Tube Power Amp Reviews

As it happens, I still had the pair of Manley SE/PP 300B amplifiers on hand, and, as soon as I could tear myself away from the Jadis SE300B, I tried those with the Infinity Composition speakers. Even more than the Thiel CS.5s, the Compositions revealed the much greater delicacy and resolution of the Jadis amplifiers. Still, especially considering their price of $3500/pair, the Manley amplifiers were excellent, too. Some resolution, some transparency was gone—but still I heard much midrange magic.

Now, of course, the Manleys have more power on demand—a claimed 36Wpc instead of 18W in single-ended mode—when you switch into push-pull. So I pulled on the Manleys (you push to get out of push-pull) and tried them in the more muscular mode. Dynamics improved greatly, the lean sound was no longer so lean, the resolution was almost as good as it had been in single-ended mode, but some of the palpability was lost, the soundstage was flatter, and there was less air there (whew!). Of course, this is the neat thing about the Manleys—you can use them any way you want, single-ended or push-pull, without or with varying amounts of feedback.—Sam Tellig