Bob Caver 275 Power Amp

I’ve owned a couple of these and Bob Carver make some top-notch stuff. It’s a tremendous value for the money that sounds wonderful

They are very nice and sound great.

Those emo amps r 150-250. WPC. 300 maybe. 
  While the carver is fine. You may. NEed more power. Only 80 W w the 275. Amp.    Save a little more and buy a. BEtter amp. I have the. Xpa-1 amps. Powerful yes, the much lower powered Odyssey kismet  monos seriously run over them.  Strange yes, they drive my modded cerwin. VegA D-9 pair much better,   Was told better parts, current etc.       I just hear a major difference with the kismets at 4 ohm about 350W. 

Emotiva and Carver in the same sentence just doesn't seem right and surely not to compare.

80 watts per channel with cool running valves are the wonder of Carver. The valves last a LONG time and for the money, TRY to find 80 watts per channel and a warrantee on valves that no one can match..

It's a valve amp not a SS amp.. Surely not an Emotiva.

Apples, Oranges, not even in the same class.. Maybe biamp and use the SS as a the bass amp and the C275 for the mids highs.. You'll think 80 watts per channel..

Regards

op

see my casual review i wrote perhaps 6-8 mos ago, just do a search

@jbhiller is another forum member who has written quite a few posts about this amp

it is a very very good unit, excellent sound and ease of use for a very modest cost

Thanks guys!! Been looking for all the first hands info on the 275 Caver since this will be my first tube amp!!!

Wayne

Articdeth,
You need to save a little more and buy a new keyboard. Too many periods.

do you need to sell the existing amps to buy the Carver? If not:

"Maybe biamp and use the SS as a the bass amp and the C275 for the mids highs" 

advice from oldhvymec is a really good one IMO.

or, a pair of self-powered subs (front facing, no ports, adjacent to the Littion's), perhaps try covering the Littion rear ports if you add the subs.

+1 @roxy54 

But I think periods are only one of many concerns he should have.........

I sure agree with Oldhymec in my amazement of mentioning Emotiva and Carver in the same sentence... unless Emotiva has higher-end gear that I am unaware of.  I had a multi-channel Emotiva driving my Linkwitz LXmini's, the same amp that Dr. Linkwitz used when he demo'd his speakers for me in his home... using zip cord for the speakers... go figure.  They sounded quite good, but tepid in the low end but I built a pair and then I sold the speakers along with the Emotiva amp due primarily do to the lack for visceral bass response.  I had hooked up the Emotiva amp to my new speakers and the sound was awful, plain awful. 

But I digress.  I almost bought the Carver amp before opting to buy Don Sachs' tube amp.   I have not compared the Carver and Sachs tube amp in my system, but clearly the Sachs' tube amp is thought to be top notch for many.  I am a 12-year devotee of Don's creations, and Don's amp has a self-biasing/auto-biasing feature that the Carver 275 amp lacks.  

I started a thread a long ago soliciting opinions about owners' view on the Carver amp and on that that thread, as far as I can recall, there were zero bad takes by owners of the amp; to the contrary, everybody seems to love them.   I think the Carver amp is a very likely one of the best bargains in tubes amps possible and most dealers allow you are demo period in your home system.  

I will happily give a shout out to Jim Clark Stereo who was one of the first dealers of the Crimson 275 in the US and he tells me that he has very happy customers of the amp, which is no surprise.  There is a good blog about the amp here:  https://carverstereoforum.com/members/jimclark11465/

Evidently the Carver amp has great tube longevity and Carver has not raised the price of the amp since its introduction, which I find remarkable.  Yeah, no question, if you seek tube amplification on a budget, I think the best bargain available is the remarkable Crimson 275.  
  

@roxy54 

@ozzy62    

   😄🍺🍺

  cheers to two fun dudes with great sarcastic humor. Buys a round for all 3 of us. 
  Only Carver piece i own is the sunfire 600 sig. pretty much blows the doors off all my past and current amps.     Ive owned many 100W and under amps/receivers etc, they always clip and lose power on the guitar solo, or the music time changez.  
   Carver is a genius.  The 275 monos are crazy good and smooth.  Dont wanna hear in a 6 mo. Span there is not enough power.    We all try to help. 
  Cheers
 Buys
second round

I own the Bob Carver 350 mono blocks and have had them now for several years, and, I am very happy with them.
Not quite the same as the 275 but probably contains much of the same DNA.
ozzy

OP, 

The Carver Crimson 275 is an amazing amp both for the price and for an amp priced double it’s asking—in my opinion.  At double though, I’d expect heavier build quality, better caps, etc.   
What are you looking for sound wise?  
I just sold a pair of Lintons. They sounded great with the Carver.  Even though I ran the Lintons on the Carver, it’s hard for me to fairly describe that pairing because my Cornwall IVs sound sublime with the amp.  The Lintons mate well with just about everything I hooked them to. 

Carver......

I have a pair of 275's mono blocked to run just the ribbons on my Carver Amazings. With a pair of Sunfire signature amps for bass duty. They run out strong and sound very good.