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Re: Problems with OTL's

Posted by Lew (A) on May 1, 2006 at 07:45:04

In Reply to: Problems with OTL's posted by mitch s. on April 30, 2006 at 17:38:58:

Depends upon circuit design. Futterman-type OTLs with capacitor coupling cannot "fry" anything, since DC is blocked at the output. A few companies made Futterman-type amplifiers without coupling caps, e.g., Counterpoint SA4, possibly KSS. Those amps are known to be a bit unreliable, but mostly they will have internal problems and don't usually fry the speakers, but it could happen. OTLs with circlotron-type output stages (e.g., Atma-sphere, Joule, etc) are really completely safe. You can physically remove an output tube or have one blow on you during play and there is no audible consequence for the speaker, except for a loss of audio quality. Of course, if you overdrive any speaker with any amplifier there is a danger of damaging the speaker. I have about 30 years of experience with both types of OTL to back up these generalizations. Your dealer is misinformed OR he has an ulterior motive for scaring you away from OTLs.

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