set vs otl, which is the most musical

oneobgyn: have you ever owned a conrad johnson mv 125 ?

i prefer it to any lamm equipment.

i have heard lamm pre amps and amps many times. yes they are fine components, but not the best.

have you heard a david berning sigfried ?

the point: there is no best anything. it's a matter of taste.

I would agree with Thomasheisig with regard to the Atmas. I once heard these amps with the top of the line full range Sound Lab Electrostats and almost fell off my chair. The sound was nothing short of breathtaking. The problem I have with SET amps is there output capabilities and distortion products. Ten percent distortion can't be taken seriously as an audiophile product as it's a profound sonic coloration. I know that sounds rather brutal but its just my opinion. Even though a piece of gear has its own inherent sound, I would preffer something that creates less coloration and a bit more neutrality. I don't want everything to sound pretty. G. Garfield

Excuse me for derailing the thread, but could someone answer with a simple yes or no...do the OTL's and their little tube armies run especially hot? Thanks for the response.

Boa2, yes, OTL's typically run quite hot. the three OTL brands i am familiar with (Atmasphere, Tenor and Joule) all run pretty hot.....the big Atmasphere and big Joule's run the hottest in my experience....to the degree that summertime listening in certain parts of the country is avoided if you don't have air conditioning.

atma-sphere's used to have fans in them for cooling. They do run hot but i could name a few non otl amps that ran hot too. With otl amps its more a function of what type of output tube there using and how their biasing the tube. Generally speaking u wont find otl amps using 6550 or 6CA7's as this would be an impedence mismatch. G. Garfield