[Philistine]

Bought the Carina a few years ago from another AC member for use with an open baffle speaker,  had the Carina upgraded to Voicing 3 by Eddie and modified to accept superior performing tube combination.  This is probably the only piece of gear that I have emotional attachment to, Eddie put his soul into these and it shows, it's the most musically engaging amp I've ever heard.   Now moving forwards with another project so I need to let someone else enjoy this.

Looking for $1350 (PayPal and shipping included).


Here is a description of the work Eddie performed:

Voicing 2 is slightly less lush, rich, and colored than the Voicing 1 circuitry you have, but is more transparent and detailed. It's more of a preference than an "upgrade," per se. Carina orders are split petty much 50/50 between the two voicings, although there have been maybe five Voicing 1 Carinas returned over the course of time for conversion to Voicing 2.
 
In the beginning, when I first offered the Carina, people were afraid of Voicing 2 because of the description I gave it on the website. They feared it would sound harsh or glaring because of the high resolution, due to the fact that most all very high resolution amplifiers do sound harsh. However, that's not due to the amplifier's resolving power, it's due to mainly three things:
 
Cheap, generic componentry
Improper design
Electrolytic power supply capacitors, which are used in practically ALL production tube amplifiers on the market (except the Carina)
 
 
On the topic of Voicing 2, I have a new Voicing 3 available. It has the detail, speed, clarity, dynamics, etc of Voicing 2 TFTF cap, and practically the same harmonic richness and liquidity that Voicing 1 does. The ugly downside is that the capacitors used in it are offensively expensive. In my opinion, when these capacitors are paired with old-stock Shinkoh tantalum film resistors (which were the best sounding audio resistor ever made) from my personal stash, they form the ultimate expression of the Carina, especially with 6n15n-EV/6P15P-EB power tubes. Which brings us to.....
 
The 6n15n-EV/6P15P-EB is a Russian video tube that was used as a vertical amplifier for large cathode ray tubes. Though it wasn't designed or intended for audio use, it makes one of the cleanest, most detailed sounding audio tubes you've ever heard. It's electrically quite similar to the EL84 in most respects, but has a different pinout, that allows a particular one of the internal electrical elements to be accessed externally, whereas in the EL84 this element is connected internally to another element.
 
The externally accessible connection allows this element to be operated differently than in the EL84, and for aout a year now I've been incorporating a circuit modification that takes full advantage of the 6n15n-EV/6P15P-EB. The improvements in imaging, soundstaging, focus, coherency, microdetail, microdynamics, and bass performance when using the 6n15n-EV/6P15P-EB with this modification are not subtle. The sound is much like a good amplifier using the 45 power triode, but But, if you don't like the very transparent and uncolored sound of the 6n15n-EV/6P15P-EB and prefer the EL84 instead, then nothing's been lost. The circuit is automatically activated when using the 6n15n-EV/6P15P-EB, and automatically deactivated when using EL84s. If using EL84s, the amplifier will sound exactly the way it always has.
Lastly, there's another another revision that's standard on all new Carinas since about the middle of last year, that allows for an even lower noise floor and blacker background. It involves the addition of a small circuit board and some componentry to the heater filament supply.       

[Goosepond]

PM sent.

Gene

[tasar]

Still available....? is Vaughn still around ?

[Philistine]

Sold last night...

Eddie Vaughn isn't making amps commercially anymore but reports are he's still around to help with existing Carina's.  I'm sorry to see it go, it really is a very musical and emotionally involving amp.