Carver Crimson 275 Review (Tube Amp)

[jhaider]

“Sideshow” is the word that comes to mind.

Unlike many (older) folks I don’t have warm fuzzies about the Carver name. My first exposure was the Sunfire “True Subwoofer,” an amusical thing that got loud pretty low in a small cabinet but otherwise had no virtues. The Carver “ribbon” speaker Circuit City sold (long planar, maybe downfiring woofer) sounded very disjointed. He may have been right on fact with the Stereophile amp challenge thing but his approach belonged in a circus ring. So I’m not shocked by the all-show nature of this amp.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I don't know what to make of those measurements, and how an amp at this price could be so screwed up. I wonder what the performance would have been if a large enough output transformer to support 75w would have been used - at the price of this amp, surely a sufficient transformer could have been spec'd.

Regarding the paint on the chassis; all I see is orange peel. I could get a better, smoother finish with a rattle can of Krylon.

 

[mhardy6647]

The Cayin is not comparable because of its topology (which is what determines that distortion curve). This Carver amp would likely clip in the usual push-pull manner if it didn't blow fuses before its clipping point.

edit: I wish I knew where my little EL84 amp is buried. I'd love to post some comparative measurements...

I totally agree on the first point (of course). I was (am) merely commenting on Gestalt.
I am less clear on the second, looking at the two (?!) curves in that figure... not that I can figure out why there are two.

edit: I wish I knew where my little EL84 amp is buried. I'd love to post some comparative measurements...
Me, too, now that you mention that.
I could send you one if you wish -- there's a pretty motley collection of them here.
The 'best' (in terms of condition/rehabilitation) is probably the SCA-35, mostly because I did install modern power supply bits into it some years back. EDIT^2: I used boards from a sole proprietorship called "Audioregenesis" that's no longer doing business. As I think about it, I may have "done" the preamp board(s) in my SCA-35, too. I will actually have to pop the hood & take a look.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I feel it's important to point out this link, allegedly with some context from Bob Carver:
https://carverstereoforum.com/forums/topic/carverfest-amps-and-how-to-measure-them/

Looks like that post is directly responding to this article. The poster appears to claim that what Amir measured was not an actual Carver commercial product but rather a hobbyist-built “Carverfest” amplifier.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

This review makes me fall in love with my Dynaco MKIIIs all over again.

 

[paulbottlehead]

Jim Clark and anyone else who helped perpetuate this scandal should be ashamed. Maybe he will come back to this thread to apologize to everyone? (I doubt it...)

Without Jim Clark I wouldn't have dropped $2800 on a new amp to clear all this up, so I suppose in a way we owe him some thanks.

 

[SIY]

Me, too, now that you mention that.
I could send you one if you wish -- there's a pretty motley collection of them here.
The 'best' (in terms of condition/rehabilitation) is probably the SCA-35, mostly because I did install modern power supply bits into it some years back.

Mine is the Red Light District, Round 2 (James iron, increased plate voltage and power). No measurement champ, but does what it's supposed to do- and no blocking.

 

[SIY]

This review makes me fall in love with my Dynaco MKIIIs all over again.

View attachment 179291

I probably still have a bunch of 6AN8. Good thing they used that tube, I've been told that 7199 are tough to source these days.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I probably still have a bunch of 6AN8. Good thing they used that tube, I've been told that 7199 are tough to source these days.

Yes, the 7199 basically unobtainum and is generally being replaced by the 6GH8 with pinout modifications on the socket (or an adapter socket). I stocked up with NOS 7199s and 6AN8s in the last century.

 

[fastfreddy666]

It seems that a lot of electrical energy is "wasted" as heat. So as a bonus you can use this thing to fry an egg on it or keep your leftovers hot after listening a few hours at normal listening levels Energy consumption is not mentioned in the manual. But the above mentioned Advantage Dynaco ST 70 is 190 watt.

Vacuum tubes are soooo efficient. But the sound is so WARM. Probably because your room is heating up.

(1) http://www.thehistoryofrecording.com/Manuals/DynaCo/Dynakit_ST70.pdf

 

[mhardy6647]

 

[paulbottlehead]

I suspect the bottom set of curves is running up in level, the pointed spike is where the fuse blew, and the upper set of curves represents the caps discharging in the amp and things cooling off.

 

[mhardy6647]

I probably still have a bunch of 6AN8. Good thing they used that tube, I've been told that 7199 are tough to source these days.

Yes, quite hard to find -- especially quiet ones.

I suspect the bottom set of curves is running up in level, the pointed spike is where the fuse blew, and the upper set of curves represents the caps discharging in the amp and things cooling off.

Ahh! Got it! It's one curve!
Derp.

 

[pseudoid]

Bob text'd me and asked me to ask you (@amirm) if his engineers can borrow your AudioPrecision because their's caught Covid.
He maybe too embarrassed ask you personally.

Could he NOT come out with a different model#? An MC275; it is NOT!

 

[amirm]

Is there a reason there is no voting on this POS?

My brain is still fuzzy... Poll added.

 

[amirm]

BTW, I am a little puzzled by the data for the Carver amp in the borrowed figure above. It looks like the two channels (red and pink) are more or less superimposable -- why, though, are there two sets of red/pink paired curves? I am missing something...

One is for each channel. They are closely matched here so they look like duplicates but they are not.

 

[amirm]

Hope you weren't standing in flood water with the way this thing is "grounded"

I made sure I was up not just one floor from the flood, but two!

 

[Labjr]

It seems that a lot of electrical energy is "wasted" as heat. So as a bonus you can use this thing to fry an egg on it or keep your leftovers hot after listening a few hours at normal listening levels Energy consumption is not mentioned in the manual. But the above mentioned Advantage Dynaco ST 70 is 190 watt.

Vacuum tubes are soooo efficient. But the sound is so WARM. Probably because your room is heating up.

(1) http://www.thehistoryofrecording.com/Manuals/DynaCo/Dynakit_ST70.pdf

Who cares about efficiency? It's about enjoyment.

 

[Blackdog]

Something else that bothers me about this amp. The blowing of the 3A fuses.
You have an that's supposed to produce 75 watts per channel, has all those filaments drawing current, plus plate current and there's only a 3A fuse.
Most amps I've seen in that range have 5 or 6 amp fuses. Tells me the power transformer may be undersized and the small fuse is necssary.
This just keeps getting worse.

 

[amirm]

View attachment 179296

Explaining again, there is only one "set" of measurements there. One line for each channel.