carver reciever and power amp

It depends which generation of Carver amp it is. There have been reviews and stories that some Carver amps when tested didn't meet the specs that he claimed, but some of his amps actually measured higher power than the spec sheet. These measurements are for peak power, so they would not be noticeable in everyday listening.

And with amps from the Carver years, their high power also included high levels of distortion. This measurement may not have been rated truthfully by the designer.

The TFM amps were very popular and had good sound for their day.
Do you know which amp series your son has? 

I have two of Bob's products from the Carver years. The Receiver and the TFM15cb amp. Both have been put to the test driving my KLH Nines (a difficult load!). And they both passed just fine! In fact, the Receiver proved to be one of the best sounding amps ever driving the Nines! Sounded like it had unlimited power and subterranean (floor-shaking) bass! I was surprised (the Nines are low-sensitivity) and theoretically need about 200 watts into 16 ohms to attain life-like SPL's! The TFM15cb also did sound fine with the Nines! I now have it connected to my Ohm Walsh Sound Cylinders. Sounds excellent and I feel no need to change it for any of my other amps! So thumbs up for these two products from the old days of Carver!

Both were bought from a local GW, so past history unknown. $180 for the Receiver and $25 for the TFM15cb. And last year I bought another Receiver from an eBay seller at a fair price (can't remember!).

I should have mentioned that I have a 300W Carver amp from the 90's that served me well. I kept it for use as a backup amp.
  I also owned one of Bob's Sunfire amps. That was one of Carver's great designs.

+1 lowrider57! The Sunfire amp is another great product from Bob! A real challenger to all the big-bucks boutique amps! 

I love my Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature II. For an almost 20 year old amp there's not much on the current market and certainly nothing in the price range(that I paid) that I would trade it for...

I bought a !.0t back in the 80's at the PX. Its been running ever since till this day. Runs 24 hours doing light duty in the garage.