Phase Linear

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Phase Linear was an audio equipment manufacturer founded by Bob Carver in 1972. The company was known for the most powerful audio amplifiers of the era led by the Phase Linear D-500, a stereo power amplifier delivering 500 watts of clean RMS power per channel with a price tag of a small car. In addition to audio amplifiers, the company produced several innovative preamplifers, tuners and the Andromeda loudspeaker. The company would later be bought by Pioneer Electronics and Bob Carver would go on to found Carver Corporation in 1979. Pioneer added a high end cassette-tape deck designed in house and CD players designed by Kyocera to the Phase Linear line. But by that time the company was going downhill because of the cost of R&D and the fact that Bob Carver who represented the brains behind the designs had bailed out. In the eighties Phase Linear was sold by Pioneer to Jensen and is currently only producing Car hifi. Bob Carver later switched from Carver to Sunfire taking the design and the price-tags with him.

There continues to be a loyal following of some of the older products which many consider to be unusually attractive in design. Many electronic parts are still available for repairs. Mechanical parts such as switches, meters and hardware are scarce.