Bob Carver LLC Black Beauty Review

@Dracule - agree with your perspective. The difference between 240 and 305 is relatively small, but could be useful in some cases. The Cherry and the Black Beautys look very similar - same size etc. - the only difference I surmise is the power supply that is able to handle the KT-120s demands.

I am interested in the upgrades you mention - the V-caps and stepped resistor attenuator. Will ask about them (CarverFest is coming up next week so I am sure thee will be a lot of discussion about tweaks for the 305).

If you have efficient speakers the Black Magic may be the way to go. Amazing little amp for the money.

"....If you have efficient speakers the Black Magic may be the way to go. Amazing little amp for the money...."

After hours at Capital Audio Fest we put the 20 watt Black Magic into the system (Purity Audio Design Statement preamp, Daedalus Audio Athena speakers and AMR front end) and this little amps sounded pretty darn good considering it was not broken in at all. The Athena's are about 97dB and while you're not going to rattle the windows, the 20 watts did a fine job of driving them.

Namikis, yes I think the main difference between the Cherrys and Blacks are transformers power rating and perhaps the power supply caps. I think for relatively reasonable expense by replacing the stock coupling caps and volume pot, you will hear a significant increase in sound quality. You don't need expensive V-Caps, which can be too detailed. Just try your favorite caps from Mundorf, Jupiter, Clarity etc. You will need four 0.22 microF caps rated at 600V.

Chachas, I find your remarks about Bob ill-informed and nasty, to the point of personal attack. If you were an audio designer of some productivity, may be you can give a credible opinion about Bob's designs. As far as I can tell, you have no experience in designing, marketing, and manufacturing any product in audio. Despite the gimmicky names for some of his designs (and who hasn't used gimmick in high end), Bob made products that most could afford and competed with products that were far more costly.

Some of his designs are legendary (eg, Carver Silver Seven tube amp and Phase Linear, the first high power amp for consumer audio). Some are not so legendary. One of his designs I didn't care for (ie, Amazing Ribbon speaker back in the day), but have to admit it was in poor show room with unfamiliar electronics. However, he is one of the very few legends in audio who will actually talk to you on the phone about audio in general and help you trouble shoot your system, even if the problem has nothing to do with his product. As far as I can tell, there is no high end audiofest dedicated to one designer other than Bob (Carverfest). From what I understand, he is there every year to meet his fans and actually has sessions where you can build one of his amps from scratch with his help. That seems pretty darn rare in high end. The only other designer who comes close is Nelson Pass in this regard.

Most high end designers sit in their ivory towers, rarely to be seen, let alone be able to contact on the phone, unless they have a new product to sell. I have never met Bob in person, but have talked to him over the phone and found him to be genuine and almost like a kid in a candy store when it comes to audio. He'll talk audio to anyone with a body temperature.

Thanks to responses hear and elsewhere I decided to drink the Kool-Aid and got a great deal on some brand new black 180s from Underwoodwally.
All I can say is if you think your speakers have you locked into using solid state these tube amps can probably bridge that gap and have you enjoying second harmonic relaxing music of which there is no substitute.
They can power difficult loads with solid all point to point wiring no crimped spade plugs, cool running, easy biasing, adjustable feedback, no BS casework, hand made in the USA, with a transferable seven year warrantee, and they're designed by the team of Bob Farinelli, Tim de Paravicini, and Bob Carver.

These amplifiers are the real deal without any silly flash or bling. as for being a flash-in-the-pan only time will tell. Correct me if I'm wrong, Bob Carver still provides service to most all of the products he has produced.