SET amps ?

Thank you Charles for your input. I do suppose that you are right, I just prefer OTLs overall for what they generally provide and I hear in live music. I don't personally find OTLs lean sounding but compared to virtually all the SETs I've listened to I can certainly see where some would. I have an audio buddy that owns an Italian Integrated 845 based SET, huge transformers and a beast at 135 lbs. I've heard it plenty of times and really like it for vocals, it can really draw you into the performance. The last time we listened my impressions were as you describe so well above. Interestingly to ME that "color saturation" that really serves voice so well did not carry over to instruments. The timbre was too much of a good thing which is a consistent impression. Piano sounded unnaturally rich to me and ironically I found it missing much of the subtle ambient harmonic overtones and decay in the recording venue that is so clearly resolved with my Berning. There must be a balance somewhere and I was just curious to know if there is an SET out there reasonably priced that might "win me over" with across the board performance. I just haven't heard one to date less the Lamm but would love to.

Tubegroover,
SETs I've heard that sound very natural and honest without embellishment
are the following. Absolare, Coincident, Wavelength, Dehavilland and
Allnic. By reputation Audion amplifiers , Fi Audio and some Yamamto amps
meets this standard and I'm sure there are more. To be fair within the niche
of SET there's much variety of sound and presentation. Simply swapping
either output, driver, input tubes or changing capacitors can produce very
noticeable differences. I've heard Viva sound fantastic with certain
speakers.
Of course my idea of natural and realistic could be interpreted as too rich
and warmly colored to you and conversely my too lean and thin is
may be your "just right".

I get exceptional resolution, articulation, separation and clarity with my SET
so I don't suffer the short comings you've mentioned. You may not find a
SET that satisfies your ears as much as your OTL does. So many factors
shape our preferences. Berning could simply be the ideal choice for you
and anything else will fall short of your needs. We both are very happy with
our different types of amplifiers.
Charles,

When someone is determined and able to try something new and different, there is no time better the present.

Dared seems like good value. I think of TEkton in general, monitors in particular, as pretty set friendly, but not I am not familiar with those Tektons specifically.

I would expect very nice results with a Dared/Tekton pairing for very modest cost.

I have no problem with any kind of music selection as far as SET amps are concerned. If they are paired with suitable speakers, they can deliver clarity, detail, weight, and do everything quite well. But, they are considerably harder to match with speakers, given their low output and quite high output impedance than a pushpull amp, and probably harder than an OTL given how low the output of most SETs (an issue for me because I prefer the 45 and 2a3 tube over 300b or 211 or 845). But, I also agree that most of the lower priced models do not deliver the goods--it really does take high quality output transformers to get decent SET sound and that does not come cheap. I've heard a few of the supposed giant killers and the sound of these tend to be quite bad--anemic, dead and too light weight-- in the setups I heard (perhaps the amps would have sounded better with easier loads).

OTLs are no different from other amps--each implementation/tube type sounds different. Atmasphere and Joule OTLs, for example, sound very different and which is "better" is a matter of taste.

I agree that Jazzman463 has left the building!! ;-)
But it is clear now from the discussion that Charles1dad, Tubegroover & Larryi have been having that with Jazzman463 having only $750-1500 available that he should not bother looking into SETs. The quality in the power supply & the transformers is simply not going to be there to deliver the goods. Better options might be Atma-sphere 30W/ch or a P-P like the RM10. thanks.