Unending power

Gets awfully hot and uses LOTS of power even when idle

I actually own two of these amps (TFM-35) and a TFM-15cb. I use these amps for surround sound as well as for music listening in stereo. I have never been able to make this amp clip even when the meters were pegged. I did however manage to blow a supposedly protected speaker with this level of volume. I love the way these amps sound and will only get rid of them when I can afford to go with Krell. Since it seems the fashion: 2 TFM-35 l/c/r/sub 1 TFM-15cb l/r surround Definitive Technology BP2004 l/r Def Tech 1000 c Def Tech BP8 r/l surround. Theta data basic transport, Theta Cobalt 307 DAC, Marantz AV-550 Preamp AC-3 Processor RCA DVD player, Nakamishi CR-2A Tape deck, Monster Power HTS-2500 line conditioner, and custom built sub utilizing 2 peerless 10" matched pair woofers in a ported enclosure. Just to make things sweeter I got these amps for $500 each new and tax free from the US Navy exchange while they briefly carried Carver components.

Power, and it's best feature is it's imaging

Not very accurate, boomy undefined bass, lack of finess

It isn't as bad as some here are making it out to be, but for the money you can do better. I found the Marantz Mono Block line to be very musical, and great for HT. But to be honest the Carver imaged better in 2-ch. Levinson did everything right, but you pay everything for it. For people in home theater mainly, and stereo a distant second, this is the piece for you, and the good news is they are cheap these days...but good luck getting one serviced if you need to.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz MA500s, MA700, Levinson, Adcom, and auditioned many more

Warm sound, very musical, and plently of power, with good looks to boot

None

Can't say enough good things about this amp. I've owned a number of amps over the years, and this is by far the most musical I've heard. I won't pretend that it can compete with amps costing many more times the price, but as one reviewer pointed at, this has to be one of the best amps you can buy for under $1000. I use it for both music and home theater applications, and have to say, neither is compromised in any way. Solidly built and extremely pleasant sounding, without the listener fatigue that plagues a lot of other equipment in its class. Highly and enthusiastically recommended!

Similar Products Used:

Carver M 1.0t, Yamaha, Parasound

This is my second Carver amplifier, purchased in '95, and I'm just as impressedwith the TFM-35x as I am with my trusty ol' M-400t Magnetic Field Amplifier that
I bought in Stuttgart, Germany 16 years ago!

It's a powerful amp, with lots of reserve power on tap. It's detailed, and quite
efficient...my 4 ohm Magnepan MGLR-1 loudspeakers sound airy and unstrained, and
with 350 watts of power per channel into 4 ohms driving the Maggies, the TFM-35x
runs only slightly warm to the touch! No need for a cooling fan, even at high
volume levels! And with the help of MIT MITerminator 2 interconnects and Space
and Time #9 AWG loudspeaker cable, the amp seems even more powerful!

I've never experienced any problems with this amp like some of my fellow review-
ers have, and as far as I'm concerned, Carver has built a sophisticated, state-
of-th-art component. It's craftsmanship is of high quality, and it's performance
is first-rate and very reliable. Now that Bob Carver is in control of the "New"
Carver Corporation, his innovated style of engineering will hopefully bring his
latest Carver components up to the highiest standards once held by his original
designs, just as his audiophile-grade Sunfire line does now! We'll see...

More power than I'll ever need. Cool, funky, anolog meters. Very nice build quality. Great musical sound(to my ears).

Cool, funky, anolog meters does not match the rest of my budget Frankenstien system.(But nothing really matches in my system anyway).

I have spent the last seven months piecing together a stereo system. My goal was to get the best sound quality without spending more than $1000 on electronics and then an additional $1500 on speakers. Unfortunately I have already spent approximately $1600 on electronics(Crazy Addictive Hobby) mainly due to adding some home theatre capability to my system. Now I'm thinking about putting a turntable into the mix(Again, Crazy Addictive Hobby). That's the main problem I have found with higher end audio: When you take out the distortion normally heard with lower end components, you hear the really crappy job the audio industry did on remixing old music for the digital CD format.

The amp was the first part to my system. I considered many "Mid-Fi" amps out there including Rotel and Nad. I came very close to buying the Nad C370. It was a great sounding amp for the $500 price tag but, considering that would be half my original budget, I decided I needed to consider some used equipment.

To buy used equipment I had to depend on reviews from magazines and websites like this one. That is something you should never do......you should always listen and compare before you buy......but I did it anyway.....and....I have not been dissapointed.

The 35X simply sounds great. I can hear clear detail over the entire frequency range. At least, that's what my ears hear. Whether or not this amp reproduces music like it was originally recorded?.....who knows what it sounded like?....unless you were in the studio or at the concert that day. I think the true definition of HIFI is simply whatever sounds better to the earand to me, this amp sounds great. The power in this amp is way more than I'll ever need. It has no problem driving the Magnapans that I have chosen. I would recommend this amp to anyone looking for high end audio on a budget..... exspecially since you can get one for around $300 on ebay.

Other components in my "Frankenstien" system:
Carver CT-7:preamp.
Marantz DV-7000:DVD player and CD transport.
Carver Digital Time Lens:cool CD signal conditioner for old CD's where the digital mixing was crappy.
Cal Audio Sigma II:awesome outboard Tube D/A converter.
Yamaha DSP-E492:neat 3 channel addon amp for home theatre.
Technics SH500D:Dolby Digital and DTS decoder.

I gave this amp only four star rating for value because can buy a better sounding amp(my friends Sim Audio is magic), but the cost would be in the thousands like the Sim Audio, not the hundreds like this great deal.

Similar Products Used:

Sim Audio Moon(a rich friend let me try his out).
Rotel Amps(at an audio store).
NAD C370.

Power, Looks, Sound

None

Excelent Amp. Warm natural sound. recommend to anyone if you can find one.

Power,warmth and clean sound

I bought my TFM-35 (not the TFM35X) back in 1993 & never had any problem with it.I love it`s warm sound which complements my tube preamp.I`ll never get rid of it !

The TFM-35x was the most disappointing amplifier I've ever owned. It clipped far too easily for a 250 wpc amp, and did so without ever achieving the kind of sound levels I could get from lesser powered amps (Sansui BA-3000 @ 175 wpc; Dynaco ST-416 @ 205 wpc; and I think even my old McIntosh 2100 showed more balls than the Carver). I unloaded it on the first sucker I could find.

Powerful, output power meters, bridgeable.

Gets a little warm stacked with other equipment in an entertainment center.

I bought this amp dedicated for subwoofer use in home theater application. Just see to see its full range use though I have used it to power a pair of DCM KX2-12's and rattled the walls many times...eventually though I realized there's better than the KX2-12's and sold them for some B&W's.... nice.

Anyway, I first used the Amp to power a dual VC Cadence 15" sub I put together in a sealed box approximately 2 3/4 cu ft. I sold the little 15" before VC damage occurred, and moved up to a Pyle Driver 18" in a 3' cu ft sealed box. Needless to say with the power output of the Carver TFM35X, the 18" is about ready to be burried.... next stop, a VMPS passive larger sub maybe...

Dennis

Similar Products Used:

none

Awesome Power , Never gets Hot ,Pure Quality Sound , Great Looks

Not that it is a big deal but the dB light bulbs should be better built. See Review Summary.

I have used this Carver TFM 35 for about one and a half years now. I can say that Bob Carver is one heck of a Pioneer !! This Baby can really rock the house. When I listen to my music , everyone else in my neiberhood has too !! I will only now purchase Caver & Yamaha products. This Carver amp is having a very hard life !! I push it to it's MAX just about every day and it Never gets hot or clips on me. It seems that the more I punish it , it likes it. I would have to give this amp 4.9 Stars !! If the lights could handle the extream bass better and not blow , this amp would defenatly be a 5 STAR !! If you are looking for a great amp go to Ebay ( The Price is Right ) I would only buy the TFM 35 or higher power models. The Tfm 25 too me just doesn't have the power. If you don't mind the less power the 25 is still a very dependable amp !! This is what my current system is that I purchased piece by piece off of Ebay. And it includes the following : Yamaha Rx-V890 Receiver,Yamaha CDC-815 Cd player,Yamaha KX-W 392 Tape deck,Yamaha CDRS-1000 Cd Recorder, 2 Carver M200T amps, 1 Carver TFM-35 amp, Monster cable HTS-5000 Power conditioner, Jvc XL-Mv 303 Karaoke Player, 13" Video moniter ,Raxxes 7' commercial rack, One set series 4 Bose 901's , One set Bose 301's with Klipsch KG4 8" Drivers , 2 15" MTX 500w. Black gold Subs.

Similar Products Used:

None.