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OTL Asylum OTL, Output Transformerless Amplifier User Group. |
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In Reply to: Re: Anybody heard Tenor Audio's 75W OTLs? posted by mike lavigne on August 16, 2001 at 17:32:56:
Dear Mike:Based on your comments it appears that the conclusion you've reached is unscientific. I run into this problem a lot so maybe I can give you a few pointers. This equipment costs a lot of money and you can really flush through it fast if you don't watch it.
First, when you make a comparison between two products, make sure that it is only between the two:
>although thru the #32 i still preferred the Tenor, just not as much.
It appears from this statement that you are ascribing a fair amount of the difference between the two amps to the Levinson. Had you compared the two using an MP-1??
There are five other issues that you don't seem to have taken into account.
The first is that of the speaker load. The Tenor is not going to be nearly as comfortable on the Wilson Watt as the MA-2, even less so on the Maxx. In both cases as a result it will exhibit a more lively mid-high end then the MA-2, and this effect will be modified by the feedback employed by the Tenor. As a result, all we can really conclude is that you might prefer a bighter high end then the MA-2 has.
We supply Russian (and more recently, Chinese) 6SN7s and not any NOS types. So it may be that the tubes you have are Russian. There may be room for improvement.
Third, the interaction between the amp and speaker in OTLs can be dramatically affected by the speaker cable. An optimal cable for one amp/speaker combo won't nesessarily be the right one for a different amp. Thus it is not always correct to compare two amps with the same cable, despite my first point above.
I have seen a number of times where it has been difficult for the user to determine what in their system is causing the change in sound. Is this unit actually sounding better or is that unit actually revealing more about what is wrong upstream? I have seen respected reveiwers make mistakes in this area so this is nothing to feel bad about- just careful. I saw one who very conicidently had similar equipment (IO, Levinson, Nordost) and yet concluded that the amp had a slight rise in the midrange area.
Optimization of the equipment is important too (though alluded two earlier in my comment about cables). How can you optimize an MA-2? Experiemntation with 6SN7s, supplying it with a proper balaned input (which is why we developed the MP-1- no other balanced tube sources controls the interconnect cable properly, and this is all about reducing variables- SS preamps are disounted out-of hand...). The MA-2 draws a *lot* of power (it is class A after all) and it can have a significant effect on the AC powerline. It should be run off of a dedicated line. In addition, it is supplied with dual AC circuits on each chassis- if these issues are not addressed one runs the risk of missing out on their investment.
Everyone is looking for the holy grail and I wish them good luck.
-Ralph
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Follow Ups
- Re: Anybody heard Tenor Audio's 75W OTLs? - Ralph 10:00:28 08/17/01 (2)
- Re: Anybody heard Tenor Audio's 75W OTLs? - mike lavigne 20:48:11 08/17/01 (1)
- Re: Anybody heard Tenor Audio's 75W OTLs? - Ralph 10:45:56 08/20/01 (0)
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