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Wyetech, thoughts comments on amp.

I am presently demo'ing a atmosphere m1 amps, and compared to the bryston 7's currently in the system, the atmospheres blow the brystons away. It was like taking a burlap bag off the wilson speakers the minute the m1's were turned on. I was truly a euphoric experience. Since this will be my 3rd amp (hopefully the last). I am going to demo a few others and purchase one in about a month, being somewhat more cautious, since selling used audio at 50% is never that exciting. The name wyetech, cary, wavac, came up as possible considerations. Arc has been ruled out after a demo of them it didn't seem to offer much more than the brysons. A demo of a wyetech amp is possible if driving 5 hours each way and back again is not a problem. Some say it is worth trying. Especially the sales person, who also said atmospheres were built poorly. I live in Phila area. Presently have wison 6 (over priced) speakers. Budget 10k. Any info would be appreciated.
eralff
philefreak
423 posts
 
If heat and constant biasing is not a problem, then I would stick with the Atmaspheres. I've also owned the Wyetechs and personally(IMHO), I thought they were very honky and nasel in sound. I know I'm going to get blown out for saying this, but it's my experience.The build quality is great on the Wyetechs, but who cares if they don't give you the sound. What your after is both build quality and great sound.I think now that you've heard OTLs you will never be happy with any transformer coupled tube amp. Beleive it or not(from someone who's owned all the amps mentioned and them some)the best amp I've heard recently, is the Aloia. I know solid state, but all solid state(except some McIntosh) is OTL and the inductive power supply on the Aloia does things that no(at any price) other amp can do.And it has all the conviences of solid state, no biasing,low heat,leave on 24 hours(ready to play at a moments notice), no tubes to replace.I've also had many solid state amps before, and the OTLs was the way I was staying. I was convinnced OTL was the answer to all amps, and them someone brought over this little 30 watt solid state amp called Aloia. I have since been scratching my head.Let the flames begin,sorry just calling it like I see(hear)it.
glreno
224 posts
 
Philefreak:
Perhaps you should clarify which Wyetechs you're talking about. Didn't you own the Onyx amps?
twl
3,251 posts
 
The David Berning ZH270 should be on your list. It has plenty of guts, is zero-hysteresis OTL, will drive lower impedences well without an impededance matcher(transformer) like the Atma-Sphere. Sounds great, and will save you a bundle of cash. There are very few tubes since the ZOTL circuit doesn't use rows of tubes for impedance matching, and the tube life is 10-20 years of normal use. The catch is, that Berning has only about 3 dealers, and mostly works factory direct. So it is hard to find one to audition. Do a search in the archives on Berning ZH270, and you'll find lots of lively discussion and comparisons to some pretty high-dollar amps. The ZH270 is about $4500 new.
philefreak
423 posts
 
Glreno,

Yes they were the Onyx.
glreno
224 posts
 
The Onyx is a whole different amp than the Topaz. Different output tubes, different design, different price. I have heard some negative comments about the Onyx. I didn't here that they were honky, but did hear that they were thin in the midrange and somewhat sterile sounding. Anyway, I'm not here to flame anybody about their opinions. I appreciate all comments of experiences with different equipment as long as they were done ernestly. And I've never known you to post otherwise. It's only through varied opinions that one can fairly judge what might be best for them. You may want to say what your system was at the time. That way we can all know what to avoid when system matching.
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