I bought one of these on eBay some years ago and have been using it as a subwoofer amp in my small but impressive home theater. I use it in bridged mode powering two 8" Dayton Classic woofers in separate, vented enclosures. For this task it excels. It is billed as a "High Headroom Design". It ain't kidding. With "impact" type effects (explosions, big bass drums) it'l make you jump. There is no "slop" like the cheap plate amplifiers used in most consumer grade subwoofers. It is tight with a high damping factor.

This is a Bob Carver amp. For those of you who do not know, Mr. Carver is an audio legend. He designed the famous Phase Linear 700 which was used by The Who during the period which got them into Guinness's Book of World Records as the loudest band in the world. Later came the C-1 preamplifier with "Sonic Holography", The Carver Cube, amplifier modeling and much more.

This is a serious amplifier, not a "cheap and dirty, dumb kid amp" with exaggerated wattage rating. It is rated as 180 watts in bridged mode. If it were made by that company that starts with a "P", the "Technical company" or other Chinese made amps with blue lights and slob appeal it would be rated at well over 1,000 watts.

I'm shopping for another one for the big speakers I'm building to cover my half acre back yard. While I feel the TFM 6-CB is wasted as a sub amp it serves too well in that function to not use it as such. Luckily, they made quite a few of these things. You should buy one before I buy them all.

While i was building up my dj system, I came across a bunch of free amplifiers, all were carvers. I picked up this little TFM-6CB and put in in place of a 1984 Gold start amplifier(which really is the definition of crap) and i hooked it up to both of my PA horns. lets just say, i can't even begin to explain how UNGODLY LOUD this amplifier is, with my two PA horns, it is unforgiving. and because of the 4 channel mode, i can mono bridge the 4 channels into 2 channels for 120 watts a channel. It runs better than most amps, Go to youtube and look for RAVE SYSTEM TEST 12 by bait 28 and you'll see this amp in action, with all of my other carvers.

Reasonable Priced

Some glitches, Co. went bust

I had a M400a for 12 years that developed a "buzz" on one side. While trying to clean/fix it, I destroyed it. That was '94. At that time, Carver line had changed (duh!) and el cheapo amp was the TFM-6 (I think?). This amp has served light duty for 6 years with few problems. Main complaint is that left channel is "dead" for several seconds until a loud input sound gets it started. Stuck relay? Once warmed up, it generally works properly. Sound: I've had no complaints. I am not a golden ear. I miss my old Infinity RS-III's, may they rest in peace. Also have had Bose 501-II and most recently '89 vintage Radio Crack Minimus-7's. All have performed well. I miss my old M400a and might snap up one if I saw one used. Allegedly Bob Carver is going to rescue his namesake (they went Chap. 11 in '99), the current lineup at Sunfire is a bit too pricey for my budget. How about it Bob?

Similar Products Used:

Carver M400a

All my friends who have all the "suround sound" and the alleged 8 billion watts per channel crap who think wattage is everything are STUNNED when I tell them this little amp is only 65 WPC. (I love that)

None so far

I bought this amp together with a CT-6 pre-amp/tuner for 300 bucks. (I also use a Carver CD player, Nakamichi deck, and an old but very nice Hitachi turntable). So far I've been very pleased. I initially had some JBL N26's in my bedroom and then moved it to the living room with some Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers. I listen to everything from Saxon to Vivaldi and I've been fairly pleased. I plan to get one more and either bi-amp or bridge them and use one for each channel, whichever sounds best. I love this equipment so far.
I have no problem running out of headroom with this amp, but it's usally loud enough when the lights begin to flicker.

Similar Products Used:

None

Here is a wonderful amp for a great price that has two very innovative features. First are the meters. They are not volume meters per se, but rather indicators of clipping. So as you get the red bar beginning to light, you know that the amp is reaching the limit. THe TFM-6 is very slim and has an unusual looking power transformer inside that is round and flat, kind of looks like something that folks would use to set up UFO pictures. The other neat feature of the TFM-6 is the daisy chain, which it shares with the larger TFM-15 amplifier. This is a straight-through bypass of signal, which opens up many possibilities for additional amps(Which I Do), or on to a subwoofer or even any line source item. This is a feature that other companies should take note of. A few do, such as the B&W ASW subwoofers with their link-out feature, which also has no cross-over action going on. A killer little amp that is rated at 65watts at 8ohms but sounds like a decent 100watts compared to most off-the-shelf receivers these days. Big binding posts on the rear with a bridging feature as well, if you can get two of them and have inefficient speakers. A sweet keeper of a small amp.

size, appearance and sound

heat for now.....

I currently use two Carver TFM-6cb amps bridged mono through
an SAE 4000 crossover. These amps drive the low end of two
huge ESS amt6 speakers. So far I'm happy with the sound, but
I know it can get better. I use a Bryston 2B to power the high end. I don't think I would try to use the Carver's in
unbridged mode ( 65 x 2 ). Heard it is not to impressive.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston 2B, Rotel RB850

Clean sound, Good headroom for a small amp, Compact, Bridgable

Runs a little warm, wont drive inefficient speakers to high levels

I have had two of these for around 5-6 years. I use one for the surrounds and bridge the other for the center. As Ben mentioned, one of my amps also is inactive in the left channel if it hasn't been used for a while. After it warms up or receives a large input signal it runs fine.

As to the sound quality the TFM 6cb is clean, open, and detailed without sounding harsh. Seems to have plenty of power - I have only been able to flicker the overload lights once when listening above reference level no audible effects were heard. Seperate right and left input level adjustments allow you to compensate for closer surround speakers.

If you can pick up one (or two) of these on the used market, it will make a great surround amp. Two complement a stereo amp nicely in a surround system.

Rich

Similar Products Used:

Carver TFM 35, Carver TFM 15