Service for TFM 45

I have a Carver TFM 45 which I bought new years ago. I"ve looked at this site for repair shops and while I most likely will send it off to Rita's, there's a fellow in Connecticut who says he services Carver. His shop doesn't show up on the repair shop list, but he's real close. Any body out there have experience with the Connecticut outfit.
Secondly, Carver Pre-Amps show up now and again on EBay. I've got AVA and NAD pre-amps, are the Carver Pre-amps worth looking into?

Re Carver Pre amps. Are they worth looking into?

Only if you want a better Pre-amp.

Walked right into that one .

What model Nad do you have? There are a lot of choices out there in pre-amps or processors (Sunfire). What are you currently running now? Home Theater? tell us a little more about your set-up, thanks

What's wrong with your TFM-45?

There are many repair places that will fix your amp by simply fixing the specific problem that it has and that's it. This is an ok solution if the amp is not very old, but if it's an older amp such as a TFM-45 you may want to consider sending it to Rita for a few reasons.
When you send it to Rita she will replace all of the caps in it that are subject to failure by age as well as check all of the solder and cold solder joints in it. She also adjusts everything to original factory specs and then plays it for a period of time to ensure everything stays to factory specs. There is also the security in knowing that Rita has been servicing these amps since they were still under factory warranty. There are only a handful of people who know them as good as she does not to mention if there is something she needs double checked her go to person is Mr. Carver himself. Not to say anything bad about any other repair person or place because there are great ones available, but I seem to like the sound of my 45 returning fully serviced and verified at 100% original factory specs by someone who has been with Mr. Carver since the amp was new.

Rainman

Thanks for the posts. There is, as best I can hear, nothing wrong with the TFM-45. I want to have it gone over because it's old, irreplaceable and it's American made. While not 100% successful, I try to stick to American made products. There is one unnerving aspect to the Carver, it makes a loud snap through the speakers when shut down. I don't know anyone else with Carver stuff so until I found this site, there was no one to talk with about the gear.
As for the other stuff I use, I have an Insight Amp and preamp and DAC built by Frank Van Alstine in Minnesota. The TFM will go in with Insight Pre-Amp and the Van Alstine Amp will move to another system. My speakers are old. Boston Acoustics A400 which I like and don't know if I could afford new and comparable speakers. I don't have any AV Stuff and don't use fancy interconnects or speaker wire because in my mind the "improvement" in the sound comes no where near the cost involved.
I have a Sherwood NewCastle CD player, single play and a great sounding unit. In other systems I've got Cambridge Audio CD players, one a 340 and the other a 640.
The Cambridge audio isn't American made, but can't be clean across the board. Finally, I'd like to mention that I recently bought some SongTower speakers with ribbon tweeters from Salk Signature Sound in Michigan. Designed and built in the USA, a beautifully made speaker , great sound and an excellent price.
Someone asked what Model NAD preamp I use and it's a C-162. Got it on sale and the price seemed way low. It's not the best nor is it the worst. It does the job and comes with a switchable phono amp. NAD is made in China

[quote="yeggo"]Thanks for the posts. There is, as best I can hear, nothing wrong with the TFM-45. I want to have it gone over because it's old, irreplaceable and it's American made. While not 100% successful, I try to stick to American made products. There is one unnerving aspect to the Carver, it makes a loud snap through the speakers when shut down.

There are a lot of amps that will thump your speakers, that's why they came out with delayed on switches or power conditioners that power up components in a certain order. The rule of thumb is just backward from what you would think. Amplifier is First OFF, last ON. Try turning things on in order using this rule of thumb and see if it works of course having your pre-amp volume NOT set to MAX! The Sunfire Classic Tube/phono sure would be a nice mate to your 45!

(snip) The rule of thumb is just backward from what you would think. Amplifier is First OFF, last ON. (snip)

OK, I thought it was the other way around! Amp on first, and off last. What is correct?

I remember it by LOFO (last on-first off)

Many surge protectors/power conditioners have a sequential turn on and off to eliminate those thumps. Bill D. provided a link to a Belkin that can be ordered thru Walmart on an earlier post. Here is the link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Belkin-PureAV ... 0300443452

There are many other manufacturers that also provide this feature. This should solve your problem, unless there is a problem in the amp itself. However, you can eliminate that possibility by following the LOFO principle to see if that solves your problem as mentioned by Jag in an earlier post.

Is that Last On First Off or Last Off First On or
Last On First On or Last Off First Off?

Is that Last On First Off or Last Off First On or
Last On First On or Last Off First Off?

Bill, you are confusing me here

Well, they're all LOFO, so it's not a very meaningful acronym (at least it's confusing).

FIFO First in First out.