Ar9Jim

On another topic, could bench measurements detect an issue with either chip that would explain the difference in their sound, or would they both measure essentially perfect? My guess would be that both are essentially perfect, but none the less, the difference is there.. This blows big holes in the measurement based forums and the "hear by number" recommendations. Don't believe your lying eyes? Some sites are telling followers to not believe their lying ears, just the same. More cult than science.

I can hear a difference but can't say that one is better sounding. I like them both. To my ears the Burr Browns had a bit more weight in the midrange and less pronounced highs. Sort of like a Telefunken 12AX7 tube vs a Mullard. Speaker play a big role. I've noticed some of the horn loaded speaker customers, tend to like the Mullards. I suspect the Burr Brown chip may be popular in that market segment as well for the same reason. Do you have a preference? What type of tweeter is in your speaker? Horn, ribbon, dome, etc.. I'm using a DAC with an ESS chip and speakers with soft dome tweeters and also Magnepans with ribbon tweeters.

Is the noise happening at idle while sitting still or just when you move the pot?

Heard the story about Arnie Nudell and Paul McGowen going to Bob Carver for help with that midrange design. Bob had a stockpile of really good magnets he had salvaged from Boeing and used those in the ribbon midrange design. Note: When a brilliant guy like Arnie Nudell (a laser physicist) ran into problems and needed help, he called Bob Carver..

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

Welcome to the Carver site. It's a friendly group that represents the good spirit of America and Bob Carver well. Have fun. Enjoy!

The woofers are special and not likely replaceable with any other woofer. In this video Bob talks about tuning the magnet structure to blend the woofer with the response of the huge baffle. SEA rebuilds the ribbons. Someone could rebuild woofers.

Did the flat woofers in the Silvers have the foam issue or were those surrounds a longer lasting material?

Ouch.. Is the cone material holding up well enough for adding new surrounds to the original drivers? Once I read that in some environments the cone material was having age issues. Hope it's not common.

Must have joined at 8-10 years old.

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.

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".