Tenor 75 Wi OTL

A miscarriage. Wanted to sell a SS amp to me after the miscarriage but with my 16 ohm speakers not any SS amp will work. Talking to Zu I was told NOT to buy it as it did nor meet their specs.

OTL amps are the best sounding amps on these speakers.

So I will buy a fan and install it in the small door opening that goes to the attic to drive the trapped heat in the loft area that will be generated by the Tenor space heaters.

I`ve been told by some who are familiar with the Tenor that they sound excellent. For 6 grand you may have hit the sonic jackpot.Your plan for a simple fan installation may solve your conern about heat.
Best of Luck,

One other thing Glory fyi. If you can't make the Tenors work for any reason there is another OTL amp option. I recently read on a thread a response from a dealer of these speakers, Audiofeil that the Berning zh270 was one of the best he heard with these speakers brought into is store by an owner auditioning. Unfortunately this amp is no longer made and they are becoming more difficult to come by on the used market as most who own don't want to give them up, yours truly included. However they do have a 30 watt zh230 that is supposedly more refined at less power. Unfortunately the jump in price was quite a bit over the zh270, in the 8k range I believe. Advantages wide bandwidth performance, low heat, extremely low noise, it uses an advanced switching power supply, long tube life, self biasing, OTL clarity and transparency as it uses an impedance converter but no output transformer the best bass control I have heard on any tube amplifier in my experience. I am not in any way affiliated but since you live in Florida you are most certainly invited to my place (Rockledge near Cocoa Beach) for a listen to decide for yourself if it might be an option IF you can't make the Tenors work for any reason. Good luck!

PS The Berning is a no nonsense design if you consider aesthetics important. It will not compete with the beautiful Tenors as it is very simple and unassuming on the outside no exposed tubes which can be an advantage in a smaller space. The advantages are all in the brilliant design by one of the most brilliant amplifier designers in the industry.

I have heard the ZH270s on many occasions over a period of more than a decade, in my friend's system. He has a pair strapped for mono, driving a pair of large Acoustats. They are wonderful, bullet-proof amplifiers. However, to my ears they do not give that last 5% of clarity that one can get from a true OTL. I am specifically referring to my own Atma-sphere amps driving a pair of Sound Lab M1 speakers. I and my friend give the edge to the Atma's. I have a longstanding curiosity regarding the Tenors, and I look forward to hearing what you think of them compared to your S30s. Too bad heat is such a big issue for you.

By the way, the ZH270 was once one of the screaming bargains in audio, when it sold for $2500. Evidently David Berning (one of the geniuses in audio, IMO) met up with a marketer who raised his prices about 10-fold. I think the ZH270 was discontinued just to facilitate the price rise. Of course, there is no crime in that.

So far as the zh270 going up in price 10 fold, i'm not too sure about that Lewm. I wasn't aware that they were ever 2500.00 when they were first introduced but if that was the case I can't imagine Berning doing anything but breaking even if one is to consider that the amps took him 30 hours to assemble. The wiring for the impedance converter alone must be done manually and I can only imagine how tedious that task alone is. Yes indeed, at 2.5K it must be one of the greatest values ever in audio. at its final price with all the modifications I believe it listed at 5.5K

There were some substantial improvements, at least in my experience with several of the mods that improved the amp's performance no less than a wiring change and a few input caps along with some other lesser changes including cryoed outputs. The total net gain was significant. While I have done a direct AB to a Joule VZN80 in my system many years back the Joule clearly was harmonically richer with greater density where as the Berning was somewhat leaner. This was before I performed any of the mods and tweeks including much experimentation with vibration isolation. Sure would love to do an AB with the Atma-sphere in my set-up, I have always been curious all these years. I can imagine your system, great choices!