Ar9Jim

Welcome to TCS.. Have fun. Enjoy!

HI Earsons, There are two authorized repair centers for Carver products that we recommend customers to when calling Bob Carver Company for service. Nelion Audio in Michigan is the closest to you. They are often very busy but the service is worth the wait. AndrewJohns gives great advice to talk to Mike at Deltronics directly to clarify the scope of the work. Understand the difference between cost of a repair vs a restoration. A repair at this age is not recommended. The old capacitors become like chasing failing light builds. Its better to change them all at once during a restoration, and enjoy your amp again at peak performance for decades of enjoyment and no frustration. Nelion Audio and Hi-Tech Audio in Stevenson Washington have records of 100% happy customers from our referrals with great customer feedback. Jim Clark Director of Operations Bob Carver Company

Welcome to The Carver Site. Enjoy!👊

Hi Dennis, The first run is Tung-Sol.. A customer was telling me Psvane were excellent and better sounding than the Tung-sol in a 275. It should be similar in a Black Magic. What are your thoughts? I heard some vintage 6550 RCAs in a 275 and they were great. Magnarider Ray bought them.

Hi AJ, Yes it was. People kept asking the price. When one of us said "nineteen fifty", they made us clarify that we were talking nineteen hundred, not thousand. That feels pretty awesome, I must say. Lee (Xavionics) replied several times, "we could add a zero" for a good laugh.. Really that good. People returned the following day just to make sure it was really that good.

Hello guys and gals, I hope you are all doing well and having a nice summer. Some questions have been asked about the differences between the Black Magic 25 and the now discontinued Crimson 275. This is Bob Carver Company, not a partnership building under license. Bob and Peggy own it, 100% of it, as it should be, imho.. As part of our agreement to manage Bob Carver Company, one of my conditions was, that Bob and Peggy must own the company entirely. No partners or investors (not even me). Guys that have been Carver fans as long as most of us know, when Bob owns the company, it does great things. Back to the Black Magic. Is it a 275 renamed the Black Magic? For the most part thats true, but not exactly. The Black Magic 25 uses EL-34 (pentode) power tubes only. The 275 uses KT (kinkless triode) types. UPDATE : After further testing, the Black Magic 25 can the EL-34 but also 6550, KT88 and KT120 tubes with excellent result. There were 275 components available to us, as work in progress after the builder had closed. They are Bobs designs. This also came at a time when KT120 tubes were unavailable at fair prices due to Russian sanctions. We modified the 275 chassis to mount the meter by screws, and added a mounting point for the power supply. We went to a standard satin black finish, due to very high rejection rates in Raven and Crimson coatings. This was a significant cost savings. Bob optimized the design for the multi-national produced EL-34 vacuum tubes. The power supply is the 75 watt design from the 275, so its relatively massive and the EL-34s sound fantastic, being very effortless and musical. The soundstage and imagining are 1st rate. The Black Magic grabs your attention and holds you there. A customer recently said the Black Magic 25 way better than his original vintage Black Magic 20 that was very popular more than a decade ago. In fact, the Black Magic sounds so good, its staying in the line up and parts were ordered for the next 100 units. We are proud of the Black Magic 25 and back it with a Satisfaction Guarantee. Customers having their own Carver Amplifier Challenge, against amplifiers of any price, does not deceive. The Black Magic is $1995. I've been running 87db/1w/1m, 6 ohm speakers (as shown) with great results. 4 ohm speakers are no issue. Here are some pictures. Note the rack in the picture is a revolving Ryno Rax crafted from solid hardwood. https://rynorax.com/ Thanks for your time, Jim

Its not new but its really good. Thom Rotella Band. 1987 digital recording. Recorded live, direct to a 2 track digital recorder as described. DMP label. Says 'recorded with discrete class A electronics.' Producer Tom Jung. Smooth, extremely detailed.

The official and only statement from Bob on the ASR forum. He posted this on the site. It has come to my attention that my amplifier design has come under sharp criticism on this forum. I am compelled to say that the 275 is safe as it is wired and assembled, and performs as it was designed. If a customer were to chose to utilize the earth ground pin of the IEC plug (to be connected to the chassis), this can be done at no cost. This design was well considered, and follows a long history of excellent products. The 275 is a powerful, easy to listen to amplifier. I am happy with its design. In fact, this is one of the best designs I have produced. If for any reason a customer is disappointed in the performance or sound quality of this amplifier, they may return it for a full refund. The general reception of the 275 to date has been that of a high quality design, one that does not disappoint in any respect. The performance as it was measured by Amir does not do justice to the sound engineering practices that the 275 represents. I am not going to explain or attempt to refute the reasoning behind each criticism that has been made, the product speaks for itself and stands on its history of satisfaction. This amplifier was not designed to measure the best, it was designed to sound the best, and to do so at an affordable price in relation to products it might be fairly compared to. It is unfortunate for this type of bad press to make such an impression on people not directly familiar with the amplifier. In conclusion, such criticism would be much harder to support in the presence of a 275 playing music. It would be all but impossible to argue that it’s deficient in any way when you experience the actual musical performance. I stand by that. The character of this amplifier is exactly what I wanted it to sound like. For any customer with a 275 wanting to change the grounding or get a refund, email info@bobcarvercorp.com and we can fulfill your needs.

Yes it is.. I find it curious that the OP has a tube amp business.. I also find it interesting that he has all the time in the world to talk about Bob.. Nothing better to do? Amps to build?

Bob made a comment that I thought summed the situation well. ” I have built conventional designs of amplifiers, that test great by conventional test standards, and have avoided controversy with those, but to be honest, those designs are kind of boring.” Bob Carver.

Very little risk at all. You are expert in your field and know how the system functions. Lack of knowledge is dangerous.

Just an update to the statement.. It is interesting how many new units from other brands I have noticed here with 2 prong cords.. Brand new, metal cases.. There must be a world wide audio conspiracy going on here.. OMG... ASR is gonna save the freaking world... The world is eternally in their debt.. Also I heard a press release is coming today. If it goes to dealers first, I'll post it here first.

Reply from Bob after testing for shock hazards as described on some forums. "We know that the 275 is perfectly safe the way it is currently wired. If you want it grounded another way, send it in and we can rewire it so the earth ground connects directly to the chassis, We will pay shipping both ways. We stand behind the product and its quality."

He knows, Greg. Bob is focusing on designing new products and little else right now. He seldom looks at emails or phone calls. If he answered emails and phone calls, that would take all his time away from doing what he loves. Personally, I spend little time on forums. A cup of coffee in the morning and thats about it. Bob sent me his reply in a voice mail and asked me to transcribe it and post it. So that is why I'm here relaying his message. Whatever I can do to help him from being distracted, so he can stay in his creative mindset, enjoying his days, I will do at his request. Humbly, its an honor, but not one that I enjoy. Thanks for letting me post the reply here. Your site is largest of the Carver themed site so maybe the controversy can bring in more members and clicks. Most times, these "bad" moments have good hiding in them.

Hello, We made Bob aware of the controversy, from what will prove to be faulty measurement technics for the 275 on some forums by an individual. WRF (Wayne) having built and tested one of the amps in the original post has been great trying to educate. Bob gave me this letter as a response to post. I'll post it here and then ask Bob to answer any questions The Carver Site members may have first. We can/will repost the answers to your questions to the other sites. Not to sound bitter (because Bobs not) but I don't wish to draw clicks to their site. Better to draw attention here. Bob is busy designing a cool new amp called the 2180. 2x180 watts with 2-KT120 per channel. In most tube amps, the grid voltage is 1/2 the plate voltage. Bob has been working with a different voltage ratio between plate and grid with hand wound transformers. The prototype hand wound transformer made 200 watts driving one channel . The prototype factory production transformer should be ready for Bob and his assistant to test in 2 weeks.. I'll gather the questions on Mondays and give them to Bob for a reply.. Here's the note from Bob and his reply to a couple popular questions I had ask. Crimson/Raven 275 The current 275 is the best amplifier that I’ve ever designed. It is extremely powerful and it has a smooth and sweet musical voice. I have been building and designing amplifiers for approximately 50 years in my lifetime and in those 50 years I’ve been attacked and I’ve been vilified for my designs. My designs have also won many accolades and many awards and I’m very happy about that. Designing amplifiers has been my life’s passion and I cannot imagine doing anything that’s more fun or intellectually challenging or more rewarding. This amplifier has enormous power, an enormously wide frequency response and the best sound that I’ve ever been able to produce in my almost 30 years of amplifier design and building. I can remember walking on the pathways at the University of Washington with Tim De Paravicini and we had beautiful, beautiful talks about amplifiers, loudspeakers but mostly about amplifiers. Amplifiers were our passion. My amplifier knowledge today, when I compare it to my early knowledge, I find that my early knowledge was as scarce and meager kind. But no longer. This new amplifier design is my very best work. I have given it a voice that is large and a voice that has detailed imaging within the larger voice and it’s what I’ve always strived for. For now this is Bob Carver signing off. Thank you I invite any and all questions. So if anybody has a question or several questions, please just ask and I will answer. QUESTION: Bob, how can a 75 watt tube amp use such small output transformers and be lightweight ? ANSWER: I've always designed amplifiers that had lots of power and lighter weight than others designs. The transformer size can be made smaller by using fine wire and specified materials. There is no magic, because it adds inefficiencies in other ways like power, but the design has more than enough power. QUESTION: Bob, A guy is claiming a 275 makes 17 watts with strange distortion numbers any thoughts? ANSWER: Thats ridiculous, a 75 watt amp.. Isn't it obvious? It is being test wrong or its damaged.. My amps can be difficult to test, difficult to get the grounding correct. I've been dealing with people testing my designs wrong and getting grounding errors effecting measurements, most of my life. QUESTION: Bob is it fair to say that you design amplifiers for reproducing music into dynamic loudspeaker loads, more so than focusing on reproducing sine waves into load resistors? ANSWER: There is some truth to that. My amps can perform way above there power rating for a time, a time being several seconds. MORE QUESTIONS, ASK HERE.. The Carver Site is the place for answers. Have fun. Enjoy! Sincerely, Jim Clark.

Welcome @Nullpointer. Thanks for the kind words. Thanks for letting me share Bobs work with you. Its always a pleasure. Enjoy! Jim Clark

<iframe width="790" height="444" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4HFFr0-ybg0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> Rich, You might find this interesting.

Happy Birthday Ed !

Happy Birthday SEA. (Save Everyones Amazings)

Happy Birthday Wayne !

Sorry. That was not the intent. Was just offering to demo so the OP could draw his own opinions, since sharing opinions is also an issue.

I hesitate to give opinions because they are opinions and that is perception. I'm not prepared or able to gather measurements and invest the time, but oh well, I throw my experiences out there. The C1 is an excellent value and is a high end preamp. It can be bought for a fair price and restored or modified to perform very well. Although using opamps in its design it performs very well. Opamps generally (generally) result in increased noise levels, but reduce the cost of a producing the product instead of the generally quieter/higher performance discrete design. For the cost of a C1 plus upgrade, depending on if you can DIY or have to pay labor, can be a great performance for the money, a real value especially if you enjoy Sonic Holography. If you pay full price for a used unit and then pay a tech to mod it, then you have to ask yourself if the total cost is still the best value. Thats too many variables and is individual choice. Are there better sounding preamps for more money? Absolutely. I have a few examples here at Jim Clark Stereo - A Bob Carver Showcase. If anyone is near Northern IL. over the summer, I would be happy to demonstrate a variety of vintage and new preamp and you can hear for yourself. While you are at it you can hear the latest products from Bob Carver. No sales pressure at all, but if you are a long time fan of Bob Carver, you owe it to yourself to hear his latest products. Bob is doing the greatest work of his life and every fan should experience it. It would be my pleasure to share Bobs work with you. While being opinions, I'm happy to demo different design types so you can compare for yourself and develop an opinion of your own, without buying anything. We could go from 1960s Dynaco Pass3X to C1, C1 BillD, C11, 4000T, Threshold FET 10 up to a new $6000 PS Audio BHK preamp.. About a 55 year time span of preamp designs that could be seen and heard in one location. Almost like a slice or sliver of audio history while visiting a dealer of the new products. Someone asked if showing off the vintage Carver products would create competition for the new Bob Carver products, because the vintage gear is such a great value for the performance it offers. That is a good question. The answer is no I'm not.. The new Bob Carver products are that good. Absolutely Amazing! Don't take my word for it, come hear for yourself. Your opinion is the only important one and this is the best help I can give.

Wow. Super nice! Had a chance to hear Eds (Sea) at Caverfest. Beautiful sound. Thanks for sharing.