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Hello Carverphiles!  I am not a collector but used to have an  M-400 and later a M500t and a C4000 back in the day when I listened to recorded music. I was in the music industry for a long time,as a recording engineer and studio owner. When the record industry collapsed in the early 90s I got out of the studio business and opened a pro audio repair shop near San Francisco. The timing was good, with the heyday of the home recording boom in the early 90s it grew very quickly from 1 person to 23 employees. 

I remember meeting Bob Carver in the 70s, when he was still with PL, when he came down to the Sacramento area with Bob Johnson to visit us at ESS where I was contracted to design a digital FM tuner and a capacitance FM phono cartridge. I worked from my own  lab at home but also shared one at ESS with Nelson Pass who was working perfecting the soon to  be released Air Motion Transformer originally invented by Dr Oskar Heil and who occasionally came to work on that. 

Now, I have no stereo system. I moved to a city where world class music, opera and ballet are nightly events so purposely gave all my gear away. I figure I appreciate music more now because my life if not saturated with it and listen only when performed live.  Every night there are several concerts in the 54 theaters and halls, 330 drama theaters and lots of jazz clubs. Most of my album recording, about 200 major label records, were in the rock and R&B, and a few jazz albums for artists who did both the more commercial(bigger budgets) and jazz project. 

So hi-fi, electronics and music has always been a key part of my work life. I have designed hi-end hi-fi amps using vacuum tubes for one manufacturer who charges outrageous prices. Although I moved away from the US 16 years ago, I smuggled  individual pieces of test gear in my suitcases on every return visit over my first 6 years here I ended up with a pretty competent lab. I dabble with new designs but mostly I use it to repair pro audio and MI equipment as a part time hobby/business. Having access to the service data for Carver gear is helpful in case anyone in Russia needs theirs repaired.  I always had a lot of respect for Bob with his novel approach that shook things up  periodically.

So that is my story and why I am here as a new member. 

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Welcome! Very impressive resume! I am sure your knowledge will be useful! I am curious if you see many of Bobs creations over there! Have a great day!

 

Barry

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That's a very cool journey Stan.  Thanks for sharing that--all the way from St. Petersburg Russia no less!
 
You will be right at home here with your knowledge & skills.  Amazing tech's on this site with a passion for fine audio. Phones
 
I'm curious.  You mentioned:
 
"I smuggled individual pieces of test gear in my suitcases on every return visit over my first 6 years here I ended up with a pretty competent lab."
 
..does that mean Russia would not allow these pieces into the country? 
 
 
 
Hope you stay awhile - and welcome aboard!
 
Image result for russian bullet train
 
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Welcome, SPb-Stan.  As you know, there's a lot of reasons to be here - our "stories" so to speak.
 
Would love some pics (we love pics here) from your SF days and running a shop out there in the "biz.", if you have and can scan them...   History is a good way to paint that picture with images.
 
I lived in the Bay area back then - and a lot of today's members lived there then, and now - some of us may have crossed paths?  Tell us a little more, and pics...,
 
Party!
Welcome!
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Welcome. Is it possible to have a member with no Carver gear?

Of course. Let's see if that changes. Is there a Craigslist in your city?

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Wow, what a great welcome! Thank you...

To answer some of the questions....Jazzman, come for a visit, it is cheaper than it has ever been for both flights and costs of museums, operas and such which are based on the ruble which is have the value it was a few years ago to the dollar. It is a beautiful city and probably the most cultured and educated city in the world...354 museums, 510 colleges, universities, academies institutes and conservatories, where even the teenagers regularly attend opera and classical music that is available every night of the week in more than one concert hall, but they are also very aware of popular music from all over the world.

 

Barry, not many Carver units that I have seen but there ARE some here and there is a lot of interest in systems. There is a lot of interest in jazz classical opera and dance music, and this was a major recording center for classical music during the USSR era. I repaired a Carver tuner a couple years ago, a transistor in the first RF amplifier was bad.I have a Motorola Service Monitor so any RF needs up to 1 Ghz is easy. As I mentioned I have no hi-fi gear anymore, gave it all away when I moved here. I like not having it in my living space, and know I can hear it live in some great concern halls, 2 of them have acoustics that is ranked at the top in world halls. In fact, I will probably go to one in a couple hours then when they gets out, the dance clubs start opening and I will be dancing until 6am. I am pretty well known and accepted here in the dance because I am the only old guy who goes regularly...beats going to a gym for exercise, trying to keep ahead of the 20 year olds. Every time some girl will come to me to ask how I can stay on the dance floor so long..."easy, I have 45 years more experience partying than you have" is my usual reply;>) It IS great exercise if you don't stop and really work up a sweat.

 

 

Aslan7 Thank you, smuggling in avoided the duty on importing what they would have thought was valuable equipment. Some might be hard to explain. Overall, in daily life,this a very low stress, laid back country, safe on the streets, even girls walking home alone from clubs or parties at 4am have no worries, regardless of which neighborhood. The impression one would get from the western media that this is a repressive dictatorship and poor is just not true. It is a great place to start a business or raise a family with so many services for free. I have a great time here and there are thousands of expats from Europe and the US who love it also. Besides, the women...the ones I know,,are beautiful, sane, fit stylish, well educated and nice people. I have been in 90 countries and there was not even a second's thought about where to move to, this city is unique,easy, and a secure low stress/high fun factor life can be had regardless of income. My monthly expenses are less than 10% of my cost of living back home in Marin Country in California.....and includes much more daily social activities than were even possible back in California.

 

AndrewJohn, We may have cross paths, I moved from Sacramento the day I graduated mid term from HS, at 17 to San Francisco 1967. I had no interest in music, I was am electronics nerd but the apartment I found was on the cliff across from the Cliff House and at the base of the cliff was the Family Dog Ballroom and Fillmore was a 10 minute Muni ride and the musicians discovered I could fix their amps hours before their shows. The second musician to knock on my glass wall facing down the beach was a tall skinny kid...like me, who just had recently moved from Tijuana Mexico, named Carlos. I fixed his amp on my kitchen table. The next day be brought another friend, Steve Miller who needed something, 2 days later it was two musicians from Jefferson Airplane. A great time in a unique city that SF was in 1967. I got into recording a few years later but before that, designed and built a unique sound system for a national tour by a band from the Uk, Jethro Tull for Ian Anderson's Aqualung album. It was the first concert system with tri-amplification, I built the mixer and power amps from scratch, the mixer was the first one with true balanced line input transformer-less, and the first mixer with switchable meter ballistics(Vu for American mixers and PPM for UK house engineers), and compressors/limiters on each channel strip.

Fun times for a teenager away from home in the big city;>)

 

PMAT, there is always a first;>) but if someone has a broken amp or preamp they don't want to repair I might be interested in buying it. They are light enough to ship here. I get my HiFi and electronics kicks from repairing and I would love to have some pieces like a M400 or M500 to return to duty. There is a Craig's list sort of community swap listing that has been going strong since about 1970. I don't see higher end equipment listed there however, but there are hi-end clubs, and dozens of stores that feature top brands.

 

 

Thanks all, hope to have something to contribute

Stan

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Welcome to the site Stan,
Glad you decided to join and post about your interesting audio journey.
We should have a world map to mark, to see how many countries Carver gear is in around the world. 
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Ditto^!
 
Welcome, Stan. I always knew Jethro Tull had great equipment, now I know 'the rest of the story' or at least more of it! Thanks!  Party! 
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Welcome Stan, to the best site about both new and vintage audio equipment that I have ever found online.
Your excellent background in audio is a big plus for all of us here at TheCarverSite. Thumb up
 
Personally, I have never found a better bunch of guys than the very helpful members of this site and I started by simply wanting a few manual printouts.
 
My personal knowledge base was very limited when I started here and it's still no where near as high as the majority of the members I have had the pleasure of dealing with.
 
I can state with absolute confidence that we all look forward to your future postings.
 
We also love projects and photo'sCool
 
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