Carver 275 Crimson tube amp --- any feedback appreciated

fmalitz,
Does the amp use two 12ax7s and one 12at7 or vice versa? 
Thanks,
Lula

Connect with Jim Clark Stereo.  He's a very knowledgeable Carver dealer and can answer any of your questions about the 275 or 350.  

Carver usually says in it's literature, that his amps are not designed to go below 4 ohms, unless it is the few that work better. I disagree that he exaggerates his specs, it's that people don't pay attention to the instruction manuals. 

Ricky,
Excellent point.  I have recently become aware of the implications of speakers' impedance, which can be a different aspect of performance than simply considering speakers' sensitivity/efficiency (I can never remember the difference between the two).  To wit, my pal has a Don Sachs KT88 tube amp driving 90 db efficient speakers, but the speakers became distorted at maybe 80 db... just crapped out.  Well, it turns out the speakers were nominally 4 ohm speakers that dipped to 2.8 ohms and the amp simply ran out of gas.

Well, we played the same tube amp with my 12-ohm Spatial Audio speakers and they were simply glorious, far far more musical in all respects, including LF extension, than my Platinum-upgraded 100 wpc McCormack DNA .05 ss amp, which I think it is brilliant amp.  By the way, my pal who brought the Don Sachs amp to me to audition ended up purchasing the Spatial Audio M3 Triode Master speakers for his system.  The tube amp and the Spatial Audio speakers are a wonderful match, he informs me. 

Again, the point to understand is that that speaker impedance compatibility is a fact to be recognized, particularly if one is considering a tube amp for one's system.  Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems that most ss amps are more compatible with low impedance speaker loads while tube amps are more compatible with higher impedance speakers loads.  

Correct. Tube amps primarily work best with speakers that have a higher sensitivity - in addition to a flat impedance curve. Many speakers have dips and spikes in the impedance curve at various frequencies that are not mentioned in the specs. The marketing material may just say that the speakers are a ’nominal’ 6 ohm impedance. But, that could be a median average. It could be misleading when trying to match an amp with speakers on paper vs auditioning.