Help for a Newbie Please

Hello folks!

I am a music lover and musician but I'm not smart about electronics - I just know what sounds good to my ears.

I used to have Alison Speakers I drove with an M400 and now I have B&W speakers and a Carver TFM-25. Well I noticed the front right speaker was making very little sound, so I went into my Dennon AV-setup and had to crank up the right speaker level to balance the sound but the result sounds crappy. (I have the Carver volume all the way up and use the Denon as a pre-amp to the Carver which drives the front speakers B&W 802 Matrix). This has worked out fine, particularly as the Denon as a "pure direct" mode which bypasses most of the circuitry of the Denon.

I hope that made sense.

My question is this - I have no idea what to do about this:

1) Are there some simple tests I can perform myself to determine the issue (or confirm there is one)?
2) Should I send this off somewhere for repair - is it worth it? Should I just look for a replacement? If so, should I go to e-Bay (or maybe the trade forum here) and get another TFM-25.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have to offer.

If I'm reading your comments correctly, it could also be your AVR. Do you have access to other gear to narrow it down?

Try swapping channel connections to the amp to see if the problem follows the channel. Then swap speakers ( left to right side) to see if it is is just in one speaker.

Welcome

Welcome! it should be fairly easy to test if it's the amp or receiver, just swap rca plugs on the amp and if the same speaker is quiet then it's more then likely your amp or speaker.

Welcome to the forum. Do what they said, and you should have a good idea of where the problem might be. Good Luck.

Thank you very much gentlemen for your kind advice and welcome.

I shall follow your suggestion and confirm the bad channel - I'll have to bite the bullet and move the console and 66" damn DLP TV to do that, but you all confirmed my laziness so I shall have to move forward.

I also suppose it is possible that it is the AVR, so my next step will be to connect the an input source directly through the Carver. In that case I'll be routing for the Carver against the Denon ha ha! (although my Carver was made in Japan dang it!). Man, I hope it's not the speaker, that would be a pain.

Thanks again and it is great to be here with such a knowledgable crew - I had a feeling that Carver folks would be a smart crowd! I have been using Carver amps almost exclusively since the early 80s and their sound just seem to "catch the air" if you know what I mean...

Maybe I'm stubborn, but I'd like to stick with Carver even if they are out of business...

Cheers!

Maybe I'm stubborn, but I'd like to stick with Carver even if they are out of business...

...Bob's not out of business...just retired! Plenty of Carver equipment left around to last a long time...check out ebay, craig's list, audiogon, and our own Beemers Vintage Hi-Fi of Pittsburgh audio shop.

A quick way to tell if its your speaker or not is to just swap them, assuming your speakers are small enough to move easily. That way you don't have to touch the electronics. It doesn't really sound like a speaker issue though to me-- if I had to guess based on what I've read here I'd say it's an amplifier issue, but you never know. If it does turn out to be your amplifier you could always send it to Rita's Vintage Audio for refurbishing. It would cost you as much as buying another used one but the TFM line is pushing 20 years old now so anything you get used may need attention in the near future anyway. If you plan on keeping that amp for a long time and like how it sounds it would be worth a rebuild in my opinion. Any how, good luck and keep us posted.

http://www.ritasvintageaudio.net/index.html

Thanks jjptkd! That sound's like good advice getting my unit brought up to spec makes a lot more sense than taking a chance on another e-bay purchase (if need be).

Cheers!