OTL Asylum

OTL, Output Transformerless Amplifier User Group.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

Dear Alan

Posted by Lew on December 25, 2015 at 10:21:31:
Yes, well, that's nice. Are there really bushels of folks who have owned both an MP1 and a Shindo preamplifier, at the same or at different times in their audio lives? I would think not, but perhaps I am mistaken. Nevertheless, I doubt that the late Ken Shindo could prove on the sheer basis of polemics that his preamplifier was superior to some other well designed preamplifier, balanced or otherwise. By saying this, I mean him no disrespect; such a debate rarely leads anywhere except back to the listening seat.

Like I said elsewhere in this thread, I am not fixed on a balanced topology for preamplifiers (or amplifiers) over all else, but I have heard a wide variety of preamplifiers in my home system, and I find I prefer the MP1 over any of them, still after 20 or so years of ownership of the same MP1, which I've updated myself in parallel with some of Ralph's ideas and some of my own crazy ones. Is the MP1 great because it is balanced or for other reasons? I don't know. Of course, my experience and preferences are colored by the fact that I am an ESL type of guy. OTLs (amplifiers of course) and ESLs mate particularly well, as you may know.

The only reason for you not to post here might be that none of Shindo's designs were OTL amplifiers, let alone OTL preamplifiers. There are several guys who do post here who prefer Futterman type (SE) OTLs or Transcendent OTLs. And now and then, Graaf. All commercial OTL amplifiers that are "not circlotron" in concept are derivative of the Futterman circuit. I think it would be great if such folks were to post more frequently. I myself owned nothing but Futterman amplifiers between about 1972 and the mid-1990s, and I loved them matched with KLH9s or M-L ESLs. You cannot blame Ralph for posting in order to answer questions posed on this site that are specifically about his products, and in the process, his particular bias always does come through. So does yours.