Overview

Bob is the reason I ended up affording to start building a stereo in 1984. I bought a MXR130 receiver and a DTL100 cd player with a pair of Clements RT7 speakers that i still have today. I have gradually changed and upgraded slowly to what I have today but my system is not elaborate. I now have a Prima Luna EVo 300, 2 Black magic 350's, denon DCD A110 SACD/CD player and a blue sound vault. I love the way my system sounds and Bob is the raeson I started my hobby as his designs are so pleasing to the eye which are timeless and never look out of date. Thanks Bob for being the great person that you are.

If "scarcity" drives value, our Carver gear may gain as a result! 😉 ..., another positive!

I like to look at this as a Bob Carver and Jim Clark SUCCESS ! It's easy to dwell on all the negatives - and much harder to look at, and relish the positives. Here's what I wrote a few weeks ago on the (stolen/hijacked) TheCarverSite Facebook Page @RichP714 set up way back in 2008/9 as a social media adjunct to TCS. I posted this because there were, as always on social media / the internet in general, the vocal "haters" focusing on the negative..., my post generated 97 positive likes/reactions as well as 4 shares and 22 congratulatory comments. There is hope and light when we look for it! (If you are on Facebook, scroll down and give it a "like" - let's see if we can push this over 100..., I think it's a record for a post on that FB Group.

This is truely heartbreaking news for BC enthusiasts like myself I am left without the words that I need and want to say. The audio world has just lost such an elite talented audio designer that can never be copied and has contributed more to audio than anyone else that I know. Jim I truely love Bob for his devotion to what he loves and eff the the creeps that are trying to take him down. There are way a to many woke people influencing others that have no clue what they are talking about.

What happened? 1) Glass audio crashed in 2021 and left Bob Carver Co closed, with backorders and 2000 unanswered emails. 2) I talked to Bob and Peggy in late 2021 about building high quality products and starting yet again another company to build Bob Carver tube amps. 3) In Feb 2022 Bob Carver LLC (Bob and Peggy) and BC Audio (Jim and Lerma) were formed. The Crimson 275 was a planned source of revenue while designing other new world class products. 4) A 'well connected' industry veteran convinced me he had an existing supply chain that could provide manufacturing engineering at competitive prices and production in compressed time frames. The cost and time required were not in the ballpark. The cost were exceeded by 300% and the time required was exceeded by 600% further exhausting our resources. 5)Two months after our start-up, Audio science review came out with a devastating review of the Crimson 275. Photographic evidence of the 275 using clearly labeled 15 watt output transformers in the 75 watt amp, gave ASR a 'kick me' sign the size of a billboard on the companies back, it's very sad. Also ASR showed a picture of the unused earth ground pin and told readers that the 275 could result in a 700 volt shock to the user, although 2 prong power cords are common in audio, using a 3 conductor cord and leaving the earth pin unused was another 'kick me' sign on the companies back. Bob requested that we offer refunds for the 275 and offer to rework the grounding and polarity issue at no charge with free return shipping. Instead of BC Audio having revenue from the Crimson 275 as a start-up company to survive on, while the new world class products were coming, we started out giving refunds and free rework, being accountable for a company before our time, that made serious mistakes and errors in judgment, imho.. BC Audio paid dearly in terms of standing behind the old company and the damage to the brand resulting from ASRs review. Without revenue, we carried on for 2 years. Today, BC Audio is closing. Sales are very slow. Customers still read ASR and contact me weekly with concern that their Carver Crimson 275 will kill them. We still get pictures of the 15 watt transformers in the 75 watt amp and called a fraud, scam, liar and other unpleasant terms. Rating the 275 @ 75w, 20Hz to 20K harmed the credibility in the brand. I can't change the past or go back and slap the people who made those choices.. They will have to live with it. I made course corrections but the heavy damage was done. The power rating should have been specified as 75W at 1Khz. The specifications quantitative error was damaging. We built one batch of 285s that are truly world class and excellent, but failed to launch as a company, mainly due to baggage from the past attempts at building these products before my time, imho.. BC Audio LLC was founded in Feb 2022 by Jim Clark. Everything we produced met specs and was perfect from Feb 2022 forward. Products produced by prior companies attempts at producing Bob Carver products, like those reviewed in ASR are not the responsibility of BC Audio. BC Audio produced world class products that we stand behind and take great pride. BC Audio customers will be contacted directly with my private info for service and support of our products. There are not many of you, and most are friends. The Carver products produced before Feb 2022 are not BC Audio responsibility. Information for service on products before Feb 2022, will be provided on the landing page that will be posted on the Bob Carver website. Here is a link for tube amp service. https://bctubeampservice.company.site/ The Bob Carver company before Feb 2022 is no longer my concern. The players before my time here, can take responsibility for their decisions and harm to the legacy. BC Audio made world class products none the less, and we stand behind those 100% with full warranties and service. We extracted every ounce of performance from the Bob Carver designs with a high quality build and made a world class product. It's sad only 25-285s will be built, because they offer the truly awesome performance the Carver designs are capable of, but sadly, they can not correct the past. Best wishes to all.

First being a consumer of audio products myself before being a dealer and later a partner with Bob, I've seen it all. I had no idea how deep seated the snakes were in audio. Honestly, you couldn't make it up. This is not a rant. It's just advice to consider when spending your money and seeking the best for you. Most often, people of means to buy these limited production products, did not gain their wealth by spending foolishly and value is still appreciated. Having owned an aerospace manufacturing company for decades and accustomed to one of the most regulated industries on earth, audio is truly a wild west of conflicting information and deception for a consumer to attempt to navigate in order to spend their money wisely. IMHO this is really sad and consumers deserve better. It's destructive to the niche market for these products for both companies and consumers, IMHO. This post is not meant to discourage people from entering the hobby, but more as a guild to hopefully save consumers the frustration and expense that comes with being educated by industry snakes and lab rats. If a company won't let you audition their audio product without restocking fees, I suggest you walk away. Don't fall into the BS of listening for chocolate in a wire or the premise that a designer chasing specs like SINAD provides a higher quality listening experience. There is no free lunch in audio design. Some of the best measuring products come and go like the wind. More often than not, companies get great reviews in the pay to play world of food flavor adjectives, hear by number and sci-fi physics, only to fail in the actual market when compared directly to others making music. You have likely noticed the brand of the month in audio publications. Every month there is a new brand that is a game changer with either an improved number or richer chocolate, to prevent the consumer from finding contentment and to keep buying more, chasing an illusion of improved audio based in words and charts of very limited value to the customer in making their decision. What are the snakes? Snakes are products with no basis in science. The list is long. Companies actually invent products and create a market for problems that don't actually exist. This is really sad. Physicist and real engineers, like those from regulated industries in which snake oil is called aerospace fraud, with lives a stake, are laughing at the snakes in the industry, I can assure you. This is damaging to a great industry made up of mostly passionate people busting their butts to deliver a more pleasing experience and overall value for the customers they are loyal to. Snakes do not care about the customer, they want the customers money and do as little as possible to provide actual value to the customer. If the company is telling you what you will hear, and not offering a trial offer without needing a restocking fee from you. Think about it before spending your hard earned cash. Talk is cheap. Make them earn your money without risk to you. Sonic results talk. Tell the BS to walk. What are lab rats? Lab rats are at the other end of the spectrum. These are those claiming to have truth and standing in judgment based on simplistic numbers as a representation of customer value. The lab rats steer customers based on absurd claims and ranking of products, claiming that a number like SINAD further below audibility equals a better value for the customer. Numbers don't lie right? Recommending or discouraging customer purchases with this entirely erroneous perspective, is possibly more damaging to the hobby than the snakes. The value to the consumer is less than worthless. So what can a consumer do to get beyond the extremist at both ends of this spectrum disorder? Hear for yourself. Don't believe any salesman selling science fiction physics or a guy playing a BS game of SINAD of 120 will sound better than 100, and taking a poll based on followers who read his numbers.. Don't follow, lead. If the SINAD game was audio reality, they would show up at audio shows and put everyone else to shame. Here again, if a lab rat is trying to tell you what you will hear based on a numbers game, don't believe them until you hear for yourself. They are no more credible than the snakes, just a different angle on their game of leveraging misunderstanding. In no way am I saying believe me, if fact I'm saying don't believe me. What I am saying, is hear audio for yourself. Audio and hearing are inseparable. Fundamentally, you can not read about it with enough relevance to make a good decision. If you can't hear a product without a restocking fee, the company already knows they have trouble competing in the cold hard realty of the customers system in their home driving a wide variety of loudspeakers. We call it The Carver Amplifier Challenge. Step right up snakes and lab rats. We have a trap set for both of you that offers the customer 100% satisfaction by helping consumers sort through this maze of misinformation. Regardless of the brand they choose to purchase, a happy customer will result from the value offered by one outstanding designer or another. The customer and industry will be better off. Honestly, lets save the consumers the endless confusion and let them hear audio products for themselves at home, without taking money from them if they choose another brand. $799 or $24,999, don't charge them 10-15% to experience your product at home making music compared to ours. This industry has been in contraction for more than 30 years. Putting the customer first, may slow the contraction of the hobby from within caused by both the extremist snakes and lab rat deception. Make companies waive their restocking fee in writing so you can hear the truth for yourself without losing money. I've been working with the owner (Bob Carver himself) just over 2 years now. We do not play games with the customers money. A good competition driving loudspeakers in the customers home is fair enough. This educates the customers by experience, being of far more value than the confusion being sold by both the snakes and the lab rats. Jim Clark Director of Operations Bob Carver LLC.. CEO BC Audio LLC.. 4563 Hydraulic Rd Rockford, IL, 61109 jim@bobcarvercorp.com

What a great video! EveAnna reveals her deep understanding of her craft. Just like Bob does. I hope additional esteemed designers follow suit with similar videos. Videos like this serve well to explain the difference between listening and measuring. The internet has a few who measure. Too bad they are so loud in their voice. The real world has, I dare say, millions who actually listen. Schaumburg will be hosting many in a few weeks.

Bob is a true inventor and one of a kind genius as he puts his heart and soul into creating his products and is not afraid to think ouside the box when doing so. Other amplifier designers have always gone down that narrow well worn path and never ventured off of it. That's why Bob has had such successful and controversial advanced designs!

You know what I think would be awesome is short video review from Bob Carver. Get him in front of a camera with one of these amplifiers and let him give his pitch. I have to admit the short video of him telling a small crowd that the 275 was one of his best designs was the tipping point for me when I made my initial purchase.

Her observations with output transformers and measurements vs sound, is similar to Bob's teachings. This relates to the 275 design running the smaller output transformers at higher voltage potential. They don't measure as well into a test bench resistor, but they sure make beautiful music with speakers. The anomaly she speaks of in bench testing with the smaller, worse testing, better sounding transformer, does not show up in loudspeaker testing per application. Bob views the output transformers as the interface between the tubes and speakers, when determining what sounds best as the 1st priority of the design. These are topics related to how the lightweight 19lb 275 sounds so good in spite of criticism from some who are not amplifier designers. Great designers always prioritize audio sonic performance above all else. Designing to measure well is relatively easy. Going down rabbit holes chasing analyzer numbers and assembling a ranking of audio performance based on SINAD, as if offering a better audio experience or sonic value for the customer, is either ignorance or deception by one measurement reviewer that comes to mind. "Arrogance is a sign of ignorance", so there you go.. "Designing an amplifier to sound the best and designing to measure the best, are not necessarily the same goal." Bob Carver. Thank you to EveAnna Manely for sharing the experience and maintaining focus on what sounds best, as the 1st priority for her company.

Now that's a smart gal who knows her stuff cause she explained it so people can understand it.

This is why Bob Carver designs high voltage tube amps. Most are 450/500v DC.. Bob is using 785v in the RAM 285.. It's about manipulating transducers (speakers) in the most powerful, musical and accurate way. Think "high pressure".

Using a Tube Tester Getter Flasher. Why tubes are mirrored, Fran Labs. Great content producer!

Here are some reasons why we sell our products with a "Carver Amplifier Challenge 30 day in-system, in-home guarantee, without restocking fees." 1) Happy customers, every time - Our goal is 100% happy customers. There is no reason to have unhappy customers. When running Jim Clark Stereo we started this policy. We want the customer to enjoy their experience for the good of our company and the industry as a whole. If the customer has or can find a more enjoyable product than the Bob Carver in their home, they should buy it. Either way, the customer wins and their money is well spent. Of course we know the odds of someone returning a Bob Carver after living with it for 30 days, are extremely low. The product and the enjoyment becomes personal and people will not give them up. 2) Marketing - Bob Carver LLC/BC Audio LLC today is a small operation made up of only 4 people. Bob and Peggy, Jim and Lerma. We are a start-up just barely 2 years old. Letting the customers enjoy our product, directly compared to others is very effective and strongly in our favor. Our new RAM 285 is undefeated in customers system. Restocking fees are not needed because we don't have returns. If returns were common, we would have to charge a restocking fee like most others. 3) The legacy - There have been several attempts (at least 4) at building Bob Carver tube amps by others over the last decade or so. The last casualty was Glass Audio leaving the legacy for dead after closing late in 2021, leaving orders unfilled and customers unsupported, followed by press critical of the 275 that had been produced at 3 locations by that time. Bob Carver and my venture together is largely in defense of Bob's legacy. None of us are getting any younger and I convinced Bob to "take the gloves off" and leverage his ability to build a special legacy line, not considering weight or parts cost savings as he tends to do in the interest of affordability. We didn't waste money on the RAM 285 but in the areas that make it sound the best, we didn't spare expense. 4) Honesty - The Carver Amp Challenge is the most honest way to sell audio products we know of. We don't have expensive shiny ads running in the pay to play realm. We don't give away products in exchange for good reviews. We don't modify our most musical designs to reduce measured numbers further below audibility at the expense of other important sonic qualities. We don't play silly games as though another decimal point further below audibility results in a better customer experience (it does not). We do not sell products with no basis in science, promising varieties of chocolate flavors that defy the laws of physics. Bob is a physicist and I can tell you there is no magic in audio, just good science. You can hear good science, we guarantee it with every purchase. Jim Clark Director of Operations Bob Carver LLC. CEO BC Audio LLC. jim@bobcarvercorp.com 815 985 3557

Agree. It will be back eventually. The Black Magic 25 is very nice as well. Impressive that economical 19lb amps can sound that good.

It's a real shame if the 275 cannot continue on in some form as it really is a wonderful little amp and lets face it a lot of people simply cannot afford to wet their feet with a $5k amplifier.

Customers are reporting back that Steve Guttenburg "nailed it" and is "right on" with his review of the RAM 285.. Steve sent the amp back after the review. Steve is an honest man. No strings attached. He serves his viewers well.

This is the traceability issue with having many past licensed owners and the reason the Black Magic products, we hoped to continue, must end. The Crimson 275s were built in 3 locations. I have record keeping from none of them. Printed serial number stickers are easy to duplicate. The liability and warranty coverage became uncalculatable. Our warranties are long and iron clad. Many have expired by now. The products have proven very reliable. With Bob Carver LLC. and BC Audio LLC. founded by Bob, Peggy, Lerma and myself, we know our customers directly and we know our liabilities. We continue to update Crimson 275s from past companies at no charge in good faith. We offer service through our authorized service centers for Carver designed products going back to 1970. The RAM 285 is our first product. It will take us forward from here.

What? They didn't use Nomex? A good cover should provide protection from house fires.😊

It would have to be some material that doesn't shed any lint or particulates on its own. I'm thinking something like a black, thick Tyvek?

I've used those covers on my tube amps. I don't like them. They start smoking after just a few minutes... What? Off when you use the amps? Never Mind!

I think it's a great idea but I like looking at my M500t even when it's not being used. Can't get enough of the big meters. 😀

Sounds like a good follow-up question? 😉 hell, why not see how low he'll go on the price, offer him a low-ball ... , indicating "since these are not really Bob Carver Amps..., and no 10 year warranty..., how about $950?