SET vs OTL

I would say that a well designed SET 2A3/300B  has the warm sound than also well designed an OTL having the same output wattage.

The one thing that I might add is that 300b tubes can sound very different depending on design and manufacturer. Some 300b tubes sound much more linear than others. Conversely, my experience with different 2a3  tubes (while admitedly more limited than my experience with many different 300b) suggests that they are more alike than different.

It's hard to argue in words and win the war,what we need is to A-B these things  side by side and I hope somebody will initiate  a fest for audio fanatics  into reality. 

I would say that a well designed SET 2A3/300B  has the warm sound than also well designed an OTL having the same output wattage.

There really aren't any OTLs that make the 2-7 watts as suggested by the above post. OTLs become less practical at lower power levels- driving the real world impedances that one might do with a transformer-coupled amp gets harder. That is one reason OTLs tend to have a lot more power than SETs, and is why our smallest amp makes 30 watts into an 8 ohm load. To make the amp much smaller than that becomes impractical.

However I have found that the OTLs tend to make less of what I have come to call 'loudness cues', IOW higher ordered harmonic distortions (which show up in most SETs when driven over about 20-25% of full power). The result is that the OTL won't sound as loud (even though it is probably louder) and so invites you to use the power it has. This can be done comfortably. The reason SETs sound so dynamic is due to distortion and how that interacts with the ear, not actual volume!

I don't really understand where the comparison of SET and OTL amplifiers really takes a person. there are members of this site who have owned Atmasphere or Joule OTLs and subsequently moved on to a SET amplifier.  Conversely there have been SET amplifier owners Who subsequently moved to an OTL.  This traffic clearly moves in both directions, there are simply many variables involved not the least of which is personal preference and taste. Various brands of OTL amplifiers sound differently, same is true for different brands of SET amplifiers. Change the brand of the output tube, again more variables and different sound, on and on it goes.

There is no definitive way to say one topology is superior to the other. Either can sound fantastic, or just okay. Design, The builder's talent and implementation tell the story.
charles,