SET vs OTL

My current SET amp has been 100% reliable since I got it over 5 years ago and is the most quiet tube amp that I have ever owned.

Reliability is really important! When we went into business, it was in the face of OTLs being the least reliable kind of amp made. But we sorted out how to make them hold together, which is what has kept us in business the last 46 years.

How about an OTL SET ?

Its certainly doable and has been done. But if you are the kind of purist that wants only one power tube its not going to happen. The most likely candidate (Transcendent Sound) makes 1.5 watts using four EL509s. IIRC the way this is done involves using the grid of the power tube as the output means.

I know Berning is not strictly OTL but from what I understand the transformer is only there to filter some very high frequency noise riding the signal.

This is incorrect- the output transformer is passing the audio signal just as in any amplifier. But its a bit different as the output is used to load an unregulated 250KHz power supply and so the audio is imposed on that frequency. The 250KHz frequency is then filtered out at the speaker terminals.

SET vs OTL vs SECC

(Single Ended Capacitor Coupled)

One could also bring in SE tube or transistor amps with no output transformer, but with quality "capacitor coupling" instead, which to me is the better way. cost shouldn’t differ, maybe even cheaper.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/transformer-coupled-vs-capacitor-coupled

Lots to read here
https://www.google.com/search?q=Capacitor+coupled+output+amplifiers&oq=Capacitor+coupled+output+...

Cheers George

I haven’t heard either but my preference would lean towards more reliable / maintenance-free type, and my reading leads me to SET. So my preference is SET :) That’s one way to choose it.

As to which sounds better my experience taught me it all depends on the implementation, and one is not inherently better. If it was we wouldn’t have manufacturers using both types in their products.