[seefeel]

Which one of these amps will have a higher output power driving the 300ohm Senn HD600s? The spec page on the Antique Sound Lab page for the OTL32 is a little hard to decipher. The MG Head OTL MKII says 120mW x 2. What is the rating for the OTL32?

 

[MusicLover]

You seem to think that more power is better, which is totally untrue. It really doesn't matter which one of those has more power, since both drive the HD600 great, probably with enough power to blow your ear drums. I'm pretty sure the OTL32 is better.

 

[williamgoody]

The OTL32 has more "power". Hell, it even has a jack for the K1000's.

ML has a point, but having owned the 600's and trying them on many amps, I do find that the more "power" an amp has, the "better" sounding the 600's become. Having said that, I never complained about the sound when I had the MG Head OTL.

 

[stan23]

When I went back to my local dealer to exchange my MKII, they had offered to upgrade me to the OTL32 for a mere $140 more. I asked them if I could demo first, as I want to make sure the amp is working fine before I leave

Now, I do realize that the OTL32 has more than enough power to drive the AKG1000s, but when I hooked up my HD600, the amp was waaay underpowered. It didn't have 1/10th the volume output of the regular MKII.

As a matter of fact, the sound was completely bearable when cranked all the way up. When doing an A/B with the MKII, the MKII blew it away as far as volume and 'punch'

Not sure if I had a bad sample, but i'm willing to bet thats how all the OTL32s are.

 

[williamgoody]

Quote:

Originally posted by stan23 When I went back to my local dealer to exchange my MKII, they had offered to upgrade me to the OTL32 for a mere $140 more. I asked them if I could demo first, as I want to make sure the amp is working fine before I leave Now, I do realize that the OTL32 has more than enough power to drive the AKG1000s, but when I hooked up my HD600, the amp was waaay underpowered. It didn't have 1/10th the volume output of the regular MKII. As a matter of fact, the sound was completely bearable when cranked all the way up. When doing an A/B with the MKII, the MKII blew it away as far as volume and 'punch' Not sure if I had a bad sample, but i'm willing to bet thats how all the OTL32s are.

There's a switch on the top near the front of the OTL that switches the impedence from low to high. Was this switch switched to the "Low" impedence selection by any chance?

The "Low" selection is for low impedence cans, while the "High"" selection is for high impedence cans.

If there's one thing this amp isn't lacking, it's "volume and punch".

 

[stan23]

Hi,

Yes, I had it on 'high' Regardless, I tried both settings.. I even tried swapping out the power tubes with some NOS (forgot brand) ones over at the store.

I also plugged in some Grado 125s.. The volume was just severly lacking, it was very similiar to the OTL-H but a *bit* better.

Did I demo a bad one?

 

[williamgoody]

Probably, yeah. I don't turn it up past 10 or 11 o'clock with the 880's, nor the 600's when I had them.

That's my bet, you got a "bad" one.

Hell, to me this amp seriously gives the Corda Prehead a run for it's money as far as power. It's extremely close.

 

[Joe Lau]

It seem to be a strange problem. AKG1000 Jack is parallel with normal Headphone jack. No any resistor between it ! AKG1000 is most difficult to drive Headphone. Can drive AKG1000 sure can drive HD600 ! Why ? e.g If OTL32 only output 3V only. It will output (3 * 3) / 120 = 75mW - 75mW Sure can not drive AKG1000 Loud ! but 3V out for HD600 is more than enough.

(3 * 3)/300 = 30mW - 30mW is more than enough for HD600. Please send it back to dealer to test it.

 

[stan23]

Thanks for the clarification Joe.

I tested the amp at my dealer, and informed them of my findings.