Bob Carver To Release a $2,100 20-watt Tube Amp in July

[Jerry Del Colliano]

Bob Carver's first foray back in to audiophila since Sunfire started with a $13,000 pair of tube amps that are very very nice but well out of the reach of many.

Now he is back with a 20-watt tube amp that is priced at $2,100 which is expensive but aspirational in price.

The new amp should ship in July 2012.

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VTA20S
Black Magic 20 Watt Stereo Amplifier
Input Impedance
20K ohms in stereo, 125K ohms in mono
Nominal Voltage Gain
26dB (into 8 ohms)
Input Tubes
12AX7B
Output Tubes
1 complementary pair of EL84Ms per channel
Rated Power (Stereo)
20 Watts
Rated Power (Mono)
40 Watts
Speaker Impedance
4 to 16 ohms
Noise
Better than 96dB A weighted ref. into 20 watts
Frequency Response
8 Hz to 40 kHz (-3dB)
Full Power Bandwidth
26Hz to 43 kHz without filters
Distortion
Less than 0.5%
Hum
-100dB
Generator Source Impedance
1.5 Ohms
Weight
17 pounds
Color
Black with silver fleck and silver trim
Country of Origin
Point-to-point hand wired in the United States
Warranty
7 years (1 year on tubes)
The VTA20S lists for $2,100 and will ship in July.

[Tracy Rainwater]

You would have to have some really efficient speakers for this to be a viable option for amplification. In the grand scheme of Carver's tube amps, $2100 is pretty cheap.

Is he marketing it to the headphone fanboys?

[Jerry Del Colliano]

Tekton and Parker Audio type people.

My Focals would run on this amp.

j

[k0rww]

That there's a market for this is just amazing to me. I sure have more useful hardware to buy for $2100. Obviously, to each his own.

[Tracy Rainwater]

Don't underestimate the allure of tubes in a two channel rig. I would do something like this if I had the room and the "right" speakers.

[k0rww]

Don't underestimate the allure of tubes in a two channel rig. I would do something like this if I had the room and the "right" speakers.

You might very well be right, but I will never know.

BTW I have parts of an AV rack all over my media room. As soon as I can find help, I'll start with the amp. which I'm putting at the bottom. Way too much thinking going into where to place items in the rack.