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RE: Why aren't OTL tube amps more popular?

Posted by Lew (A) on January 4, 2022 at 10:19:10

In Reply to: RE: Why aren't OTL tube amps more popular? posted by 6bq5 on January 1, 2022 at 09:43:01:

Counterpoint SA4 was among those OTLs that contributed to the reputation for their unreliability, so far as I know. Didn't the SA4 use a servo mechanism to cancel DC at the output, in lieu of coupling capacitors? And wasn't that the Achilles heel of that design? I am not being rhetorical; that's the impression I gained back in the day, without having ever owned or heard one. I do admire many other Counterpoint products, nevertheless. They later made an amp with tube input stage/SS direct-coupled MOSFET output stage (I think) that did sound great. More damaging to the OTL reputation were KSS and Sans Pareil. Futterman amplifiers built by Futterman were quite reliable in my direct experience.

Isn't the Transcendent circuit basically a modified Futterman? The NYAL amplifiers were Futtermans tweaked by George Hammond, who earlier in his career worked with Futterman. So far as I know.

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