amplifiers
Special K The Black Knight Parallax PL519 The Hollander PD2 Metamorphosis TS-1OMA has a very different approach to building tube amplifiers than any other company.
Initially, we created exceptional loudspeakers of extremely high efficiency. This means only a few watts are needed to create the same level of sound that could take a hundred watts with a conventional loudspeaker. It also means that an amplifier must have a great deal of sonic purity because such speakers magnify the first few watts the amplifier produces. We found that no company today producing tube amplifiers were making products which communicated the musical experience we sought.
We furthermore wanted to create a seamless, bespoke experience for OMA customers who would never have to worry again about the compatibility and coherence of their electronics with their speakers. Our amplifiers are designed to be used with our extremely high efficiency speakers, as they are designed and voiced using those speakers.
OMA amplifiers are designed as integrated units which do not require separate preamplifiers, which further increase the complexity of an audio system, and can create a host of problems. We simply build the preamplifier into our amplifiers. Every OMA amplifier design has a gain control and source selector- say goodbye to needing a separate preamplifier. Our PD1 phonostage will drive any of our amplifiers to full output, as will most digital sources.
OMA makes only triode or triode connected tube amplifiers, because triodes sound better, even though they have much less power than pentode or tetrode tube types which account for the vast majority of tube amplifiers built today. We also use tubes that are unusual- many of our designs are the only commercially available amplifiers using a given tube, like the EL862, or even the triode connected 807, which was commonly used as a radio transmitting tube during WW2. Our amplifier designs use these tubes because we believe them to have the best sound quality for a given power output. Because virtually no other companies use the same tubes we do, NOS (new old stock) vintage tubes are readily, and reasonably, available when replacements are necessary. Tubes manufactured today almost never sound as good as vintage ones. OMA maintains a large inventory of NOS tubes for all of our amplifiers.
Putting together a complete OMA system avoids the pitfalls of mixing and matching components from various manufacturers hoping it all works together. OMA is the only company in the world producing its own line of high efficiency speakers and a line of matching electronics. Because of that, you can rest assured your audio system is perfectly matched from signal to speaker.