adcom gfa555 or carver tfm35

[moez]

hi everyone looking at these to amp for a 2 channel music set up adcom gfa555 or carver tfm35,any opinions would be helpful thanks

 

[Zero Cool]

Adcom 555 just a personal preference. never liked the carvers.

 

[Code Red]

I owned a Carver TFM=35 in the 90s, I actually sold them at the time. Mine was stolen out of a storage garage otherwise I'd still have it. Both are great amps. You might find a better deal on the Adcom as there seems to be more of them for sale, at least on ebay. The lamps for the big power meters on the carver will go out sooner of later but I think you can still get the replacements.

 

[sjdemark]

I have owned and repaired both Carver and Adcom amps. I have owned the TFM-45 (and several variations) and the Adcom 555. The Carver is a more sophisticated design while the Adcom is simpler but is built more heavy duty.

Soundwise, it depends on your speakers. If you have an easily driven pair of speakers, you may like the Carver, but if your speakers have low impedance, the Adcom might be a better bet.

From a service perspective, parts for both are generally available, the Adcom is more of a conventional design and easier to work on, while the Carver is more complex, kind of a pain to work on, and has relatively few techs who understand how they work.

The tipping point for me is that the Carver has great speaker protection features while the Adcom has none other than a fuse, which means if you have an amp problem, you could cook your speakers or even start a fire...not good.