it back in my home system and it still served me well for 2 more years. Like always, I finally did something stupid and sold it. Dam.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Thanks for sharing! Appreciate that!

[@geraldmosley2195]

You forgot the Caver CUBE 4.0T Also we use to call Phase Linear FLAME 🔥 Linear. Because the amp would catch on fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥. I would be nice if you did a segment on SAE .

[@unicornsqueezins7906]

I just picked up a mint Phase Linear 7000 with rack handles yesterday!

[@mikecampbell5856]

I knew Phase Linear owners back in the 70s. A very rabid and fiercely loyal group indeed. LOL Thanks for another great history lesson.

[@robertharker]

Phase Linear amps were very popular with sound reinforcement companies in the late 70's, early 80's. Lots of power at a reasonable cost. But Phase Linear amps had two major problems. The first was no output protection so a temporary short on the output would fry the power transistors and then dump full power to your speakers frying them as well. The name I know these amps as is "Flame Linear. The other problem is that their massive power transformers had a tendency to fall off the back of the chassis. Literally tearing out their mounting holes. Here in the SF Bay Area some sound companies went as far as building special racks that housed the transformers in their base separate from the actual amp itself. Other than these two small faults, they were great amps.

[@Random-kq4pz]

I heard that Heil sound bought 50 amps for their touring systems. I believe Heil told Carver to switch to slower transistors to make the amps last longer when pushed hard.

[@n6dl321]

I still have my PL-400 and my set of Bose 901 v1's . If I recall correctly they all came from Pacific Stereo in San Leandro Ca. Oh the front end was a Dynaco PAT100 with an Advent a100 dolby. the Dynaco is long gone but the A100 is in the attic.

[@n6dl321]

Oh, and the 901's are still hanging from the ceiling in there same spot for 30 yrs. suspect the cones maybe dead.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Still hanging from the ceiling?! Props!!

[@JohnRogers0014]

How about doing a show about VSP Labs, and their Trans Mos amplifier TM150 and the TM200 Gold Edition, Juan Velazquez is the designer and patent holder, he was also involved with Steve Eberbach of DCM Loudspeakers in Ann Arbor Michigan in the late 70's.

[@FrankieZR]

Visually, I'm always amazed at how similar some of the Phase Linear stuff is to the Carver stuff that immediately followed. My main stereo is all Carver, preamp, tuner, and of course a pair of Carver m1.5t power amps because when is one amp enough, right?

[@jamesplotkin4674]

That "cassette deck" at the 2:30 mark sure looks like a CD player. ;-)

[@LennyFlorentine]

You found the hidden error we threw in there! Good catch!

[@tjtreinen7381]

I remember the photo in the video of the system with all the pl amps. I believe it was featured in High Fidelity magazine. Yes I'm that old..Actually, I started ready High Fidelity when I was sixteen.

[@stompinthom]

Can you do one of these for Threshold Audio and SAE

[@dennisbuszko2099]

when i was playing in a band i has a carver 2.0 amp, i want to say it was 1000w mono bridged

[@GlennBerrySQL]

I would like to see a similar video talking about the history of Carver and Sunfire products. I'm a big Bob Carver fan.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Awesome! Be sure to leave any carver stories in these comments to help with the future video!

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Bought a brand new Carver M 1.0t the day it came out in the 80’s. It was one slick machine. Paid $500 for it even back then. And that was just for the amp.

[@davefox8948]

You should do segment on how he took his best designs to create the Lightstar Research Amp and Sunfire. All made in The USA!

[@muhammadfazalradioshop2308]

Super duper nice video 💕

[@MrDaveaccord]

Still have my Carver 900 receiver I bought new in 1985. Still performs flawlessly and it's never been repaired.

[@RobertBoston-n4d]

Might look into recapping it to avoid leakage

[@BootJamesOut]

Hello folks: i was wondering on a cap replacement too. Now the only reason why not to is because of that one famous screw half screwed in all the way in. I thinks its a trade mark but I'm not to sure of the hidden meaning. Sure sounds nice. Ride Easy

[@hifi.david.]

Question: What's your favourite amplifier from the 70s?

[@LennyFlorentine]

Are you spying on us? You will find out in next weeks video lol

[@analogdesigner-Jay]

That's cool that you had the photo of Bill Skinner.

[@williamferraro369]

A friend sent this to me I have 12 of those phase linear 400s from Dick's set up sitting my garage. He did a lot of work to them from what he told me. I don't really use them but the ones I listen to sound great! He has tags on all of them with dates on them I'm guessing from when he reworked each one..

[@LennyFlorentine]

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!!

[@williamferraro369]

@@LennyFlorentine sure. If I have time I'll pull them out and post a quick video of them and the internals. I also have his "prototype" pre amp which I might bring back to him to look at as I get no sound from it and he says it should work. It is 1 of 5 he said he sold the design to Carver I think. min says no 1! Nothing like a piece of audio history!

[@AndrewStein1]

I'm fairly certain that the black faceplates on Phase Linear amplifiers are after-market. They can be purchased today from a variety of vendors, one on Ebay - that also offers replacement faceplates for some Carver Corp components. The desire for black was to match other components from Carver (or other manufacturers) that had black faceplates. I'm wrong a lot, but I have not seen any Phase Linear ORIGINAL products with a black faceplate from PL.

[@BorisMajetic]

Big fan! 👏

[@AlexSomers-d2n]

I always liked the way Carver sounds and never understood why audiophiles complained about Carver the same way they complain about Bose.

[@donnien5254]

I still have the DRENRU LOL shown at 9:52.

[@ronaldfriedline9297]

I heard phase linear didn't have relay protection for the speakers. Is that true?

[@Sunnbobb]

You can install a Watts Abundant relay system in them now.

[@MarkBrown-gw4wl]

I’m refurbishing a pair of original ALS speakers, upgrading them with all new original (never been used) 12” woofers and 60” ribbons. Removing the internal crossovers to allow bi-amp.

[@LennyFlorentine]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!

[@Johnobie117]

I have a 700B in very good condition. Anyone know what it’s worth, and where I can sell it. Also have series 2 pre amp. I’m the original owner of both. Thanks for the help.

[@trailerpark187]

First time I heard of or seen Carver stuff was Ferris buellers system in his room. What 17 year old had a whole carver system with bose 901s. Lol

[@LennyFlorentine]

Hahaha true

[@marxman00]

I just threw away 4 carver PM 1.5 power amplifiers, they served me well but were a mystery to repair .. when they were introduced they were magicaly light weight ,way ahead of their time ..estheticaly they are still the most beutifull design I have ever seen ... God bless Bob Carver ..

[@grabir01]

Carver Amps were ok. Phase Linear are the ones to get.