Cary 805s or Atma Sphere M60s?


Currently have a pair of 805s with an SLP-05 preamp, and 91db Vienna Acoustic speakers with silk tweeters coupled with anti-cable autoformers (all SET amps should have these autoformers-do yourself a favor and try them out). Thinking about an OTL amp. Are they everything they're cracked up to be, or what about push-pull amps? I'm just like you guys I love tube sound, dynamics, soundstage, richness, air, and detail. Is one configuration outstanding above another? I want to hear your thoughts and experience.

Eric.
erfranke
It's a bit dangerous to overgeneralize about OTL sound. The AtmaSpheres sound much different than the Juole-Electras; the J-Es sound very rich, to the point that I htought they were colored. Very unlike the AtmaSpheres, adn very unlike the demo I heard with Cary 805s.
I think of the Joule warmth can be attributed to their very fine, but warm sounding preamp, did the same (added warmth and color) thing when I paired it with the M60s - a signature sound many love, but hey, I like passive preamps, so not the way for me. Hard to say if one will prefer the 805s or the Atma-sphere, different approaches that will appeal to different types of listeners.
Pubul57 I listened to the Joule with a Cat SL1 pre-amp. My impressions were the same as Honest1, very rich to the point of euphonic but not at all in a negative way. I really loved the upper frequency extension and air presented by the Joule. There seem to be variations in the presentation of the different OTL's. Maybe the output tube along with circuit design is contributing to the differences in sound as the Tenor and Joule use the same output tube. My guess is, although I wouldn't put money on it as I only heard the Tenor once in an unfamiliar system, the Joule and Tenor are probably quite similar and the Atma-sphere might be a bit leaner by comparison, just a hunch.
Honest1,
You`re correct, that why I limited my impressions to the Atmasphere(M-60 and MA-1) as I`m not familiar with the Joule or the Tenor OTL sound.

Pubul57 neatly sums it up, it will just come down to individual preferences.
I think most would agree, the Atma-sphere is generally leaner by comparison to the Joule, or the Joule is plumper, depending on your perspective - I guess that Ying/Yang thing - my ears lean towards a preference of the Atma-sphere soundscape, I also expect that impressions and preferences between the two will vary based on the speakers being used with the respective amps.