Vintage Carver Phase Linear 700 Power Amplifier - "PROTOTYPE" SERIAL NUMBER 001A

Description: Thee First high-powered production solid state amplifier. The Bob Carver conceived Phase Linear 700. Rated at 350 watts per channel. This may be the actual first Phase Linear 700 ever produced! One of a kind! Let's look at the details: 1) The Serial number label is 1170 - 001A. November 1970, unit 001A. The Bulk Capacitor has date code of "7004" or April of 1970. 2) This unit uses 12 power transistors vs 20. I spoke with Jim at Carver Audio who spoke with Bob and they indeed confirmed that the earliest units were 6 power transistors per side but was quickly changed to 10 per side due to reliability issues with the transistors used at the time. More on this later. 3) The meters have a blue filter on them vs the warm-white that became standard production. More on this later. 4) There is no power plug for the fan on the back panel. That became standard production on the 700's 5) The unit came with two manuals. The first looks to be HAND TYPED! The second is a photo copy of the first and has a few more diagrams included. But moreover, the second manual contains the measurements page with hand written entries. And were it says "Serial Number", it has hand-written "Prototype". And the manual calls out "12 high current transistors" in the description matching the configuration of this amp. Of course, Bob's recollection of details from 53 years ago are not crisp. So they were reluctant to confirm this was indeed unit #1. But they said it was certainly possible. My guess, knowing what a "thrifty" person Bob was, that this unit was indeed a prototype that was sold off to get that revenue stream started. I picked it up from the estate of a fellow who once lived in Seattle. More Details:Included with the documentation package is a receipt from May of 1973 showing that the original owner indeed experience amplifier failure. And the amp was then retrofitted with updated driver boards and updated power transistors - XPL909's with date codes of 1973 - as shown in the photos. This update was done at the Phase Linear factory and the receipt is on Phase Linear letterhead. And at that time, Phase Linear than provided a fresh 3-year warranty on the amp as shown on the updated, serial number matching warranty card. Phase Linear must have had confidence in the new driver boards and new transistors in the 6 transistor configuration to stand behind it with a fresh three year warranty. And who would have ever guessed that 50 years later, this amp is running STRONG! When I got it, I carefully brought it up on variac and monitored the speaker terminal voltages looking for the high DC offset of a typical failed Phase Linear. To my surprise, it came up with no problems! I hooked up a set of speakers and let-er-rip! No hum, no noise, just pure tight sound that is expected of these high power Carver amplifiers. See my demo video HERE: youtu.be/s-r8SKz_duo?si=yY68KR01rrpeTKjT I ran it for several hours to be sure there were no latent issues. No problems were found. So what we have here is the earliest production Phase Linear 700, likely one of the first "prototypes" ever made. It has all the original 1973 upgraded components that are still running strong. I replaced the broken incandescent lights with new Cool Blue LED's to match the cool blue filters that were already in place on the meters. I did no other work or testing. It remains as-found. The overall condition is excellent for the age. The face plate is nearly scratch free. There is no major damage or rust to the body. There are a few scrapes and nicks in some of the metal parts, but overall quite good. The two knobs have some corrosion commensurate with the age. It includes the WOOD CASE with whisper fan! These cases are incredibly rare. But it came with it! The case is in good shape with only a few minor scrapes and nicks. A real collectors item! I am selling this in the original condition as found (sans the LED lights) for that a Carver fan and collector who will want to add this fine piece to their collection. It is 50-53 years old so it may be wise to replace the caps inside eventually. It is a testament to Phase Linear's confidence that those XPL transistors are still running today. However, I would not use any lower than 8 ohms on this amp and these old-tech transistors. And if you're going to crank it, turn on that fan. If you need to run 4 ohm loads, then It may not be a bad idea to take out those XPL transistors and set them aside (for their collectability) and install a set of modern ON-Semi 21196 transistors. With modern transistors installed, running 4 ohm loads should be no problem. It is being sold as-is, as described, and as shown in the pictures and videos. It's 50 years old and can easily be damaged by novice users or simply fail at anytime due to age. So there is no warrantee. No returns, No refunds of any kind. I will have to ship the amp and the wood box separately since the amp is not fastened into the wood box. So I added some additional handling charges to help cover the cost of the separate shipping. I'll absorb any overages for continental US shipping. But if this sells to areas outside that, I may need to invoice the buyer for the shipping overages. Of course, local pick up in Portland Oregon area will be rewarded - Message me first before bidding. HD 22x15x16

Price: 2995 USD

Location: Camas, Washington

End Time: 2024-02-29T21:16:29.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD