Opinions on Sunfire Amps

ive never tried sunfire amps but i have used just about every carver product known to man,sunfire is the same designs as the carver & both were made by the same guy,
IMHO they all sucked,they sounded very screechy & like they were tweeked out of site right from the factory,the last carver amp i tried was the tfm55 & it was real bad,i almost threw it in the garbage,it sounded like hooking a transistor radio up to the speakers then amplifing the speakers thru a pa system,as far as im concerned carver amps are lousey.

I think they're very under-rated, because of experiences like Bigjoes. When I was a lad, I sold Carver gear, and quietly laughed whenever someone bought it, because to my ears and college student's wallet, it was a bad decision.

The Sunfire is complete opposite. Lots of performance for the price, and the closest to tube type sound in its price range. Their HT amps are very competitive with much higher $ designs. They also run cool compared to other high power amps. They drive anything, and appear to be well made. Are they the most refined, no. But when I couldn't afford the big tube amps I craved, this was the next best thing.

Spencer

Yikes!!! No offense, but with the many positive reviews that Sunfire amps have gotten from many people, including well regarded reviewers, I have to question your opinion.

I personally have owned Carver equipment in the past and although they have not been high end in the past I don't think I would classify their sound as you did. Sunfire on the other hand has built a pretty solid reputation, especially their pre-amps.

Bob Carver has also been one of the few people that have taken audio to new levels of performance because of his inovative designs. Many may argue that, but as an engineer, he has been at the forefront. Many high end companies have usually used 'tried and true' designs from the early 20th century.

Anyway, that's just my bits worth.

reviews are a dime a dozen,i dont think ive ever read a bad review on any peice of gear,my statements were based on my usage of just about every amp in the carver line,at 1 time i owned 16 different carver amps & they sounded great till i compared them to hi end amps then i heard the difference,imo the whole carver amp line was cheap.

Bigjoe, I agree with you that reviews are overrated, but there are certainly a number of honest reviews out there, some negative enough that they ultimately killed the product.
I also agree w/you that most of the Carver amps are lousy.
Sunfire amps are not Carver amps. They sounds good, especially in their price range. They are built like tanks.
They hold their value better than most other brands.
Glai, you should certainly consider them.
Cheers, Spencer

Thanks guys.
Bigjoe, it must be painful to own 16 amps that sucks.

I have heard the Sunfire amp driving a pair of the large Martin Logan stats. The Sunfire easily bested the baby Krells is power, warmth and just plain musicality. In fact, even the Monster Krells, many times the cost of the Sunfire, were not superior across the board. I would say that the big Krell monoblocks were noticably more "solid" in the imaging, and had better extention on top. Thats it.

Older Carver gear tended to sound a bit whimpy when given a real load, not the Sunfire gear. Bob Carver has a winner here.

it was very painful once i found out that carver sucked,keep in mind that i never owned all 16 at the same time also many of the carver products that i HAD were bought for resale back when carver was in its heyday.