Which one to choose between two 80K$ tube amps?

I have to admit I find this puzzling. Western Electric used to be the standard fare in movie theatres and the like, but their gear was supersceded by Altec, who had much greater performance and obviously better sound.

Its a simple fact that the distortion a horn may or may not have depends directly on how well the horn is formed along the ideal curves for it. There are now horns that have been built with these curves computer optimized, so they sound for more realistic.


I am very aware of how tricky it can be to set up a room as I have showed at many shows (we were 4 doors down from your friend's room). But I should point out he's had that room for several years and should know at this point how to set it up.


I get the part about jazz vocals sounding 'spooky' because they sound like they are right in front of you.  But that is the goal of stereo in general, and many speakers can convey that quality of 'spooky' insofar as images floating in space is concerned! I'd be a bit chagrined if I could not evoke that quality from my system!

Hello Ralph

It is not easy to get the "spooky" sound out of system.

Although Lansche 4.1 is not the same league as vintage western horn, it gives almost (maybe 85%) spooky sound driven by SET amp with plasma tweeter.

I used to drive it with Silbatone 300b SET but after moving to larger listening space, I had been using Line Magnetic 508 SET.

I had spent above my annual budget since last December with purchase of used Scaena 3.2 and hundreds of 6sn7 tubes for shootout.

Next year I may try your OTL amp on Lansche 4.1

Take a look at the Auditorium 23 Cinema Hommage 

5K for a half century old high mileage used tube?
No thanks. Does not matter how good it was originally.  But I guess all one needs is a single buyer. 

shkong,
One thing is abundantly clear, you know what type sound you like. I believe that you will eventually have your Western Electric vintage horn system. I don’t think you’re going to settle for less.

Your Line Magnetic 805 output tubes SET is praised for its organic and beautiful sound quality. It will very interesting to read your impressions of an Atma-Sphere OTL amplifier if you pursue that route. They are also highly regarded as well. No doubt two different approaches. I wonder how they’ll differ driving your Lansche4.1 speakers.
Charles