Good dynamic headroom, high current capacity, bridgable

Meter bulbs blow out

According to Bob Carver, the idea behind the TFM series of amplifiers was to build an amp that had the sound characteristics of a tube amp. By analyzing the input waveform and comparing it to the output waveform of tube amps, he devised a transfer function that, when applied to an input signal resulted in an output that was "tube-like".

Did it work? I don't know. I can say that my three TFM-15CB's don't really sound exactly like a good tube amp, but they are definitely a bit "warmer" than a comperable solid state amp, so I guess the answer is a solid "kind of". Nonetheless, the TFM-15CB is a very good amplifier, especially since there are a ton of them out there on the used market.

I use two of mine, bridged, to drive a pair of Acoustat 1+1 electrostatic speakers. The Acoustats present a pretty complicated load and do require a lot of power to produce satisfying sound. The TFM-15CB's deliver the power easily. Of course, there are a slew of amplifiers that can pump out scads of power, but these amps do it in a very controlled, precise way. They do compliment the Acoustats very well, providing a bit of low end punch and working well with the high end shrillness that the speakers can suffer from.

There are a couple of issues that have plagued me since I bought these amps a little over a year ago. The first is that the lights that illuminate the front panel meters only seem to last a couple of months before going out. The other is that these amps get hot. I mean HOT. Apparently that's normal...they will not shut down from overtemp until the transformer reaches 140 degrees Centigrade! Still, it's a little disconcerting to put my hand on top of the amps and have it hurt.

Amp number three runs a pair of homemade transmission line subwoofers. It drives the 4 ohm impedance drivers with no problem. It also gets hot and burns out light bulbs.

For between $200 and $250 on the used market, you can buy a cosmetically and performance perfect TFM-15CB. To my ear, the amplifier sounds wonderful and performs flawlessly. For that money, I don't think that it can be beat. I can't think of any reason that I'd give up mine!

5 stars for value...the amps are bargains at the prices they've been selling for. 4 stars overall...I'm getting a little tired of replacing light bulbs.

I drive the amps with a Carver C-3 preamplifier of the same (approximately 1993) vintage.

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High end sound at a reasonable price

transformer hum

This amplifier sounds very natural,even at high levels,it
sounds like a high quality,high current design ,I use it with older JBL centurys and the system is Loud & clean, the
meters are acurate (I compared them to a Furman Power Monitor) ,the turn on/off delay is great,solid construction and great looks.the only problem is the transformer noise,but this is not heard through the speakers.

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I have owned two of the TFM 15cb. This like most of the Carver line up soundswonderful.. The midrange, and treble is wonderful. Bass is tight. Soundstage
is equally great. This is greatly influenced by the speaker and placement.
Most all Carver Amps carry a tubelike quality in the mids and highs, but retain
a solidstate punch for the bass..Hard to beat for the price..
Carver amps and preamps can be bought in "B" goods for redicuously low
from some mail order places..One dealer I highly recommend, and which I have
purchased almost everything I own is www.onecall.com This is the mail order
division of Huppins High fi and video of Spokane, Washington..Trust me! If
these guys sell it the price will be the lowest you can find.

power, looks, smooth sound

none for the money

Best amp you can get in the 100-300 price range new or used.

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Lots of clean, detailed power. Easily switched to mono. Very nice sound. Price, Price, Price

Non-detatchable power cord

Well, I must tell you, before you spend big dollars on any amp, give this TFM-15cb a work-out. You will be hard pressed to want more. The amp is rock stable. It has large reserves of power. It looks as fine as amps costing much more. I put this amp in my system after listening to a much more expensive one, and immediately wondered why I spent so much more, for so little more. After the amp warmed up, and I listened intensely for a while, I was totally blown away. I've read reviews for and against this amp, the problem is that there was two TFM-15s that people confuse. The TFM-15cb is the more reliable and sweeter. I would be mighty surprised if any amp existed, that will compete, for the same dollar. The people out there who feel Carver is not a good product, should give this little guy a try, be careful though, you probably won't be returning it.

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Duson, Bryston, Perreault, Acurus, Sima, Dynaco, Sphynx.

I bought this now discontinued power amp from a mail order house (OneCall in Spokane, WA -- they have a website: www.onecall.com) for $260 (retail was $535). It's rated at 100 watts/channel into 8 ohms, and 140 into 4 ohms. The amp was of course designed by Carver, but built in Taiwan. Visually, it has two power meters on the front panel, along with separate volume controls for each channel. I particularly like the volume pots (although I know they add to the signal path) because I can now turn them down a bit to offset the strong output from my preamp. Two other features I think are cool: 1) the amp can be converted to a monaural amp at the flip of a rear panel switch, puting out 300 watts in that mode; and 2) the rear panel also contains a pair of line-level-out jacks so that a person can "daisy-chain" this amp with another, eliminating the need for a second set of interconnects from the preamp.
I've used the TFM-15 for about a month now, both for home theater front channels and music. It's sonic character is smooth, articulate, and open. Bass is good -- full and well defined. Mids are very clean, with vocals being one of the amp's real strongpoints. Treble is smooth and clear. On the downside -- the TFM-15 does not cast a very deep soundstage, although left-to-right placement is very good.

One other thing I've found is that speaker cable does make a difference. The Carver didn't much like the 14 gauge Radio Shack Megacable I was using when I first got it, sounding sort of edgy and harsh. I've since switched to Music Metre Signature cable -- admittedly very expensive (I had it left over from a previous life as an audio reviewer). However, I suspect that the smaller AudioQuest cables (Types 4 or 6), or Kimber's 4TC or 8TC would work well, also.

The TFM-15 carries on Carver's tradition of providing very listenable sound quality at a reasonable price. I like it.

I replaced an NHT MA1-A 80 watts amp to drive an DIY sub using and 10 inch Peerless driver. The bass is a lot more controlled and tigh. I have it rigged bridged so power is not a problem. I'am presently adding another sub,and will use it in stereo subs. Great sounding amp, suberb value for the money ( bought it second hand) Highly recommended for driving subs, connot comment if used as main power amp.

A good amplifier if you can still find one. The volume controls are the same as on the TFM-6. Decent power for efficient speakers. However, mine has again broken down, twice, in the same area. The illumination for the meters has gone out. The amp was open-box from Circuit City, and I have an extended service contract to fix them, but I will have to get with the technician on the phone to see about changing some specs on whatever item is burning out. Otherwise this is a nice amplifier with good sound, it just has reliability problems. A shame, otherwise I would give it five stars.

The TFM-15cb is a wonderful 100w/ch amplifier designed by Bob Carver - it is not one of the new cheap Carver amplifiers you see on the market today. Bass is tight, treble is smooth and somewhat tubelike. Midrange is also nice and smooth, although it seems to take on a heavy character in my system (Vandersteen Model 2 Signatures are known for a forward midrange, so this could probably be attributed to the speakers, not the amp).
This amplifier likes good interconnects and speaker cable! I was using cheap no-name interconnects and 12 gauge copper radioshack cable, and this amplifier was not very happy. Stepping up to Monster Cable M2.4s BiWire and Monster M850i interconnects greatly improved soundstaging and transparency. Do not cheap out on cables - they make a large difference.

Associated equipment:
Vandersteen 2C Signatures (with Sound Anchors spiked stands)
Adcom GTP-450
Marantz CD-67SE
Monster Cable 850i
Monster Cable 2.4s BiWire

I recently purchased a second TFM-15cb, as these amplifiers can be run in mono for ouput of 300w/1ch. Highly Recommended.

Four stars, because nothing is perfect.

To cancel Ben's review...I doubt that he has ever heard this amp before and is just giving 1 star for fun.