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Two Bobs Reunite for New Company

What’s old is new again — the audio world is about to be introduced to a new company co-founded by two industry pioneers, Bob Carver and Bob Farinelli: Bob Carver LLC.   Carver is well known in the audio world, founding Carver and then Sunfire where he developed power amplifiers and subwoofers with unique designs. Far

What’s old is new again — the audio world is about to be introduced to a new company co-founded by two industry pioneers, Bob Carver and Bob Farinelli: Bob Carver LLC.

Carver is well known in the audio world, founding Carver and then Sunfire where he developed power amplifiers and subwoofers with unique designs. Farinelli is a home automation pioneer coming most recently from Elan Home Systems. The two gentlemen worked closely together for over 5 years at Sunfire, and have come out of retirement to form this new venture.

According to Carver, “We are American inventors with 75 years of design experience and 51 patents between us. We are committed to building the highest quality audio products in the U.S.A. These products will deliver years of listening enjoyment and stand among the few of the greatest amplifiers ever designed. ”

Not surprisingly, Carver will handle the audio design chores while Farinelli will be in charge of product commercialization, manufacturing, sales and marketing. “This partnership is the logical ‘next step’ of our working relationship together,” says Farinelli.

As the Bob’s describe the company as, “We are a vacuum tube amplifier company,” it isn’t too surprising that the first products to come from this new collaboration will be a a new series of powerful mono block vacuum tube amplifiers. The Cherry 180 (VTA180M) is rated at 180 watts rms and the Black Beauty (VTA305M) at 305 watts rms. Both models were designed to drive difficult and demanding speaker loads set to “offer extreme performance that is difficult to believe.”

But just because these amps feature old-school vacuum tube technology didn’t mean that they don’t also feature some modern flair. For example, a selectable feedback control “allows the user to change the sound of the amplifier from vintage classical to modern contemporary” and a current feedback circuit “allows the amplifier to ‘listen to the room’ via feedback from the speakers acting as microphones (using the law of reciprocity).”

Farinelli said, “Today’s discerning audiophiles listen to a wide variety of content and appreciate the warm, rich sound that vacuum tube amplifiers provide. Other products found in this price range simply do not compare in overall performance”

Carver added, “Our products are built to last a lifetime and be serviceable 50 years from now because we chose to build them this way, one chassis at a time.”

The VTA180M lists for $7,400, the VTA305M for $12,900 and will ship in October.

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