OTL amplifiers

Marakanetz, what is your problem? Did you EVER had chance to listen either SET or OTL designs? I noticed you were equaly 'angry' over SET amplifiers some time ago.

I'm OK with SET
I'm not OK with pricing of SETs that basically require a knowlege of elementary school graduate to build them. Should be at least 10x- cheaper. I'm not OK with pricing 300B triodes as well.
As to OTL's distortion-free listening I'm OK as well BTW SET and OTL are completely different since OTL-s use mostly push-pull circuits except probably for headphone amps.
It's not OK with me the rest of inconviniences and again pricing. I agree that Bearnings are priced OK and could be the exception from the rest of OTLs.

Now I do realy have a question about DC at the outpu on OTL-s... Is there an output capacitor I assume?

Oh boy, where to begin? Firstly, I should say that I have been an Atmasphere S30 owner for the past 4 years. It is simply the best amp I have owned. They have a speed and transparency that, IMHO, no transformer-based amp can match.

The original futterman design and the NYAL clones of Harvey Rosenberg where notoriously unreliable and unfortunatly this reputation plagues current OTL manufacturers to this day. I only have experience with atmasphere(AS) which has run flawlessly. AS/tenor/joule amps are NOT futterman designs/clones and it's unfair to lump them together under the banner of "OTL".

Regarding the heat issue, any class A amp, like AS, will run hot. This includes tube or solid state. Yes, the big AS amps (225 and 140 watts/ch mono) can mimic "space heaters" but in actuality, it is my understanding, that they run only 10% hotter than their class A solid state equivilents.

The big AS amps will drive 4 ohm loads easily. With the S30 and M60, speakers have to be chosen more carefully.

Finally, about price. My S30, as optioned, went for $3150. It smoked a pair of well known SET mono's that went for $6000. I don't want to call AS amps "bargins" because they are expensive, but for what you get I do think they are one of audio's best values.

One of the reasons I purchased Atma-Sphere M-60 amps was low tube cost. A speaker that is a good impedance match is a good idea, but can be overcome with the use of ZERO autoformers ZERO Autoformer Website. I couldn't be happier with the performance of my amp/speaker duo without the autoformers however. The Atma-Sphere's do everything I could ask for. I think they're incredible and I love them. In fact, they gave me the same warm fuzzy feeling I had when I met my wife.

I will have to agree with your Mar. I would also include resto of the Hi Fi products into the same category: OVERPRICED!