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” It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that I own a Futterman H-3 amplifier, a fairly recent purchase that has been lovingly refurbished. There’s no doubt in my mind that the H-3 is still a contender today, a full 50 years after its introduction. But it’s a tweaky product that the average consumer would have a difficult time maintaining. Naturally, I was curious about a confrontation, Futterman vs. Circlotron, a mano-a-mano duel for OTL supremacy. Let me start by saying that both amps acquitted themselves very well, perhaps on balance I would award the S-30 a narrow decision, though there were noticeable sonic differences. The H-3 was the more tonally neutral of the two, which I think is due to its much lower source impedance and thus minimal load interaction. In particular, the presence region was reproduced more realistically. In this regard, the S-30 benefitted from being mated with a brighter front end. The S-30’s midrange textures were purer and sweeter sounding, and I came to realize that I wasn’t totally happy with H-3’s capacitor coupling of the output stage. Listening through a large and mostly electrolytic cap bank seemed to add a slight layer of grit and veiling to the sound.”

Tagged: ATMA-SPHERE S-30 MK 3.3 OTL POWER AMPLIFIER

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