Buckingham, My first thought is how can a student afford such a system as I too went to U of W and through the co-op system and the plan back in the '80's was to use gov't grants/loans money to buy stereo & beer. Good on 'ya. Some of the very well reviewed OTL amps you may want to consider include: Berning ZH-270 (buy factory direct), Atma-Sphere M-60 (avail at Alternative Audio in Dundas, ON), Tenor (if you can afford it and avail. at Audio Gallery in TO), and Joule (factory direct). Beware the 4 ohm loads on OTL - they don't always match well. Ralph at Atma-Sphere sells a Z-System transformer that increases the ohm rating and thus doubles the power. Hope that's of some help.

Kevin

kevinzoe March 01, 2003 11:46

Sfdude, the Audition is great! I believe they use the same 9.5 Gauge solid core conductor but have less 'Dynamic Filtering'. The newer iterations of Rick's cables have some great improvements, esp. the speed of light and cryo ttm. Let us know how the line works out for you.

buckingham January 17, 2003 16:34

Very nice system Buckingham. Keep us posted on your speaker choice. It'd be interesting how your next choice diverges from what you have in the Cliffhangers now.

How are the Virtual Dynamics NITE series? I've been fiddling with the idea of getting an Audition set from Rick to try out but want to see if you've had any experience with the Audition series as well.

sfdude December 20, 2002 17:48

Talons have a very stable 8 ohm impedence and are 91db sensitive. Really though they are far more sensitive... some say around 96db. They work great with only only 10-12 watts.

lordgorian December 17, 2002 10:46

If you are looking for SET or OTL amplifiers, my advice is to stay away from 4 ohm loudspeakers. They will not match up well, and may not match up at all. Take a look at the Coincident speaker line. They have 8-12 ohms impedance, depending on the model, and will be a much better arrangement with SET or OTL, due to the output impedances of these amps. The Super Eclipse, Total Eclipse, or Victory might be just the ticket.

twl December 17, 2002 07:15

Lordgorian, funny you mention the speaker cables... I will be getting the NITE speaker cables and NITE speaker jumpers in jan 2003 from Virtual Dynamics. As for the speakers I hope to hear the Piegas at the Montréal show in March. Never heard the Talons, from seeing them in many of the "price no object" systems I'm sure they're great. I move into my new place in about 20 days so I'll let you all know what it sounds like in my new room with a hardwood floor.

buckingham December 17, 2002 07:03

Have you ever considered Talons? Much better than the mezzo utopias imho but ive never heard the piegas... give em a listen...

lordgorian December 16, 2002 23:16

Wow your system is really growing by leaps and bounds. As for the speakers i would reccomend going with the Piegas. First of all i essentially own the uptopias and the more i listen to them the less impressed i am. Also the piegas would be much easier to move and it seems that you move around a lot. My only reccomendations would be to get some nite speaker cables and another nite power cord for your amps. I have no experience with tubes except for the fact that i know that Tenors rock! I see those in my future actually .... Great work with the improvements and simplification of your system. - Ian

lordgorian December 16, 2002 22:54