Carver TFM-35x

Hello guys,

I am very new to this site/forum and will be lucky if I find my answer to my question. But I will try anything to
get an idea of whats going on. I have a TFM-35x that I have had for years. It has always worked.....minus the one time
the lights stopped working. That was a quick fix.......but now my amp appears to be not working. It powers up but after a few seconds I hear a click and then every......lets say 20 or 30 seconds it clicks again. Lights still work but no output. Any suggestions to try?

Have you checked and made sure you dont have any speaker wires touching? disconnect the speakers and see if it stays on.

this with no RCA cables connected or speaker wires. Just the power cable plugged into the wall.

The protection circuit is engaging so sounds like it might be rebuild time..

is there anyway to check it? Any idea what the run to repair?

Those are great amps when they work but usually cost too much to repair. I talk with Rita at Rita's Vintage Audio all the time and she's warned me in the past to steer clear of the 35x and the 55x. They're repairable but it can take numerous hours of bench time.

Might want to just snag another "near mint" one on ePray. Lot's of time the 35x's go for pretty cheap...

Thanks for the heads up, I defiantely will keep all this in mind for the future. I am off tommorrw and will break out my
2 channel scope and signal generator and see if anything is coming out at all or if the speaker output relays are tripping and kinda go for there. Who knows maybe I will put it on e-bay for parts. Thanks for your help.

I havent got it fixed yet but its not actually totally broke either. Very intermittent problem. Took the cover off and did some cleaning of a little dust out and it stopped the click, click deal. but when I bumped my elbow on the side of it by accident...it started again. I checked all the connections and everything appears solid. I kinda did the tap test here and there and it appears that there is one transistor in the back that when touched it goes into protection mode (click, click) and if you apply slight pressure to the top of it for about 3 seconds or so the protection circuit resets and doesnt come back until you disturb the unit again. That was a week ago. Ever since then the amp has been turned on
for 8 to 10 hrs at a time and woeks just like always. I am thinking of taking the board out and replace/or resolder the transitor but like I said its okay for now. Anyone seen this type of intermittent problem??

Sounds like broke soldier.

hello. for the price of parts and shipping, i could and would try to fix it for you. no promises as i am just starting out in the repair arena of life and would do it for nothing other than the experience. i already have four tfm35's that work, so i would have many working models to work against. i could even do a refurb on all the caps while i am at it. just for your consideration. cheers angelo.

I was basically wanting the amp to be in good for sell shape. I was gonna sell it before all this started and not sure what to do at this point. I am thinking of just selling it as is but dont want to screw someone in the process, or get screwed and not get anything out of it. It has been working fine for the last three weeks and I thinking it just has some connection issue....cold solder joint or something like that. I was gonna take the board out and re-flow the board but havent decided if I want to take the time for that.

You can list items on eBay for parts or repair, no returns. Describe its condition so people can bid accordingly, good luck!

Those are great amps when they work but usually cost too much to repair. I talk with Rita at Rita's Vintage Audio all the time and she's warned me in the past to steer clear of the 35x and the 55x. They're repairable but it can take numerous hours of bench time.

What have you heard about the repairability of the a-500x and a-760x?

Those are great amps when they work but usually cost too much to repair. I talk with Rita at Rita's Vintage Audio all the time and she's warned me in the past to steer clear of the 35x and the 55x. They're repairable but it can take numerous hours of bench time.

Why would the "X" versions cost more to repair and take more time when the only differences I know of is they have no variable input level adjustment and the output I think is set different???