Rwwear, just to set the record straight, an OTL may have a lot of tubes but that is not the same thing as being really expensive and difficult to maintain (although the Fouriers did contribute mightily to that myth).
Krell is correct in that a high damping factor is not needed, even for speakers that operate under the Voltage Paradigm. In fact, the appearance is that the idea of damping factor is mythological, regardless of paradigm. That is a discussion for a different thread. Anyway, Krell is not the only ones that have cherished linearity in an amplifier. If I had to guess :) I would guess that nearly every amplifier designer holds linearity as a primary design goal. But I don't have to guess :)
It is how the designer acheives linearity that is actually the issue. If one does it through the use of negative feedback, then some primary rules of human hearing are ignored, resulting in an amplifier that exhibits loudness. Believe it or not, a stereo should not sound loud regardless of how loud it is actually playing. In order to do that, you have to get rid of loop negative feedback. In doing so, the difference between the Voltage and Power Paradigms is defined. So it is not about tubes/transistors, although quite often that is how the debate appears, it is not about objectivist/subjectivist, although again that is how the debate often appears.
Speaker designers over the years have designed for certain characteristics that they expect from an amplifier, and thus logically and also quite contrary to the words in your owner's manual, there is no amplifier made that will properly drive all speakers made. I allow that you can disagee, but your disagreement will not change this fact, its sort of like you trying to convince me that the sky is green all the time because that is what you believe. Belief and fact are often quite far from one another.
