Pani's question is a logical one, but the answers to it that are provided in the FAQ at the zeroimpedance.com site are good ones IMO:
12) What is the difference between the ZEROs autoformer and a typical tube amplifier's transformer?
The ZEROs have a few advantages over "typical" tube amp transformers:
A) The music comes out on the same winding wire that it goes in on so the music does not have to pass from a primary winding to a secondary winding.
B) There is no DC current to contend with. When a transformer is made to accommodate a DC field, its audio transparence is compromised.
C) The impedance ratio is very small (16 ohms to 4 ohms, compared to a few thousand ohms to 4 ohms). This simply means that it is much easier to achieve things like, frequency response extremes, than with a "typical" tube amp transformer. The ZEROs sport a frequency response of 2 Hz to 2 MHz.
13) Doesn't adding the ZEROs to my Output-Transformer-Less (OTL) Amplifier defeat the benefits of the OTL design?
The ZEROs were originally designed to maximize the full benefits of the OTL amplifier by changing the speaker's load impedance to the Maximum Power Transfer Region of the amplifier being used.
The ZEROs are not an amplifier fix, they are a speaker fix. It is a great disfunction to music loving audiophiles for speaker manufactures to be making 4 ohm speakers with 3 or 2 ohm impedance dips, and then expect amplifiers and speaker cables to be able to transfer music into a load approaching a dead short. The ZEROs simply multiply the impedance of the speaker in use, and do it so transparently they provide greater benefits than the "penalty" of an added component.
From a technical standpoint, and aside from a couple of spelling errors, that all makes perfect sense to me.
Great comments by Tubegroover, as can be expected. I would just add that the Transcendent OTL amplifier with which he did not experience good results using Zero ratios greater than 2X was vastly different in design than Ralph's OTLs, including in numerous respects involving both the topology and the tube types used in the output stage. See
this reference on what I presume is either the same or a similar Transcendent model.
Best regards,
-- Al