Suggestion between benchmark Ahb2, Bob carver crimson 275 and rogue atlas magnum 2 amos


First ever post here. I have a peachtree nova 150 integrated amp, KEF LS50 metas, a Bluesound node, a vintage technics turntable and a schiit mani phono preamp. I am making the move to a separate amp and preamp. I have a preamp (a rogue rp-1) on order and I’m looking for an amp. I think I have it narrowed down to a Benchmark AHB2, a Bob Carver Crimson 275 or a Rogue Atlas Magnum 2. would appreciate any input the group might have or any alternate suggestions.

pwoodard922

Showing 4 responses by jasonbourne52

Thumbs down for the Carver 275 amp! It uses 15 watt Edcor output transformers that certainly can't make the claimed 75 watts at reasonable distortion! In fact at 15 watts/1khz it does 1% distortion. At 32hz it is at 2% and rising. Carver's claim that this is a 75 wpc amp is fraudulent and a violation of the FTC rule. This amp can't even pass decent sine waves at reasonable power! For its high sale price it is a rip-off! Buy a nicely restored Dynaco ST70 instead - Dan Vincent has some for sale here on Audiogon.

@cdennison53 : "It does run relatively cool". The 275 amp is seriously under-biased! Plenty of notch distortion! Sure, the output tubes will last forever but at 10%+ harmonic distortion! Clearly a broken product!

The Benchmark AHB2 is the stellar performer here! So what it doesn't have glowing bottles to light up a dark room! 

Will Vincent (autospec) has some really nice ST70’s for sale here! They will outperform and sound way better than the 275!