Carver TFM 55x

I've owned the following:

(4) M-1.0T's, 2 of which I had fully upgraded to the MK2 opt 2.

(2) M-1.5T's that were also fully refurbed and upgraded. 

(2) Silver 7T's

(2) TFM-45's

and a Lightstar 2.0.

Also, C19 and C6 pre amps.

They were all good sounding and powerful. As others mentioned, the 300 for the TFM55x is a good deal, you can buy and use then upgrade and not lose money. That's one key thing about Carver and Sunfire gear, You can play and trade w/o big losses. There's always a buyer ready for a clean example.

At their age though, be prepared to send in for refurb at some point. Of my pieces above, the 1.5's and the 7t's needed repair when I bought them. The others(minus the 2 built 1.0's) were original and still operated and sounded as they should when I sold them.

I used a 55x for several years. Plenty of power. Drove anything. Sounded neutral. Then switched to Dynaco Stereo 70. Completely different but lovely sound. Now have about a dozen amps including several tube, mid 20th Century, Class D, and others. Also several huge Yamaha AV receivers. And Denon POA-1500. Like a variety of sounds. Oh, and several early Sansui amps. I don't see anything really wrong with the 55x. It has its uses. A bit clinical for my main amp now. Like more character.

'.I am driving a carver amazing using the 55x and sounds great"

Only great, not amazing?

Sorry couldn't resist.

I agree amp matching is important. I had a Carver mt4.0t for years. It was a powerful and good sounding amp with many speakers that did not cost a fortune. Its weaknesses were damping factor and current delivery which limited performance somewhat with some hard to drive speaker designs.

Also the tfm-55x is the a bad amp at all!!!its all about matching amp and speakers..I am driving a carver amazing using the 55x and sounds great...better that martin logan that if i turn the volume up the sounds are crap!!!

The people on this list are sometimes not discriminating. Most Carver 'X'
amps are Carver in name only as Bob Carver had nothing to do with them.
Besides why would anyone want a THX symbol on their fine audio equipment.
I know this will land like an incendiary bomb but I think THX stands for
'THunderous Xplosions' at one frequency. Only older Carver stuff deserves
attention like the silver seven and some non tube variations. () covering
my ears. Class A - the A stands for anemic. Better to get that tube humm
and a warm glow with your 1 watt for $50,000. At least you get a
georgeous room heater along with your amp. Bob Carver proved (
reasonably with 'audio experts' at stereofile magazine) that in a blind
test a $50,000 silver seven tube amplifier (regarded as close to ther
best that could be made in late 80's) was virtually indistinguishable
from the silver9t solid state amps.

The 55x was produced after Bob left Carver and much of the manufacturing
was moved from Japan (good quality in the late 80's) to China where Carver
Corporation could massively reduce costs and slapp the THX label on
equipment still being bought by consumers to this day. Of course, I do not have an opinion on the subject.

yes & no, yes its a deal & no it is not a good amp, its not even an ok amp.

i totaly agree with (bemopti123) carver amps suck & are seriously overrated, i had a tfm55x & it was pure crap in fact ive tried all of the amps within the TFM line & they all sounded screechy.

the good news is that you can buy the tfm55x for 300$ canadian & turn around & flip it on ebay for 600$ us if its clean.

buy the carver, flip it & get a better amp but stay away from carver alltogether.

mike.

Carvers are overrated and underengineered amplifiers. I believe you rather spend your dollars on amplifiers like the Forte Class batches. 300.00 Canadian dollars might not be much, but if you add a couple of hundred more you can get a Class A design that competed with things like Threshold Class A designs....Fortes were their baby versions.