Atmasphere, The lower the impedance the less efficient a speaker becomes. Transformerless SS amps respond to this by putting out more power and as long as their output sections can handle it and the power supplies can dish it out everyone is happy. Amps with transformers and your OTLs dish out constant power regardless of speaker impedance. So what happens when you try to drive say Wilsons which have notorious labile impedance curves? As the impedance falls and the speaker becomes more inefficient wouldn't these amps run out of grunt? I understand this is frequency dependent but I am not exactly sure how. Does the sensitivity of these speakers increase as the impedance falls?
Is a 200 watt OTL amp less powerful than a 200 watt direct coupled amp
or rather not as capable of the same high volume limits under this circumstance? Pardon me for being...an idiot but when it comes to these things I guess I am. I know what I want to hear and what has worked for me in the past. The next time I want to upgrade I would like to get it right the first time around as the stakes are much higher.
@mijostyn Your Sound Labs don't behave with the 'lower the impedance the less efficient a speaker becomes' rule that is common with box speakers (although that description isn't entirely accurate...). IOW they maintain the same efficiency as their impedance goes up or down.
Regarding Wilsons, the national sales manager of Wilson ran Atma-Sphere amps for many years. I've heard our MA-1s with the Sashas and they seemed to work well together.
Regarding power- 200 watts is 200 watt regardless of what kind of amp makes the power.