The Tenor Audio journey began in early 2000 with the innovative Output Transformer-Less amplifier known as simply "the Tenor OTL". These amps took the world by storm as the premier tube amplifier of its time and gave Tenor Chief Engineer, Michel Vanden Broeck, a well served place in audio history.
The OTL is a unique design concept that is different than traditional vacuum tube amplifiers. The Output tubes coupled directly to the speaker with no output transformer thereby avoiding the various pitfalls of traditional tube convention. While not an entirely new concept in audio, many believed Michel’s OTL to be the pinnacle of technology at the time - as do many still to this day. It is not unusual to see vintage Tenor OTL’s trading for almost their initial selling pricing some 14 years after inception. OTLs are objects of desire - both soncially and visually!
Many argue today that Tenor 15 watt, 35 watt Pure Class A & 75 watt OTL’s sonic purity is still without equal. 75 watts of power is practically the upper limit as the physics of size, energy consumption and heat dissipation make anything beyond that impractical. While perfect for fairly efficient speakers or average efficiency speakers in smaller rooms, the OTL Tenors simply could not satisfy the current demand of regular speakers.
