Charles1dad,
The OTL amp I mentioned is an amp built in the late 1970's by someone in Greece. It was never a "commercial" product. I have been told that the builder made about 10-12 amps, two of which were brought to the USA by the Greek ambassador in the 1990s. I cannot recall what kind of tubes are utilized, but, I understand that the tubes are old television sweep tubes. I also understand this amp utilizes the Futterman OTL design. The amp puts out about 30 watts.
Each of the monoblocs is massive--each contains a huge toroidal power transformer and four smaller toroidal transformers. I understand that in each monobloc there is essentially four separate power amps, including four separate power supplies, hence the four transformers. The previous owner had it for the past ten years and pretty much kept the amp on and in standby all the time; the output tubes were never changed in that time and very little adjustment to bias has been required (attesting to how gently the tubes have been run in the amp). I know the owner of the other pair of these OTL amps that is in this country. That other amp is actually a different version and has 4 boxes instead of two.
What is particularly striking about these OTLs is how they make even small and lower-cost speakers sound surprisingly "BIG" and ballsy and alive. OTLs, in general, are good at doing this (you could call it a parlour trick); this OTL is particularly good at this game.
The OTL amp I mentioned is an amp built in the late 1970's by someone in Greece. It was never a "commercial" product. I have been told that the builder made about 10-12 amps, two of which were brought to the USA by the Greek ambassador in the 1990s. I cannot recall what kind of tubes are utilized, but, I understand that the tubes are old television sweep tubes. I also understand this amp utilizes the Futterman OTL design. The amp puts out about 30 watts.
Each of the monoblocs is massive--each contains a huge toroidal power transformer and four smaller toroidal transformers. I understand that in each monobloc there is essentially four separate power amps, including four separate power supplies, hence the four transformers. The previous owner had it for the past ten years and pretty much kept the amp on and in standby all the time; the output tubes were never changed in that time and very little adjustment to bias has been required (attesting to how gently the tubes have been run in the amp). I know the owner of the other pair of these OTL amps that is in this country. That other amp is actually a different version and has 4 boxes instead of two.
What is particularly striking about these OTLs is how they make even small and lower-cost speakers sound surprisingly "BIG" and ballsy and alive. OTLs, in general, are good at doing this (you could call it a parlour trick); this OTL is particularly good at this game.