2. amps-preamps
  3. 1018837399

Amp shootout.....Tenor 75wi verses Berning ZH270

in a recent thread there was much discusion of the above 2 amps, whether the Berning was indeed an OTL, and which one might be better.

i have no opinion as to whether the Berning is an OTL. but today a Berning ZH270 owner brought his amp over to compare to my pair of Tenor 75wi's. my system is OTL friendly, with easy to drive speakers, so the Berning's acknowledged advantage in driving difficult loads was neutralized.

these amps have very similar power, the Tenor is 75 watts into 8 ohms, the Berning is 70 watts into 8 ohms. otherwise it is not really a fair comparison....the Tenors are $19900 a pair, the Berning $4500, the Tenors weigh 70 pounds each, the Berning weighs about 10 pounds.....it seems like Goliath verses David. the result is somewhat closer than that.

we played three different discs and each of 3 people listened to their disc in the sweetspot. the Berning owner felt that the Tenor had a more dimentional sound, deeper soundstage but felt the Berning was equal in bass extension and detail retreival. the independent listener felt the Berning was excellent for the money but not in the league of the Tenor in any paramter. my perception was similar to the independent listner; that the Berning, at $4500, is amazing in it's top to bottom excellence, dynamics and musicality.....but....does not do things like the Tenor. the sense of space, detail in the soundstage, texture and microdynamics of the Tenor are at a whole different level.....and they better be for $15000 more.

like the Berning owners, i am a shameless Tenor lover and consider the Tenors better than any other amp i have heard at any price, assuming a reasonably easy load to drive.

the Berning is more like a $8k to $10k amplifier.....and Berning owners should be justifiably proud of their amps.

i did think the Berning had slightly more bass slam than the Tenor, but with much less bass articulation and extension than the Tenor.

we spent the rest of the enjoyable afternoon listening to some great vinyl......an enjoyable time had by all.
mikelavigne

Showing 2 responses by kevinkwann271f

kevinkwann271f
2 posts
 
A frien mine who owns the Tenor amps brought them over to Kwann to compare to my Lamm ML1's. After about hour of warm up, we played three discs on my amp. Then we switche to Tenors and played disc in reverse order.

First disc, I just ben over start to laugh. I couldn't help it, but it no close.

My poor frien spen almost 15 grand for his Tenors and all he could do was look up at me with face red. What happene to bass? Where did go?

Midrange-trebles ok on Tenor. It soun nice but no has resolution and refine of ML1.

The Tenor ver nice polite soun amplifier with something that soun like bass, but no really bass. Call Kwann crazy but for 15 grand I no like kick drum soun like somebody punch pillow. My frien had me sell Tenors for his on Audioweb.
kevinkwann271f
2 posts
 
Maybe Mr. Kamm could tell is what other equipment he was using in his comparison.

Who Mr. Kamm? Mr. Kwann answer you!

My speaker is Fischer & Fischer SL1000. It 88db sensitive an better in every way then Kharma 1d. It use better mid driver (seas excel) better tweeter (esotar) an much faster 210 mm Langhub-Tieftöner bass drivers. In Europe consider much better and cose many more dollar then Kharma 1d which is not great speaker. If you like Kharma chance are you not get hear very many great speaker.
More to discover