OTL Tube Amps-- are they superior to everything?

*** His opinion is that nothing compares to them for clarity, naturalness and superiority in just about every area.

They do have some very specific and very limited qualities that are attractive but mostly the “attractive qualities" get overwhelmed by a large amount of the very critical fundamental imperfections… There is a LOT of more to it but it will be obviously out of scope of the typical Audiogon member’s aptitude. If you looking for serious information but not for the casual audiophile BS then look somewhere alse.

*** The Atmaspheres are the amps he has, and they are purportedly very stable, unlike most other OTL designs, which many can tell you were a living nightmare.

Atmaspheres actually are very poor electroniks and I sincerely feel that to make any conclusions about topology base on the evaluation of a specifically-badly-implemented brand is a wrong thing to do.

*** What is the truth here?

Look for the answers somewhere else.

Twl, I would love to hear those amps of yours, I'll even make a effort to come and hear it, where ever you are :)

My amps are 6JN6 based but not a 270, they are direct drives, directly driving Sound labs, I have over twice the rail voltage of a regular 270 but a lot of the design is similar, this alone is a testament to the reliability and rock steady stability of the design, it's capable of producing 6000v peak to peak, yeah it only weighs 8lbs each, so not only am I OTL amp but I am transformerless on the electrostatic panels as well.
There is an open invitation to anyone to come and hear this, as talk is cheap

Verybigamp obviously has some very strong feelings on these amps. I don't think I'll have to ask for others to react to this.

About the Berning, after seeing how it looks like someone made it in their garage, perhaps that explains the stingy two-year warranty. At $4,200 for a 10 pound amp, I think I'll pass. Mr. Berning obviously feels he would be paid well for his design abilities.

Someone has emailed me privately to express his opinion of the Atma-Sphere M60. He owned them, and found that the input stage creates distortion that you can hear, although they are transparent and real sounding. He claims most owners have modified the input stages of these amps.

What's all this about?

Saxo, you have alot to learn. Is the poundage of heat sinks or the glitziness of a face plate the measure of an amplifier, in your opinion?

Do you buy your amps by the pound?

FYI, Berning has about the best reliability reputation over the last 25 years, of any manufacturer there is. The stuff never breaks. So much for the "stingy 2 year warranty" that you'll never need.

As far as being built in his garage, no, it's hand assembled by him. He actually builds each one of these himself, and you get an amp that is hand made by the most talented audio designer, probably in history.

Apparently, not only does he feel he should be paid well for his designs, so do the many customers who are WAITING IN LINE to get these amps. And when they do come up on the used market, they sell for about 85% of the new price, and are snapped up in the first few hours on the classified. Quite different than the 200 pound amps you seem to desire, which bring 40-50% of new, on the used market, and languish for days or weeks on the ad boards.

But the biggest thing you will miss is the sound that will destroy anything else you listen to in this price range. Perhaps you should look in the archives, where the Berning amps are repeatedly compared to amps costing $20k.

Don't get me wrong, you are entitled to your opinion about these amps. It was just so glaringly apparent that your opinion is poorly founded, that I had to make a comment.If you have a pre-concieved notion that you don't like OTLs, that's fine, but don't complain about the lack of weight when the whole purpose of OTL design is based on eliminating the heaviest part of a tube amp, which are the output transformers. Your comments show gross ignorance.