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A complete set of measurements was made on the Manley Reference 240 in both the triode and tetrode modes using the balanced inputs. Selected measurements were also made using the unbalanced inputs.

The Manley Reference 240 was warmed up for one hour at 60W into 8 ohms, one-third of its rated maximum power in the tetrode mode. Although the top plate became very hot, this was not enough to be an operational concern. However, it was hot enough that the amplifier should be kept out of reach of small fingers. (The same might be said of the sharp edges on the…

Back in early spring, I stupidly sprained my ankle while running (footnote 1). At 2am. The injury kept me off my feet for a few weeks, and I found myself spending time reading and actually participating in a hi-fi forum, an activity I generally try to avoid. One thread that caught my attention was on the Stereophile forum, and the subject under discussion was the Furutech DeMag device. In brief, Stephen Mejias…

In 1978, in partnership with Booker T. Jones, Willie Nelson decided to throw the music business and the listening public a curveball with Stardust. Stepping out of the "outlaw" country persona that had revolutionized and saved country music—which, by the early 1970s, had become formulaic and isolated from the changes sweeping American society since the late '60s—Nelson became a hip cabaret singer. The set was…

Four years with MAXX 2
I owned a pair of MAXX 2s for more than four years and thoroughly enjoyed every listening minute, while never deluding myself that it was the perfect loudspeaker. There's no such thing. Had I had such delusions, my reviewing of other…

But the MAXX 3's bottom octaves, while not as pronounced above the…

That said, the improvements made to the tweeter and its integration with the outputs of the MAXX 3's other drive-units are significant: reductions of edge and grain commensurate with the speaker's overall greater…

Description: Three-way, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" inverted titanium-dome tweeter, two 7" cellulose-fiber/paper-cone midrange units, 11" carbon-fiber/paper-cone woofer, 13" carbon-fiber/paper-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: not disclosed. Frequency response: 19.5Hz–22.5kHz, ±3dB (average in-room response). Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 3 ohms minimum. Minimum amplifier power: 15Wpc.
Dimensions: 67.2" (1722mm) H by 16" (410mm) W by 24" (616mm) D. Weight: 425 lbs (193kg).
Finishes: Multiple automotive paint…

Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, Castellon turntable, tonearm, stand; Graham Engineering Phantom II tonearm; Lyra Titan i, Miyajima Shilabe, Shun Mook Signature, Shelter 7000 cartridges.
Digital Sources: dCS Scarlatti, Playback Designs MPS-5 Reference SACD/CD players; BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder; Sooloos music server.
Preamplification: Manley Steelhead, Ypsilon VPS 100 phono preamplifiers; darTZeel NHB-18NS, Musical Fidelity Primo preamplifiers.
Power Amplifier: Musical Fidelity Titan, Musical Fidelity kW…

As with the MAXX Series 2, the MAXX 3's bulk made transporting one of them to my place for measurement impractical. I therefore measured the MAXX 3 in Michael Fremer's driveway, where I could get the speaker well away from boundaries other than the ground. I did three complete sets of acoustic measurements: at my usual distance of 50" on an axis corresponding to the line of sight from Michael's ears to the speaker, with the upper-frequency array as set up in his listening room; on the same axis at 100", close to the distance from his ears to the speaker in his…