Carver TFM-25 up in smoke

Fongolio

My Carver TFM-25 went up in smoke tonight while playing Elton John's Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player Lp. I pulled the lid and it appears to be one of the transistors and two little resistors that are smoked. The transitor is a Toshiba 2SA1302 with a marking of R16 on it. The resistors are too smoked to see the colour codes but I can figure them from the circuit board markings. Does anyone know where I can find any of these Toshiba tranistors? Thanks. The good news is I still have my old trusty Kenwood KA-9100 to pull amp duties for now. A sweet sounding integrated but not quite the same bottom end punch as the much more powerful Carver.

Systems

You might check Digikeys on line catalog for the Tosh trans.http://www.digikey.com/

keep in mind there may be other failed components that are not visibily damaged.

TNRabbit

Consider sending to Rita's repair shop. $179 flat fee to bring it to new specs!

heiney9

GV#27 wrote: »

keep in mind there may be other failed components that are not visibily damaged.

Most likely there are a whole set of issues....as one component failure usually leads to a chain reaction

TNRabbit wrote: »

Consider sending to Rita's repair shop. $179 flat fee to bring it to new specs!

This is probably the best idea as that's very reasonable...plus well worth it to have someone who knows Carver gear working on it.

ViperZ

If you are lucky, Bob Carver can sign it for you . PM me with your e-mail addy, if you will decide to fix it yourself, I have a service manual for TFM-24/25.

ben62670

Those are BJT transistors. They most likely need to be beta matched. I would send it out if I were you. $179 is very reasonable if they are replacing some of the old caps too. I have fixed a few amps, but the first one was a nightmare. You could do more damage by trying to DIY repair, or even catch some juice.
Take care.
Ben

Fongolio

I lucked out. I called the guy I bought the amp from who is local and asked if he knew a tech familiar with Carver gear. He gave me a number and I talked to a guy tonight. He's not in a shop but works in his basement and only does select stuff. Carver being one of them. He even stocks the Carver specific parts. I talked with him for about 20 minutes and sounds like he really knows his stuff. Since I already own 4 Carver pieces it's very good to have a Carver knowledgable tech in my neighborhood (well 30 miles away). I'd love to ship it to Bob's shop and have him sign it but the shipping alone is probably worth as much as the amp. I have to say though my Kenwood KA-9100 is a really great sounding replacement in the time being. It's built like two mono's in one chasis including power supplies. And very warm tube like sound. A fantastic backup while the Carver is in for service.

Systems

Excellent,hopefully he can get it operational for you at a reasonable price.

zingo

Good luck with that repair.

Blownrx7

Fongolio,

Please report back your experience with the repair. Would like to hear what parts need replacing and what it ends up costing. It will be a good reference for those of us buying "vintage" gear. As this stuff gets older, repairs are inevitable and must be a consideration when buing one of these.
TIA

Fongolio

Ok, initial report is that two output transistors and several output resistors are fried. He is however going to do a full everything back up to spec overhaul. He said that a couple power supply caps were getting weak so they will go too. The complete overhaual to factory spec will be no more than $150.00 which is great in my mind. The only downside is he originally thought he had the transistors in stock but doesn't so I have to wait a week or so for when he puts in a full order with his supplier back east to save on shipping. I'm happy with that. So very likely about a two week turnaround on repair. Probably better than any other electronics shop or Bob and Rita's themselves. So far I'm very pleased with this tech. He won't even work on low end gear. Prefers the vintage good stuff. I'll post as things progress.

Blownrx7

Wow, two week turnaround for these guys (electronics repair guys) is AMAZING. The prioce is VERY reasonable too. I have an amp into my guy for three weeks already and he hasn't even popped the cover! Great technician, SLOOOOOWWWWW service.

DV1

Interesting!

heiney9

DV1 wrote: »

Interesting!

Hey, you finally have 25+ posts now you can hock your Outlaw gear :rolleyes:

Fongolio

This is an old thread I posted several months ago but the tech finally fixed all the things wrong with the Carver and I pick it up on Saturday. He had problems with the output transistors he bought for it from his supplier being fakes (yes fakes!) other stuff in front of the output stage blown. Resistors and transistors on the circuit board blown or overheated etc. etc etc. He spent dozens of hours and way more in parts than he's charging me for it. It is almost entirely rebuilt and has the Carver upgrade done to it that was released as a service bulletin in the early nineties. He's telling me it is totally stable and completely in spec or better now than when it left the factory. Bottom line is He want $275.00 for parts and labour but this is half what his time is worth alone. The amp had been screwed with somewhere along the way and **** parts used. I'll probably try to pay him what it's worth but I don't think he'll take it. He keeps saying "I quoted you way lower" so we'll see. I'll report on Saturday how it sounds. By the way the Kenwood KA-9100 has been a stellar performer in the interim. Sure glad I never sold that piece of vintage audio love.

nooshinjohn

I hope all is well when you get it back home. Carver gear can be a bit dicey to work with if you don't have experience with it, so I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

John

sucks2beme

Good news. IT should be good for another 20 years, knock on wood.
Electronics parts have gotten really bad. Fake parts, poor inventory
have hurt everyone. A lot of those transistors from the 70's, 80's and even
the 90's are long gone.

thsmith

For the work he did that is a fair price. Rolland just performed a complete service to my TFM-55X for $299. The nice thing was he received it on Friday and it shipped back on Wednesday.

I am going to send him my TFM-45 for same service and install an IEC power connector so I can use an upgraded power cable.

ShinAce

I was just about to say I should have a pair of 2SA1302 (green Toshiba's) at home in my bin. I never managed to source the 2SC3281, its sister.

Carry on.

Fongolio

The Carver is home!!!! The tech would absolutely not take a penny over $300.00 although I was trying to push $350.00 at him hard. A bargain considering the pain and suffering this unit gave him. So I take it home hook it up and suddenly remember why I fell in love with this amp in the first place. Super clean, super clear, wide open deep soundstage. But even better than before now super quick clean transients and dynamics and superbly articulated bass. Not boomy at all. My RTiA7's go down low but not as low frequency as RTiA9's or many SDA's but this amp makes them dig deep. And with total clarity. The Kenwood KA-9100 is a champ but there is no substitute for really clean wattage to make speakers sing. To say I'm pleased with the repair is a gross understatement as you can no doubt tell. The good thing is the Carver factory upgrade as per the service bulletin addresses the issue that led to it's destruction in the first place so I should see many years of excellent service from this most excellent unit. My hat is off to Ron Heinz of Kelowna British Columbia for his patience perseverence and honesty in dealing with my piece of prized gear. I have two bags of tranistors, diodes, resistors and capacitors that were replaced and I know he spent dozens of hours chasing the problems until all solutions were found. I just listened to R.E.M.'s Green and never heard it sound so good. Now back to my regularly scheduled listening.

thsmith

Congrats Fongo, glad it worked out well.

rscamer

Fongo, can you send me the info on the repair guy, I would like to keep his number handy in case one of my amps go down.

cfrizz

That's terrific, congratulations!

Fongolio

rscamer wrote: »

Fongo, can you send me the info on the repair guy, I would like to keep his number handy in case one of my amps go down.

PM sent.

Fongolio

cfrizz wrote: »

That's terrific, congratulations!

Thanks Cathy, but that was about a year ago. I've since aquired a TFM-45 recently serviced and with Bob's signature. Sounds very similar to the 25 but with better low volume (and high volume) dynamics and detail.

Kelvin