set vs otl, which is the most musical


Set and otl amps are almost opposites in terms of many aspects of circuit design. Which of the two designs is the most musical (define musical in your own terms as there is likely not to be a universal definition acceptable to all). Which do you prefer and why?
rontaylor

Showing 1 response by rushton

Boa2, in response to your question, amps designed for Class A operation all run hot, whether OTL or not, whether tube or solid state. It's the Class A operation, not the fact that they are OTLs, that results in the heat. The best of the OTL amps (Atma-Sphere, Joule, Tenor) are run in Class A for best sound. For a while, Atma-Sphere made the MA-1 and MA-2 models with an optional switch to change operation from Class A to Class A/B to address the heat issue, but I think Ralph dropped that as a standard feature because most owners never wanted to make the sonic trade-off and left the amps set for Class A anyway.

[D]o the OTL's and their little tube armies run especially hot?