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Thought on OTL tube amps

Just curious....how do these sound/perform compared to tube amps with transformers? Why do you prefer one or the other? Any particular brands of OTL amps you would recommend listening to? You can see my system on my tag here...listen mostly to rock and roll with a smattering of jazz and a bit of classical once in a while. The next stop on my amplifier adventure is an OTL model, and I have no intention of trading it for either SET I currently have, as I'm very happy with both. One of the ways I enjoy experimenting with different "sound" is by switching up the amps. Just trying to solicit some opinions, of which I know there are many strong ones here at A-Gon. Thanks in advance!
afc

Showing 1 response by franks

franks
151 posts
 
FWIW,I've owned an Atmasphere S30 for 10 years almost since it's introduction currently updated to the latest 3.1 configuration.
Over that time there have been no significant mechanical/reliability issues. IMHO, these "OTL concerns" date back to the Futterman amps and their clones. Unfortunatly, modern day OTL manufactures are unfairly lumped in with them.
AFC, I have not heard the ZU Essense but on paper it's a match made in heaven with the S30. With the Zu's minimal crossover there would be very little between the output tubes and the Z4 driver except the speaker wire.
Have fun.
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