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Amp shootout.....Tenor 75wi verses Berning ZH270

in a recent thread there was much discusion of the above 2 amps, whether the Berning was indeed an OTL, and which one might be better.

i have no opinion as to whether the Berning is an OTL. but today a Berning ZH270 owner brought his amp over to compare to my pair of Tenor 75wi's. my system is OTL friendly, with easy to drive speakers, so the Berning's acknowledged advantage in driving difficult loads was neutralized.

these amps have very similar power, the Tenor is 75 watts into 8 ohms, the Berning is 70 watts into 8 ohms. otherwise it is not really a fair comparison....the Tenors are $19900 a pair, the Berning $4500, the Tenors weigh 70 pounds each, the Berning weighs about 10 pounds.....it seems like Goliath verses David. the result is somewhat closer than that.

we played three different discs and each of 3 people listened to their disc in the sweetspot. the Berning owner felt that the Tenor had a more dimentional sound, deeper soundstage but felt the Berning was equal in bass extension and detail retreival. the independent listener felt the Berning was excellent for the money but not in the league of the Tenor in any paramter. my perception was similar to the independent listner; that the Berning, at $4500, is amazing in it's top to bottom excellence, dynamics and musicality.....but....does not do things like the Tenor. the sense of space, detail in the soundstage, texture and microdynamics of the Tenor are at a whole different level.....and they better be for $15000 more.

like the Berning owners, i am a shameless Tenor lover and consider the Tenors better than any other amp i have heard at any price, assuming a reasonably easy load to drive.

the Berning is more like a $8k to $10k amplifier.....and Berning owners should be justifiably proud of their amps.

i did think the Berning had slightly more bass slam than the Tenor, but with much less bass articulation and extension than the Tenor.

we spent the rest of the enjoyable afternoon listening to some great vinyl......an enjoyable time had by all.
mikelavigne
allanbhaganinfo
121 posts
 
The feedback switch can be dramatic, the size of the sound stage is greatly altered, as well as bass.

It however may not be enough to change the out come, after all, most ZH-270's are in systems not costing as much as the Tenor alone, the 270 is not in that price league but it's nice to know it can play ball in that league :)
Ag insider logo xs@2x
kriskosiba
33 posts
 
Mzn50,

I have to disagree with you. The better your front end and cables are, the better your amps have to be in order to take full advantage of all of the extra info. It truly is the neverending journey. Once you upgrade one thing you eventually have to bring everything up to par.

Kris
clueless
763 posts
 
Thanks Mike and all for the great post and responses. The Berning amp, pound for pound, is getting a bit of a reputation. It' almost laughable when you pick them up...and then you listen.

Cheers,
georgia2k
27 posts
 
Alan,

Please "tease" us with a few details about the prototype Berning monoblock.
e.g. how many watts, type of output tube, etc.
gbeard
29 posts
 
Hi All,

I am a very satisfied Berning ZH270 owner. I have changed my tubes to the same set that Kris has, and yes they have made a very significant difference. That said, I am sure the Tenor's sound is a thing of beauty, and I can only wish for a system like Mike's!

David had told me about this shoot out prior to it taking place, and I was very impressed that anyone could even believe the two amps belonged in the same comparision. I have not heard the Tenor's, but they seem to be universally praised.

I can say without hesitation that my ZH is absolutely wonderful. I have had two great amps in my system (the McCormack DNA .05 Deluxe Rev. A, followed by a VAC Ren. 30/30 Mk II) prior to the Berning, but I am so satisfied with the sound of the ZH that I am now looking elsewhere for improvement. Granted my system is modest by comparision to Mike's, but again it is nice to know that we Berning owners are at least in the same ballpark.

Thanks to David and Mike for the interesting thread!

Cheers, Gary
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