Scrappy 259 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Hi all! Just a quick question for all you that have been around the gear for a while … I have a M4.0t with what looks to be an original black face plate. Any of you guys ever see one? I have only seen silver until I stumbled on to this one. just curious if I have something rare-ish … Thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ar9Jim 4,659 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 (edited) Here is an ad for a black face that has some info. Says it was one year only? Sounds right. Actually this one is a TFM 4.0. M4.0t must be rare too. https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649773782-carver-tfm-40-rare-only-made-1-yr/ Edited February 4 by Ar9Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappy 259 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Thanks for the input Jim! Greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryG 2,845 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 35 minutes ago, Ar9Jim said: Here is an ad for a black face that has some info. Says it was one year only? Sounds right. Actually this one is a TFM 4.0. M4.0t must be rare too. https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649773782-carver-tfm-40-rare-only-made-1-yr/ It’s been a while, I’ve seen both black and anthracite colors for m4.0t. The tfm-4.0 basically is same amp iirc most are black! My theory on this is the m-4.0t black models are precursor models to the tfm-4.0. I have also heard of people ordering black face when it was not yet available. A good question for Bob! barryg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappy 259 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Thanks Barry! I was thinking it might be the turn for the TFM4.0, but that is just thoughts … I haven’t seen another like it (with original black) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Community Admin AndrewJohn 7,223 Posted February 4 Community Admin Share Posted February 4 (edited) I have 2 of each of these..., @Charliehas a stable of these amps in his Death Star system, too. Silver M4.0t Black M4.0t Black TFM 4.0 Black TFM 45 That's the specific nomenclature on the front of each amp. Note the "TFM 4.0" has no "t". They are all original from Carver Corp. And, the way one can tell is that the text is fading on the faceplate, as is typical of Carver faceplates..., (not bright high-contrast white). In comes the "new replacement faceplates..." RK on ebay has new faceplates for both Silver/Grey and Black. His faceplates have VERY BRIGHT high-contrast white text. So, one has to be careful identifying the original production by Carver Corp and discerning a new replacement OEM faceplate from originals..., and if an amp has a NEW faceplate, it might not be the same color that the original one was - I assume the text/letters match correctly, but I've only checked a few of those he offers that I've picked up - I have no reason to believe it is different. Someone smarter than I am ( @RobertR maybe? ) would know specifically when, what order, and for how long, each of these different versions were produced. My guess is that: The M4.0t came first in silver (more common on the vintage resale market, and matched the C-1 in silver, and the TX-11(a) Tuner and DTL 100/200/MkII CD players, also in silver). Then came the black M1.0t (less common, and perhaps to match the C-11 in black, and other components in black, like Tape Decks, CD Players, and the TX-11b Tuner - and also the TFM-xx series amps with meters, also in black). Then the TFM 4.0 (no "t" - I've never seen one marked with a "t")..., was produced to match up with other "TFM-xx" labeled amps kind of like a identical twin sister (with different faceplate make-up) to the TFM 45 amp. The TFM 4.0 is also rare too, on the vintage resale market. Greg @Nahash5150 has refreshed 4 or 5 of mine (I forget...) and shared back to me that with the exception of the meters and the LEDs, the 4 amps are ostensibly identical internally. Edited February 5 by AndrewJohn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappy 259 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Thanks for the input Andrew! It definitely isn’t one of the brighter replacement faceplates. I thought maybe Charlie’s Deathstar pic might lean toward the replacement plates but I could be wrong … doesn’t really matter to me because he has a whole lot of AwEsOmEnEsS going on there!!! My wife would sell me if I got OCCD that bad 🤣😂🤣. I like the new bright playes in some instances and actually might have to look into that for a project bunch … you wouldn’t happen to have a name to search would ya? This M4.0t that I have will be making its way to Greg soon … he already “amped” up my TFM45 to MKII (punn intended). I seem to recall the serial # only being around 2600 or so … guess I will have to revisit that out of curiosity as to a rough time frame for the M4.0t’s … Cheers! again, thanks for the partial history lesson … I love hearing about these things. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nahash5150 9,796 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Like this one? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nahash5150 9,796 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 On 2/4/2023 at 9:09 AM, AndrewJohn said: Someone smarter than I am ( @RobertR maybe? ) would know specifically when, what order, and for how long, each of these different versions were produced. My guess is that: The M4.0t came first in silver (more common on the vintage resale market, and matched the C-1 in silver, and the TX-11(a) Tuner and DTL 100/200/MkII CD players, also in silver). Then came the black M1.0t (less common, and perhaps to match the C-11 in black, and other components in black, like Tape Decks, CD Players, and the TX-11b Tuner - and also the TFM-xx series amps with meters, also in black). Then the TFM 4.0 (no "t" - I've never seen one marked with a "t")..., was produced to match up with other "TFM-xx" labeled amps kind of like a identical twin sister (with different faceplate make-up) to the TFM 45 amp. The TFM 4.0 is also rare too, on the vintage resale market. Greg @Nahash5150 has refreshed 4 or 5 of mine (I forget...) and shared back to me that with the exception of the meters and the LEDs, the 4 amps are ostensibly identical internally. Smarter than you? lol You mean OLDER. Anyway, the M4.0t was made from 1989-1990, according to my chart. The black faceplates were obviously later versions, but they were made at the same time as well. Don't know why it was changed from M4.0t to TFM-4.0. They mean the same thing, and they are exactly the same amp. All the silver faced amps were discontinued after 1990. Many of the TFM amps stayed around for a while, along with the Silver 7t/9t's (which were grey, and later black too). 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Community Admin AndrewJohn 7,223 Posted February 6 Community Admin Share Posted February 6 8 hours ago, Nahash5150 said: Smarter than you? lol Hah!, this is pretty damn easy for anyone to achieve. 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Community Admin AndrewJohn 7,223 Posted February 6 Community Admin Share Posted February 6 9 hours ago, Nahash5150 said: Like this one? That looks familiar..., 😉 or is it an identical twin sister? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappy 259 Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 22 hours ago, Nahash5150 said: Like this one? The stencil on that one is much nicer then the one I have. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryG 2,845 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 On 2/4/2023 at 2:19 PM, Scrappy said: My wife would sell me if I got OCCD that bad 🤣😂🤣. You could always trade her in on a pair of ALS Speakers! Lol! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69Chevelle 303 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 I also have a black faced 4.0 with the original faceplate (lettering a bit less bright), but now I need to check when I get home to see if it's an M or TFM, again not that it matters much just more for curiosity at this point. thank you for the data on these units. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nahash5150 9,796 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 On 2/6/2023 at 6:25 AM, AndrewJohn said: That looks familiar..., 😉 or is it an identical twin sister? It's a sister! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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