[lukeap69]

I will just call the EL11 and EL12 spez amp as

'Spez'.

Okay, I will watch for this spez then...

 

[UntilThen]

Okay, I will watch for this spez then...

This is really funny because I didn't know what spez meant. Look if Schitt is acceptable who gives a spez what spez meant.

 

[lukeap69]

This is really funny because I didn't know what spez meant. Look if Schitt is acceptable who gives a spez what spez meant.

All I know is that your amp will be spezial!

 

[UntilThen]

So tell me Arnold, do you think I should get Glenn to put 2 meters on Spez, like those on the 300b amps. Or is it too Spezzy?

 

[lukeap69]

So tell me Arnold, do you think I should get Glenn to put 2 meters on Spez, like those on the 300b amps. Or is it too Spezzy?

I think it will add some bling bling that will make it look even more spezial...

 

[UntilThen]

Nah I'll keep it a clean look like Sam's amp and put the money in Jupiter's caps instead.

 

[UntilThen]

A little over 5 months now with my OTL amp. Time to wrap up with another review. There can be no mistake that it is fully burn in and stabilised now. It is operating optimally now. I use it everyday. The sound is frightfully good. Any system that takes up more of my time from my stereo system must be good. There was a time when I was so wrapped with my stereo system and I still love it. Amazed by the sound when I listened to it. However listening to the headphone system now has just that slight edge over the stereo system. I find that quite a revelation.

A big part that contributes to my total enjoyment of the headphone system is Glenn's OTL amp. After 5 months, I'm still astonished at how good it's making the HD800 sound. No sibilance, no treble peak, HD800 soars and scales like never before with GOTL. It's unthinkable that HD800 bass would be enjoyable but it is now.

Which brings me to my favourite tubes with this amp. It is the Tung Sol black glass round plates with sextet 6bx7gt. It took me almost 2 years of my tube amp life to sample the TS bgrp. Now that I've spend some considerable time with the TS, I am starting to appreciate how good it sounds. However it is when it is paired with 6bx7, that the synergy starts to flow. All that I'm seeking in the perfect tone, is embodied in this combination in GOTL. Total linearity that doesn't tilt the frequency scale in one direction or the other. This is when I stop thinking about treble, midrange and bass as different spectrum of the FR. Music is presented as a whole and what I hear is totally satisfying. This is hard to put in words but the GOTL makes my Ragnarok sounds flat and anemic. Surprising that I sold off the Ragnarok but I didn't miss it because GOTL is here and sounds like a high end system sound to me.

However all these adoration and praise would be meaningless if I didn't get a chance to compare it to other high end tube amps. I've already spend 2 weeks comparing it to the Woo Audio Wa5 and end up preferring the GOTL. If everything works out as planned, I will able to sit down with GOTL and EC Studio for a week. I'm looking forward to that session.

Finally, I'll be able to compare GOTL with Spez sometime later in the year. I have no idea how Spez will sound, other then it will be great. Until that day comes, my only thought is that GOTL has the sound that I'm looking for and is irreplaceable. It could easily form the back bone of my reference headphone system. That's how much I like it.

A picture of the amp with the tubes in it now as I listen with Sennheiser HD800.

 

[UntilThen]

See this Krell s300i integrated amp is mouth watering at 150w into 8 ohms and 300w into 4 ohms. It will cost less than half of what I will spend in Spez but ss amp just doesn't excite me as much as a well executed tube amp. I'm still more excited with the Spez project.

https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/247181-krell-s300i-integrated-amp-in-exc-condition/

 

[2359glenn]

See this Krell s300i integrated amp is mouth watering at 150w into 8 ohms and 300w into 4 ohms. It will cost less than half of what I will spend in Spez but ss amp just doesn't excite me as much as a well executed tube amp. I'm still more excited with the Spez project.

https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/247181-krell-s300i-integrated-amp-in-exc-condition/

I can use cheaper transformers and bring the price way down use lower cost capacitors. Will it sound as good?
I am listening to my 300B speaker amps now with $100 One Electron transformers and it sounds dam good.
It is direct coupled with no coupling caps 850 volts B+. Some of my craziness from the past.

 

[UntilThen]

Don't change a thing with what you are doing Glenn. You choose your components carefully. They are not there just because they have a reputable name and a high price. Just looking at the OTL pricing, it makes the competition ridiculously expensive and they are not half as good as the OTL sound. Sometimes I think you're doing the community a service. As a custom specialist builder, your amps should have cost a lot more but they are not. It's a labour of love if I may say so.

Most specialist amp builder would have farm out the work to some apprentice but you do it all by yourself. It's incredible.

 

[2359glenn]

I should raise the prices especially on the OTL takes weeks to build not really making much.

Right now I am streaming oldies all rock.
Brings bask memories of the 70s when I worked at Harman Kardon.
Each of us technicians had our own stereo and headphones got to listen to music and work on stereos all day.
And they paid me for it. Best job I ever had pay sucked though.

 

[UntilThen]

I should raise the prices especially on the OTL takes weeks to build not really making much.

Now the community will hate me. I'm gonna get rocks thrown through my screen any minute now.

 

[UntilThen]

Right now I am streaming oldies all rock.
Brings bask memories of the 70s when I worked at Harman Kardon.
Each of us technicians had our own stereo and headphones got to listen to music and work on stereos all day.
And they paid me for it. Best job I ever had pay sucked though.

Ah the 70s.... brings back memories. Where the music's great, so was my body and looks.

I don't work in Harman Kardon. I work in General Electric then. Not as an electronics technician like you. I am a computer programmer. That was the beginning of my career. It's more fun to build amps than to write codes and meet deadlines.

 

[2359glenn]

Now the community will hate me. I'm gonna get rocks thrown through my screen any minute now.

Not your fault. My ole lady and Stavros are telling me I am selling amps to cheep. And they are right.
Building a OTL now and been working on it for weeks. Takes awhile as my health is not good at this point.
Some days I cant do it after work useless in old age.

 

[2359glenn]

Ah the 70s.... brings back memories. Where the music's great, so was my body and looks.

I don't work in Harman Kardon. I work in General Electric then. Not as an electronics technician like you. I am a computer programmer. That was the beginning of my career. It's more fun to build amps than to write codes and meet deadlines.

You know I sold amps to people that weren't even alive in the 70s.
We are old!!!!!!!!!!