Bob Carver have launched the VTA20S and will ship in July at a cost of $2100. The new stereo amplifier is  rated at 20 WRMS in 2 channel stereo mode or 40 WRMS when used in single channel mono mode. The amplifier features auto biasing and low idle current greatly increasing EL84M output tube life.

Bob Carver hand-build their amplifiers in the US using point to point wiring and with no circuit board traces, no surface mount components and no depluggable connecters.

“The VTA20S represents Bob’s latest and greatest thinking on vacuum tube amplifier designs. ” says Bob Farinelli. A screen voltage regulator and DC restoration circuit minimizes crossover distortion and output tube power dissipation. “The 1.5 ohm output impedance coupled with current and voltage feedback loops also allows the amplifier to listen to the room via acoustic feedback from the speakers”. “The room to speaker to amplifier interaction delivers a huge acoustic space and allows us to believe the performance could have existed in another time and in another place. It sounds so beautiful!” Says Bob Carver.

Specifications:

• 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