air tight atm-3 vs. berning zh270

Another vote for the Berning. I used to own the ATM1, which is not quite as good as the ATM3, but sounds pretty similar.
The main reason the 3s cost so much is because of the higher power and the assoiciated high cost/high quality transformers on them. With the Merlins, you don't need that much power, they are relatively easy to drive. The ATM3 makes more sense when you have a more power-hungry speaker and don't want to give up on tubes.
Merlins and OTLs are a match made in heaven! Cheers,
Spencer

Tried the ATM-3's recently in my 'A' rig- didn't do it for me (bass too thick and a bit slow, and transparency could be better) HOWEVER, picked up the smaller ATM-4, and it's fantastic! Much better PRAT, and better transprency as well, I also found the decay of the note superior, as well as the superior 'delicacy' it brought to the table. It is a vey organic and involcing amp you can just listen too and forget about analyzing the sound. One of the two major U.S. Air Tight dealers agreed that the ATM-4 and ATM-1 were the best sounding of the Air Tight PP lineup due to their simplicity of circuit design; less tubes; however still retaining the extremely high parts and build quality Air Tight is known for. Would love to hear their ATM-211 monos...

you guys are helpful..........thanks

tell us where you end up, and what you think. overall, i think you cant go wrong in either case, despite my obvious biases....

artg... which VTL did you compare the berning to?