Bob Carver Crimson 275 Power Amp: $2750 (75×2, 7h, 14w, 9.5d, 19 lbs)
The new Bob Carver Crimson 275 tube power amp is now here! It is made in the state of Washington. It has a five year warranty which includes the tubes themselves! Who else warranties tubes for more than a few months?
Crimson 275 sounds almost exactly how you would expect it to. It sounds tubey, warm and has many layers. It’s quite enveloping. Do you want to appreciate the nuances of a human voice? A guitar? A piano? That’s what Crimson 275 is designed to communicate.
The topic of tube power amps in audio gets quite heated- just like the amps themselves!
Crimson 275 is a game changer in many ways. First of all, it offers 75×2 of horse power. Most $6k, 75 pound amps offer just 50×2. It’s just not enough power for most speakers.
> Crimson 275 offers 75×2 of power and weighs just 19 lbs! Crimson 275 runs KT-120 tubes.
> Crimson 275 doesn’t run HOT. It’s barely warm to the touch. We can thank Bob Carver for innovative circuitry that nobody else has, to achieve this.
> Crimson 275 also runs very QUIET. Even when run into the efficient Klipsch line of speakers, it never adds noise to infringe on music. You can’t say the same about competing big dogs.
Most of us long time audiophiles have considered tube amps, or had experience with them.
Since 1977 I’ve dealt with numerous tube vendors. The story with their amplifiers is virtually identical.
There have always been bugaboos with such designs.
They’re:
> Big-Heavy
The average 50×2 power amp is a big chunk running 60 pounds plus. Most 75×2 or 100×2 amps run more like 75 pounds plus. Crimson 275 is only 19 pounds!
> Hottt
Heat is the killer of all things electronic. Whether it’s components on a board, or the traces themselves, heat is a killer and virtually every brand out there runs way hot. Crimson 275 is barely warm to the touch.
> Noisy
All big boy tube amps have annoying hum/hiss- recognizable within music or at idle. It’s quite rare to find an exception. Crimson 275 is quiet. It won’t be an issue regardless of your speaker. We have run Crimson 275 with the Klipsch LaScala AL5, 105dB SPL! It’s a marriage made in heaven. Check it out with the $4k per pair Forte 3s! It’s another perfect tandem.
> Unreliable
With massive heat comes massive, expensive failures. Every company making these behemoths says they’ve got the problems licked. Nope. Never. I’ve not seen one of these big boys that didn’t break your heart.
> Tube Life
All these big, hot competitors, run your tubes hot as blazes. It makes tubes fail, typically within a couple years. Often less. Carver warranties his for FIVE. Why? He can. He doesn’t run them HOT.
> Modest Power
Almost all speakers sound better with a SWIFT KICK. Power of 50×2 plus sure helps. Power of 75×2 is really getting there. With Crimson 275, we have a solid 75×2. Mac’s 75×2 is a great amp. It weighs 75 lbs and runs $6k!
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Tchaikovsky is second to no composer in writing beautiful music, regardless of the form. He wrote some of the most popular symphonies ever. His violin concerto and first piano concerto are as good as they come!
But alas… he was rarely confident and almost always second guessed himself. He kept lifelong diaries with intimate details of his life and sketchings of musical ideas. In a tizzy shortly before his death, he burned all of his diaries. Along with his thoughts and worries, undoubtedly great music went up in smoke.
With Chopin, we were luckier. When he died, he left a box of approximately 20 compositions for his sister (a fine pianist in her own right). He said he didn’t think any of the pieces were worth keeping. SHE thought so and some of his most valued works are among them, including his great Fantaisie Impromptu.