Can OTL's drive ribbons well?


Seeking comment on ability of OTL's to drive mids/highs ribbons, specifically on Genesis II.5/300/350.Prefer to consider without zero autoformers as they have a reputation of bleaching sound(?).Can they do it without losing their special sonic ability of speed and organic liquidity? I guess I am really asking this question of the more affordable OTL's, ie.Transcendant, Atmasphere MA1 etc. If OTL's cant do it, which tubes can provide fast organic liquidity with dynamics at around $4000 and hopefully much less(new or used)-- again specifically driving ribbon mids and highs?

Finally does anyone use Cello duet 350 to drive ribbons?If so how do vocals sound?
Thanks and appreciate your comments
aer
OTL compatibility will depend on the minimum impedance and how steep the curve is. For the Atma-Sphere MA-1s, call Ralph Karsten at Atma-Sphere for advice. He can probably tell you if he's got any customers running this combination and how well it works.
http://www.atma-sphere.com/contact/index.html
.
OTLS are best with electrostatics. Theoretically they should work well with ribbons. My personal opinion- ribbons go with solid state. Tubes are too slow to get the speed out of ribbons. Happily there is a solid state OTL. The name escapes me now, but I'll find it.
Gregadd,

I 'm a bit confused with the "solid state OTL" statement. All SS amplifiers are Output TransformerLess (OTL) with the exeption of McIntosh amps that use autoformers at their output. As for tube amps being generally slower, I guess it could be true for some. However, tube OTL's are devoit of the one device responsible for slowing them down and that is the output transformer. The atmasphere amps in particular are regarded as some of the fastest sounding amps period, with specs such as rise time and frequency response that bear this out on the test bench as well. The only requirement is that they be used with loads that don't dip much below 8 ohms.
Gregadd, I'll beg to differ with you on one point you make: "Tubes are too slow to get the speed out of ribbons." One of the reasons OTL tube amplifiers are so good with electrostatics is precisely their speed. OTL tube amplifiers have incredible speed throughout their frequency range, coupled with high resolution and transparency; the impedance of the speaker is the only issue in how good a match there will be (and with an OTL like the Atma-Sphere MA-2 impedance is not much of an issue unless it's dropping sharply below 3.5 ohms or so). Whether a ribbon will be a good match for an OTL will be a function of impedance matching, not speed. Since many electrostatics have rising impedance curves, and since OTLs are happier with high impedance loads than are solid state amps, it makes for a good combination. I just don't know about ribbons.

As to solid state versus tube OTL speed, I'd match the speed of an Atma-Sphere MA-1 or MA-2 to that of the best solid state amps any day, the solid state amps certainly don't surpass the Atma-Sphere as to "slew rate" or "rise time" (rated at 600 volts/microsecond, matching the Spectral solid state amps which exceed almost all others).

As to traditional transformer-based tube amps, I'll agree with you based on my listening, but I personally prefer any number of them to ss for other important characteristics.
.