Good clean power with a very high "dollar to watt" ratio

Both power meters stopped functioning after only a year or two of use. Did not affect the sound, so I ignored the fault, but it ought not to have happened in my view.

This is a pretty good amp, in my opinion. I am not one of those folks who professes to hear differences between power amps, so comments about the "musicality" of the amp will not be addressed. It's a good bang for the buck, particularly since you can now find them used for less than $200.00 or thereabouts.

Similar Products Used:

Carver C-16 pre-amp

I just bought this wonderful Carver TFM-15cb a week ago to team up with my carver CT-seven preamp and Carver SD/A-390t tube CD changer. I'm now using it to drive my pair of Definitive Technology BP8 bipolars.Bass is tight, even though those Bp8's can handle up to 200 watts, but tfm-15cb's 39dB gain makes it sufficient enough for a small listening room in my apartment. After watching the analog meters at the amp's faceplate, I wonder when it'll hit the 100 W mark, since 100 W is the maximum output.. The sound is deafening even at 30 watts. Treble is crisp and women's voice is warm.
This amp is very accurate and produces transparent 10Hz- 30kHz output.

Warm, sweet, clean sound.

Please note: I'm told there is a huge difference between a TFM-15 and a TFM-15CB. The CB is apparently the older and more desirable unit. I have two TFM-15CBs. I've never heard a non-CB TFM-15.

I love my amps. I don't believe in buying equipment with moon-orbit prices, which makes earlier Carver stuff very attractive. My TFM-15CBs have always given me perfect performance. They have very accurate reproduction, and their reserve power and strong Q give them the clarity and penetration of much more powerful amplifiers, with the sweetness and clean sound of much more expensive amps.

One big compliment I can give to these amps is their happiness driving my custom subwoofers. I had them designed by a local shop, and we stumbled upon a design with flat, artifact-free response from 25 (not a typo) to 100Hz, and 2nd-order attenuation above and below. The Carver amp drives this beast during high-current transients with no complaints (which means I don't have to think about it when I listen... until the neighbors complain).

If you are looking to compete on paper, find something else. But if what you want is great reproduction of your music, while having enough money left to buy MORE music, (and if you can FIND a TFM-15CB to buy), get one.

Listening environment:
Adcom GCD-575 CD player
Carver PSC-60 preamp
(2) Carver TFM-15CB amplifiers
(2) custom satellites (6" carbon-fiber, 1" dome, bass reflex)
(2) custom subwoofers (12" band-pass, power reduced)

Price, power

quality, CAVER IS OUT OF BUSINESS AND WILL NOT

Qulity SUCKS. I have a TFM-15 (circa 1992) and a TFM-15CB (circa 1997).

The power of these amps is great, much louder then a "100" watt reciever. I drive a pair of DCM KM-212 (two powered 12 inch woffers per channel) and this amp has no problem running at peak output levels with very low distorsion (using a Denon DAP-2500 pre-amp, also circa 1992).

Here is the problem. The TFM-15 broke in 1997 (hence the TFM-15CB). Due to the cost of repair and the age of the unit I bought a new TFM-CB. Once again the unit broke (it is under warranty but Carver is chapter 11).

The left channel cuts out on the CB unit intermitantly. So repaied the much older unit (the voltage rectifiers were bad).

Carver's quility was suspect even in the early 90s, stay away from Carver

Similar Products Used:

TFM-15, TFM-15CB