Good, starter OTL kit

[bigmattyevans]

I am intrigued by the idea of OTL amps.

I have already built a Decware SET amp from their kit and thought that I might try building another amp. I don't want to spend a huge some of money but would like to get an idea of whether the OTL sound is something that I would like.

I found the "Transcendent Sounds" website, which certainly has a lot of positive feedback from users, and was thinking of building the new "son of beast" 15 watt per channel OTL from his new book (which is in the post to me).

What are other people's thoughts on me doing this? Is a Transcendent Sounds amp a good choice or are there other better OTL projects to try? My level of experience is "beginner". In other areas of audio I've generally found there is a lot of experience and discernment in this forum, so I wanted to run the idea of building this amp past people here, particularly as I couldn't find much in terms of independent reviews of the transcendent sounds amps on the net and the forum here seems pretty quite.

Thanks

Matt

 

[banat]

If you not interested only to DIY SE OTL Amp than check this DIY OTL Amp article to : http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/161112-what-tubes-tube-amp-2.html

Best Regards !

 

[Alastair E]

Failing a kit, you could try out the amp described in this thread--

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/189282-vacuum-tube-otl-power-amp.html

 

[adason]

I built and own Transcendent OTL. Great sound, but lots of heat...unless you have great signal source and excellent high impedance high efficiency speakers, the benefit will not be there. If you do, you will love the sound.

 

[carolus]

.....If you do, you will love the sound....

I agree .... magnifique fine "music" (& with punch) ....

(Built & play after tuning .... this is not a product placement .... )

 

[bigmattyevans]

Thanks for suggestions - will check those ideas out.

Adason - how high does the impedance of speakers need to be? I was going to run them into my 8 Ohm Coral 8TX-70s, sensitivity around 92 dB/w/m. To be played in a small room.

 

[adason]

do you know impedance plot of the coral? in general 8 ohm fullrange sounds right, its the multiway speakers with impedance dipping low which can be a problem

 

[ro9397]

Qualifiers such as "high" and "low" referencing impedance and sensitivity do not express any particular magnitude. IOW, posts omitting numbers expressing definite magnitude are always and only misleading. What's "low" impedance to one tube amp is moderate to another. Also, the closer we get to a minimum power limit, the more critical is the decimal.

As revealed in this thread, the lower is the power and source current of any amplifier, the more critical it is for any potential user of such amp to post their speaker's impedance graph and FR/sensitivity graph. Without such references, asking someone's advice regarding "lower" power/"lower" current (OTL) amps is pretty useless.

There's also the matter of room volume (not floor area), listening distance, SPL requirements, and software bandwidth and dynamic range.

The more details one supplies, the more accurate can be answers to critical questions.

I realize that ultimately there are way too many variables. The rubber meets the road with a particular amp installed in the system. What SPL pleases one listener in one room with one system may be completely inadequate with another listener.

There's even the matter of the number of listeners in the room. Humans being mostly gelatinous and absorptive, each body dramatically increases power requirement.

 

[Nelson Bass]

If you not interested only to DIY SE OTL Amp than check this DIY OTL Amp article to : http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/161112-what-tubes-tube-amp-2.html

Best Regards !

Atma-sphere offer a complete kit of the mighty M60. Or you can buy the building instructions from Ralph and source the parts yourself (I did that).