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Aye all, Been around and about here a few times before getting to make an account on here. Been slowly building up an audio setup to replace my old inadequate setup (a powered dual monitor setup with cheap phono preamp and cheaper AV selector with optical out) and found my way into getting my hands on a TFM-35 from a local trading post that specializes in AV hardware. In fact they had both a 35 and 35X which I was mulling over choosing for about a few weeks before deciding on the regular 35 due to it being of a more better physical condition cosmetically speaking. Even so I would like to see about covering up some of the edge scrapes and perhaps find the handles to this, not that these are dire things to me, but it would be nice to get in the long run to make this look nicer. The unit works and looks beautiful. The guy at the trading post also checks/repairs their hardware before it goes on the sale shelves and aside from some dust its in really good shape internally. The lights still work in the meter as well and are original which has me already considering putting LED's in them at some point soon but I am beside myself as to what I should use. I am hoping to have my setup be complete soon as there are only a few things left to get before I can finally hook this beauty up and experience some great sound. With that all said I have some questions I should get out right now 1.) Where does one obtain LED's/kits for the Carver units? I have seen one kit pop up but it was just as a comparison kit to replace the bulbs. 2.) What kind of colour LED's look best for this? (I know its subjective to ask but I am pulled between Blue and Green, however I am worries about visibility and them being too bright to the point that it may be distracting/hard to see the meter with how bright it could be). 3.) I live on the east coast and while I know my way around a soldering iron quite a bit (Aside from console mods and some other projects I collect and restore vintage computers/tech in my collection). I heard these Amps have a bit of a "mystical" property of repairing them in that only a handful of professionals should be considered when looking to repair/modify any of these units. Is this in fact true or is it just intimidation from those who do not understand how to repair tech? If the former is the case is there any confirmed people of reference on this coast that I could bring my amp in to service if I need to? 4.)If I decide to touch up the cosmetic scratches on the unit is there any recommendation for use? I am sure I have more questions down the road for this as its my first time going down this road with audio, but its been one I have been thinking and planning about for years now. I am glad to finally be almost there and that this Carver will be the strong arm of my setup! Thank you for having me here!

Welcome to the site! I am a big fan of the TFM-35. As @AndrewJohn mentioned, the gain on the front can be very useful. It does allow each channel to be set at different levels. I bought several colors of LED's and my daughter actually selected one blue and one green for her meters (not sure why, but I have learned never to question a teen) These work well: 12v LED Axial Lamps

New member here. Just bought my first set of carver gear. Got a M1.5t, c1 pre and a tx-2 tuner. Running a pair of older klipsch Epic cf2 with the dual tens. Sounds descent sometimes but I know I need to do some work to it. Switching from an Adcom 150watt amp and can easily tell the difference in power. Got some low volume issues, I going to look around this site and see if I can figure out what I need to do

I have used https://nelionaudio.com with great success. Welcome to The Carver Site!

Cool Find & Welcome To The Site! I hate to be one of those guys, but if you can swing it... and it is still there, you really should go grab the other TFM-35 so you'll be ready when one of us convinces you to use one amp per speaker. Great find Sir, you have good taste and an awesome amp!

R.E.M. Can't Get There From Here

I am not sure yet but I think I am bringing a pair of Ohm Walsh 5’s in Eddie’s honor along with his Black VTA180 Tube amps. I am hoping to have a beta unit of one of Bob’s new tube preamps as well.

Hello! I found this place when I asked a friend about choosing a preamp and he raved about his C1 with BillD mods. I hadn't seriously renewed my sound system for decades until I visited a friend's house when he was about to move and heard his system. I was amazed by the sound, and wound up buying his power amp (Perreaux PMF 2150B), speakers (Westlake Audio BBSM10), and subwoofer (Hsu Research VTF-3). While the speakers were too big to pass interior design muster, the other components are keepers. The subwoofer and my Dahlquist M-905s sound great together. I look forward to having really clean amplification for them.