Carver 275 Crimson tube amp --- any feedback appreciated


I have a Platinum modified McCormack DNA .05 and a Pass Labs First Watt F5 with which I drive my Spatial Audio Hologram M4 Triode Master speakers.  I have sworn off tube amps in the past, but I am intrigued with this new amp from Bob Carver.  Wally Underwood as well as Jimclarkstereo in Illinois are now selling them for about $2500.  I have never doubted Bob Carver's audio engineering genius.  I would be keen to get a 75 wpc tube amp and the price seems very reasonable compared to similarly-powered tube amps.    

I would be interested to hear what you lads think of this new amp.  Thanks for any input you can provide.  
whitestix

Showing 2 responses by fmalitz


The tubes in the Crimson 275 are warranted for five years. Our competitors give three months. Prima Luna, an excellent product, gives six months. The tube checker is built into the amplifier. You can check your neighbors' tubes at full operating parameters. We've given out between three and 10 tubes in the last 10 years depending on who you speak to.  On this model tube life would be about 20 years. It's even greater on our more expensive amplifiers (and their extended warranties reflect this) but we run the KT 120s a bit harder in order to come up with 90 W per channel which every 275 is capable of. We have no service department because we have no failures. The 275, like all of our amplifiers, repairs defective tubes if the malady, the most common, is caused by impurities. We vaporize the impurity, sacrifice a dedicated fuse, and you're back in business.
Frank Malitz CEO
The Bob Carver company 
I'm a bit late here, but we voice the 275 to sound identical to the 350s which sound very much like our top-of-the-line silver seven 900s. Using Bob's transfer function testing, we can make all the amplifiers sound identical. They are all based on the silver seven sound which is based on Bob's own listening preferences combined with BBC research and human physiology which Bob was a deep background in. Once hooked to a loudspeaker though, the differences in the amplifier models are somewhat more audible, but it's subtle. 

With a waiting list, since day one, I've not appropriated any units for review. Why would I? We're selling them faster than we can make them and people are yelling at me because of the waiting time. I can tell you this: virtually all of our dealers guarantee satisfaction with a money back promise yet we've not had a single unit returned out of the hundreds we've sold since its introduction only a few months ago. We've also had no defectives, but that's true of every model. The cherry mono amplifiers referred to above were not manufactured by my company.
Frank Malitz CEO
The Bob Carver Company