Pier Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Anyone having expirience with an OTL amplifier driving a pair of Klipschorns? An S-30 MK II.2 from Atma Sphere would then be my choice, but I cannot try the amplifier, because there is no dealer over here in Holland. Already thanks for your replies. Regards, Pier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 A good thread from last year, OTL's - Atma-Sphere or Tenor, contained lots of discussion on OTLs and their advantages and disadvantages. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Another option you might want to consider is the SE OTL by Transcendent Sound which I believe plays VERY nicely with Khorns....and has been discussed here as well. Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Larry's being modest once again. His Joule Electra OTLs sound great with khorns. They seem to be an excellent match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 ---------------- His Joule Electra OTLs sound great with khorns. ---------------- I agree the Joules a great match, as I think I described in the thread I posted above, but they may be too pricey for him. I haven't heard Atma-Sphere. Everyone who has posted about the Transcendent SE OTL seems to share Wolfram's opinion, although some could question the amount of headroom in some situations in such a low-powered amp. This makes the higher power of Atma-Sphere, Joule Electra and Tenor OTLs potentially appealing. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Good point. Yours are the only OTLs I've ever heard but I've yet to find a bad review of OTLs when paired with khorns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 OK, I'm dumb. What is an OTL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 OTL = Output Transformerless This type of amp drives the speakers without the use of an output transformer and are available in tube and solid state versions. Here is a link to Transcendent Sound which gives a bit of detail: http://www.transcendentsound.com/single%20ended.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Larry, "although some could question the amount of headroom in some situations in such a low-powered amp. This makes the higher power of Atma-Sphere, Joule Electra and Tenor OTLs potentially appealing." Transcendent also makes the T15 OTL for higher power needs. It would play about 10dB louder then the SE-OTL and it can be mono-blocked for more power still. In my new setup I'm not sure the SE-OTL has quite enough power for me (double duty for music and home theater) so I'm considering moving to the T15 in its place. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 I've briefly heard AtmaSphere OTLs driving Quad ESLs, and it was like nothing I've ever heard before. I don't know what the model #s were, but there's no doubt they are quite nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Or, to take up Shawn's point of view, one could bridge the SE OTL to get an astonishing....4watts . Anyway, of course the T16 would indeed be an option for larger rooms, just remember that European rooms tend to be smaller. I have listened to my SE OTL in a room just above 20 square meters and it was certainly loud enough to entertain neighbours as well and turn any conversation into a shouting match (and not in a way that the sound became horrible due to the amp playing outside its range)....which only happened when things became really 'insane' (the music played BTW was some kind of agressive/heavy rock stuff). Oh and one should add that the SE OTL is really dead quiet...but there is no reason that the T16 will be any different. Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Wolfram, "Oh and one should add that the SE OTL is really dead quiet...but there is no reason that the T16 will be any different." I asked Bruce about this and he did comfirm that the T16 is 'noisier' but that it was still a very quiet amp. My rooms is small too (and very quiet and dead) and I also use a pair of subs to limit what the amp needs to run. I can hit into the high 90dB range at the listening position with the SE-OTL. For movies though I tend to watch at THX Ref. level which is peaks of 105dB at the listening position. The SE-OTL gets nasty sounding if I try to do that. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 I missed that one too fini. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai2000 Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Shawn, I admit that no sound level meter was at hand in my friend's place and there is no doubt in my mind that eventually 1.5 watts DO reach their limits! I guess in that respect I am lucky to live in an apartment building....though of course there are still the Marantz and McIntosh amps around . Wolfram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted October 23, 2004 Share Posted October 23, 2004 Wolfram, "I admit that no sound level meter was at hand in my friend's place and there is no doubt in my mind that eventually 1.5 watts DO reach their limits!" I actually don't use an SPL meter for those estimates as they don't really react fast enough. Once my system is calibrated the volume control setting tells me where the max peaks for each channel can hit... and that is if the source material goes up to 0dBFs. If it is at 0dB that means peaks of 105dB per channel. Volume at -5dB means 5dB below that... or 100dB per channel. Volume at -10dB means 95dB per channel...etc..etc... For most material the SE-OTL is good up to around -8dBish. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pier Posted November 18, 2004 Author Share Posted November 18, 2004 Last Sunday I have tried Atma Sphere OTL monoblocks MA 1 from 1994 on my Klipschorns. It was a disappointing expirience, first there was lots of hum and noise. And the sound was very clean, no foottapping, no goosebumps, not involving. So folks, for the time being, for me no more OTL amplifiers... Regards, Pier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 That's too bad ... I hope you didn't have to buy them first and they were just on loan ... What are you currently using for amplification? _______________________________ Music Hall MMF-7 Turntable w/ Goldring Eroica H MC Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CDP with 24 bit/192 KHz Upsampling Wright Sound WPP-100C Phono Stage JF Lessard Pantheon 6SN7 SRPP Preamp w/ RCA 5R4GY & Sylvania 6SN7 JF Lessard Horus Parafeed Cobalt 2A3 Monoblocks w/ Tung Sol 5687 & AVVT 2A3 1976 KCBR Klipschorns with ALK Crossovers Gear Online: Two Channel & Home Theater Systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pier Posted November 26, 2004 Author Share Posted November 26, 2004 I have still my homemade VanderVeen UL 40 S 2 x 10 Watt in triode.Running it now with Electro Harmonix KT 88. The sound is reasonable. Klipschorn, La Scala or Belle Klipsch are the best there is, no doubt about that. But they are very sensitive when it comes down to bassnotes, and the VanderVeen does not give too much bass. A Jadis DA 60 did a much better job, but they are very expensive. Regards, Pier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan krajewski Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Too bad you are writing the OTL off. There is a guy in my area who has an OTL amp with Klipschorns. He claims its the best combo he has ever heard (bar none) and he can afford to have anything he wants. The OTL amps (Atmasphere, Futterman) are expensive and a little "off the wall", but he is not the first person I've heard say that the OTL is a "perfect" match for the Klipshorn. He also has the Klipschorns in solid corners with gaskets to insure a good seal. I still say that there is a lot of great equipment out there but if the synergy between the components (including and especially the room) is not there, then one tends to think the last piece of equipment entered into the equation is inferior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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