FUTTERMAN: DON’T CONFUSE ME WITH THE FACTS

            Both Harry Pearson, editor and publisher of The Absolute Sound and the OTL Manufacturers of America have knowingly made false statements about Julius Futterman, me, or New York Audio Laboratories, and I intend to confront these pernicious falsities.

            Because Positive Feedback is the only open form of debate in the audio industry the newly organized OTL Manufacturers of America, consisting of Ralph Karstin, Bruce Rozenblitt and Judd Barber, at the good graces of Dave Robinson, printed a letter which made a number of false and unsubstantiated statements about Futterman amplifiers and New York Audio Laboratories.

The folly of this all is that Futterman amplifiers haven’t been manufactured since 1987, and I do not see the relevance of these attacks to my speculations about the David Berning circuit.

I called Ralph, Bruce and Judd to "fact check" their assertions and I emailed Harry Pearson to discover on what basis he was claiming that Julius Futterman amplifiers were unreliable and unstable.

I quote here from the OTL trade group letter, signed by all three, " the reliability and stability problems of the Futterman amplifiers were compounded by unreliable circuit components, design compromises, and poor management".

When I asked Judd Barber to be specific about what he knew about the Futterman circuit, or any reliability or instability problem’s it may have had or the management practices of NYAL, he declared that he didn’t know of any, immediately apologized, in a gentlemanly manner, and told me he had absolutely not a clue what that statement meant, even though he signed the letter, and pointed out that he wrote his own letter to clarify his own position.

After reading Judd’s letter in PF describing his discomfort with me calling the Berning circuit ZOTL , I discovered that on his web site he was calling his own new hybrid amplifier with a mosfet output stage an OTL. When I pointed this out to him he again apologized, admitted his mistake and removed it.

I was told by Judd that the published letter was written by Ralph, so I called Ralph, and when I questioned him about which Futterman owners he had interviewed , or how he had checked his assertions before he printed them he basically informed me that he had "heard" about problems with Futterman amplifiers but wasn’t sure what they were or who had them, but there were at least a dozen complpaints that he was aware of over the last ten years.

When I asked him what he meant by "reliability and instability problems", he told me that he had heard that Futterman amplifier needed frequent repair, so I asked him if he had any first hand experience with how these amplifiers were used or abused, and under what circumstances they failed, and what kind of repair was needed. He couldn’t answer these question other than rumors he heard didn’t know and couldn’t tell me specifically what the reliability problems were.

As for unreliable components, he was very adamant that the photo flash capacitors used in the Futterman were failing. This may be true after almost fifteen years of use, and I also note that in the period of time I have used Atmasphere’s I have had to replace power supply capacitors twice, and I now have one amplifier with a failed power supply capacitor. Ralph is aware of this. I asked him if he knew of any other components that were unreliable, and he admitted that he hadn’t seen a Futterman amplifier in the last ten years, and didn’t know. As for design compromises he was very adamant that the use of a circuit board was a major design compromise, and when pressed couldn’t think of another. Of course, what Ralph didn’t know and didn’t care to investigate was why I used a "hybrid" design. If he had examined a Futterman circuit board he would discovered that underneath the circuit board, out of view, is all of the hardwiring.

As for his assertion that I was guilty of poor management practices he told me that he had heard from a number of audio dealers (he wasn’t sure who or when) that they had problems with New York Audio Labs (mostly the ones who didn’t pay their bills) but wasn’t sure what the problems were. When I asked him if any of his designs had compromises he admitted that they did, just like every other amplifier. In short Ralph had fabricated his complaints, never checked to determine if any of his assertion were true, and relied on rumors that he himself couldn’t clarify.

Bruce Rozenblitt’s response was the most interesting. He wasn’t quite sure what was in the letter that was published, though he completely agreed with it. Over the years Bruce has made false assertions about Futterman amplifiers, including in Stereophile, and while I can’t be sure if he is the instigator of these rumors, he has been most consistent in claiming the Futterman circuit was unstable and unreliable while he was hawking that his circuit was better. I asked him how he arrived at that conclusion and who he had questioned and exactly what the instability problems were. As you know Bruce is a sophisticated engineer. Bruce could not describe any instability problems, and could not tell me any specific aspects of the circuit which were unstable or unreliable. But he heard rumors that the amplifiers "were making a big loud sound or something" which was probably due to the power supply discharging through the output. When I pointed out that this was impossible because the output capacitor protected against such an occurrence, he got very unstable.

When I asked him if he knew anything about unreliable parts, design compromises or poor management, he admitted that he didn’t have a clue, yet he signed the letter. When I asked him if he should have checked the facts before he made statements disparaging my or Futterman’s work...he turned positively scatological. He also asserted that his OTL amplifier could be used "with any speaker" including a 2 ohm speaker because it had fuses on its output tubes. On the Triode Guild web site I deal with this disreputable statement.

 

 

HP GETS SLOPPY

Harry’s Pearson’s recent glowing TAS review of Judd Barber’s amplifier begins with a false statement about reliability problems with Julius Futterman’s hand made amplifier so I sent HP the following email. America’s absolutely one true audio critic responded, but chose not to respond to the issues I raised.

Dear Harry,

In the most recent issue of TAS you assert that Julius Futterman’s hand built OTL amplifiers were unreliable. How do you know that? What universe of customers did you poll? What percentage of the owners of Futterman amplifiers did you interview? Did you call me, the man responsible for repair and maintenance of Futterman amplifiers to determine if Futterman amplifiers were more or less reliable than any other type of tube amplifier? Did you ask me, if there were reliability problems, how did I explain them? It appears that none of the above is true, which as you know, better than anyone else in audio journalism, would be the minimum procedure before you would disparage a man’s reputation in the press.

This is sloppy irresponsible journalism.

What is a man’s good name worth? Is Julius Futterman’s integrity and reputation for quality work worthy of an accurate representation?

Harry, as you well know, OTL amplifiers are unique category of tube amplifier in that their all tube output stage must amplify voltage and current without the benefit of a transformer, so it naturally follows that the stated duty cycle life of the tubes used in OTLs determines their longevity. Being that tubes are not current amplifier devices their longevity has a direct relationship to the current demands placed on them which is determined by the efficiency and impedance of the speakers used. Did you investigate any of the characteristics of the tubes used in either the Transcendent or Joule amplifiers, or did you just rely on what the designer’s claimed without any independent investigation?

Let me set the record straight once again about Futterman amplifiers, and the reliability issue of all OTL amplifiers, and please note the "OTL Debate" on Triode Guild Web site (www.positive-feedback.com), because it will obvious that I am the only "true audio critic" of OTL amplifiers in America.

There are twenty year old Futterman amplifiers still in use, and we replaced many sets of output tubes on amplifiers that had ten years of continuous use, because all of these users, at Julius’s and my insistent, used them on high impedance speakers like the Quad 57s. Other than Ralph Karstin, I have more experience with OTL amplifiers than anyone else; the truth is obvious....make an OTL amplifier output stage draw lots of current and it will soon Kervorkian, and that means the only way to insure reliable long term operation is to use them with an "ideal" high impedance and high efficiency speakers. I challenge anyone to argue with me on that matter. I have made this challenge over and over again and no OTL amplifier manufacturer has responded. I wonder why? Futterman amplifiers that needed frequent repair, meaning frequent output tube replacement, were used and abused with the wrong speakers (mostly inefficient electrostatic speakers like the Acoustats) because people loved they way they sounded. Use OTL amplifiers, like the Futterman properly, and they will have extraordinary reliability.

Harry, I think you know the right thing to do.

Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg

Harry’s response to my letter was two sentences that reminded me that I was not an authority on responsible journalism and he didn’t need a lecture on "the Futterman tic", but he would not address any of the real issues of my correspondance.

As for an independent appraisal of the stability of the Futterman circuit, there is no better critical insight than Peter Moncrief’s IAR analysis of the Futterman circuit, and his praise for it. Send me a dollar for mailing and postage and I will send it to you. It is great audio history.

I can understand how Ralph got upset because I prefer the sound of David Berning’s $5,500-$6,500 "Kosher Pickle Output Stage" amplifiers to his $3,500 amplifier. I can also understand the group’s concern about the use of the word OTL. On the other hand the lies and misrepresentations that Ralph created and they endorsed about me, and my work at NYAL, is an unethical shabby misguided attempt to discredit me, and to diminish my personal view of what I like in tube amplifiers. How totally infantile and absurd, which are the expressions that best describe this groups effort.

The discrepancy between HP’s preaching about the implicit high standards of the true audio critic and his real world deeds, speak for themselves.

So let’s end this now: Ralph makes a really nice $3,500 OTL amplifier and is having a serious nervous breakdown and needs help. Judd Barber is a real gentlemen who makes a fine OTL and got sucked into this absurd cabal. Bruce Rozenblitt is as unstable as his OTL amplifier, and if he would have calmed down and stopped cursing at me long enough I would have helped him solve his instability problems.

Yes, I love OTL amplifiers, but that doesn’t mean I have to tolerate anyone’s slime. I think it is time for the OTL Manufactures of America to disband, and get back to work refining their circuits.

Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg

 

 

Back to The Triode Guild©               Back to Meta-Gizmo™   

e-mail Dr. Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg: drgizmo@meta-gizmo.com

Copyright© 2004      Meta-Gizmo.com and Dr. Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg      All rights reserved.
All the material contained within the above articles may not be reproduced without his express permission.