Carver TFM owners, is this normal?
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Maybe it's the muffler bearing?Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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About 10 years ago on a Carver forum, I advised some guy whose Carver cd player drawer would no longer open (loose/busted belt) to go to the dollar store and buy a bunch of girl's black rubber hair bands. You get about 200 different sizes for $1. You had to see the responses. It was like heresy to put a girl's hair band into the machine instead of the US Gov't. inspected $19 belt that nobody would sell you, but would install for you if you shipped them the machine.
Mess with those RCA input connectors, and don't pay anybody a shitload of money to mess with them for you is what I always say.
The Carver amp I'm using now is dead quiet, but give me a minute behind that thing and I can get it to buzz like a ****. -
George Grand wrote: »About 10 years ago on a Carver forum, I advised some guy whose Carver cd player drawer would no longer open (loose/busted belt) to go to the dollar store and buy a bunch of girl's black rubber hair bands. You get about 200 different sizes for $1. You had to see the responses. It was like heresy to put a girl's hair band into the machine instead of the US Gov't. inspected $19 belt that nobody would sell you, but would install for you if you shipped them the machine.
Mess with those RCA input connectors, and don't pay anybody a shitload of money to mess with them for you is what I always say.
The Carver amp I'm using now is dead quiet, but give me a minute behind that thing and I can get it to buzz like a ****.
And I think that's the key thing here, there should be NO sound of any kind. Should be just as silent as when it's off.
I'm a little hesitant with playing with interconnects while the amp is on. I don't want any mysterious POP noises. I'll fiddle around and see if I can resolve anything. Worst comes to worst, there is always someone to look at it and I know it won't cost me an arm. -
And I think that's the key thing here, there should be NO sound of any kind. Should be just as silent as when it's off.
I'm a little hesitant with playing with interconnects while the amp is on. I don't want any mysterious POP noises. I'll fiddle around and see if I can resolve anything. Worst comes to worst, there is always someone to look at it and I know it won't cost me an arm.
Hey Drenis,
F1nut is right, there will always be a little hiss from having the circuits powered up. I push my RTA 12C's with a TFM 42 I bought 10-12 years ago off ebay. There's a faint hiss in the right channel and the same hiss with a little bit of a buzz in the left channel. You have to be standing next to the speaker to hear it.
I've always assumed it's some sort of grounding issue, though it could be a poor/loose solder joint, IC issues, etc. It has no effect on the sound: can play as loud as I want and very clean.
How long have you been using it? How is the sound quality?"Science is suppose to explain observations not dismiss them as impossible" - Norm on AA; 2.3TL's w/sonicaps/mills/jantzen inductors, Gimpod's boards, Lg Solen SDA inductors, RD-0198's, MW's dynamatted, Armaflex speaker gaskets, H-nuts, brass spikes, Cardas CCGR BP's, upgraded IC Cable, Black Hole Damping Sheet strips, interior of cabinets sealed with Loctite Power Grab, AI-1 interface with 1000VA A-L transformer -
Another over looked simple repair is the RCA input center pin tension. I have a cut off RCA pigtail with the barrel removed and use it it to test the center pin tension. On older gear more often than not there is not a good connection.
So to Georges point, check your RCA cables and connectors.
Also, the hiss you can hear on thjose Carvers should be ever so faint with your ear next to the weeter, it will not be dead silent or in my experience with 3 TFM series, even after Rolland updated them.Speakers: SDA-1C (most all the goodies)
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drumminman wrote: »Hey Drenis,
F1nut is right, there will always be a little hiss from having the circuits powered up. I push my RTA 12C's with a TFM 42 I bought 10-12 years ago off ebay. There's a faint hiss in the right channel and the same hiss with a little bit of a buzz in the left channel. You have to be standing next to the speaker to hear it.
I've always assumed it's some sort of grounding issue, though it could be a poor/loose solder joint, IC issues, etc. It has no effect on the sound: can play as loud as I want and very clean.
How long have you been using it? How is the sound quality?
This is exactly as it is. Described pretty much the same way I hear it here. So this is a normal sound and it's always been there. I did re-seat my MIT's in the back and it's very faint.
I kind of feel silly about all this...:redface:
Edit: Sound quality is great. More headroom then I ever need. I've never gotten it to clip and don't try. Beast of an amp. -
A tiny hiss is really only bothersome during the very quiet parts in classical etc. but........it's still waaayyyyy better than the usual noise from less than perfect vinyl records !
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Take a wire (doesn't matter what kind at all as long as it conducts) and connect the chassis of the amp to the chassis of the pre-. Make sure you're going bare metal to bare metal (slightly unscrewing a chassis screw and stuffing a speaker wire under there should do the trick). Listen to the noise as you attach and detach this. If it drops considerably when they're connected, you have a ground issue.
Given how consistent the sound is and how common ground loop is, that's my first guess. Cables are my last guess, unless you're using something from the dollar store or running it right next to a major EMI source.Gallo Ref 3.1 : Bryston 4b SST : Musical fidelity CD Pre : VPI HW-19
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A ground loop issue results in a hum, he has a hiss.Political Correctness'.........defined
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