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There's something special about big tube amplifiers. No other audio component has such a primal appeal or can so quickly reduce grown (?) audiophiles to Homer Simpsons sighing, "Mmmmm...toooobs." EveAnna Manley, president of Manley Laboratories, understands the effect of high-powered tubes on the audiophile brain and shares the obsession. A Harley rider, mountain climber, and devoted music lover, she is one of the industry's most individualistic characters. You just have to appreciate a gal who ends each CES by blaring Rage Against the Machine at top volume.
Like most tube amplifiers, the Neo-Classics didn't need a lengthy break-in period—a couple of weekends' listening and they'd settled down nicely. If there were any significant sonic changes after that point, they were too subtle for me to notice. I make a point of firing up tube amps at least an hour before doing any serious listening, the better to let everything thermally stabilize, and apart from one check of the output tubes' bias (footnote 3), that was all the attention the Manleys required. There was nothing intimidating about living with the 250s; if you can read the manual and use a…
Soundstaging was another of the Neo-Classics' strengths. The vast spaces created by Future Sound of London's Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain on the stunning Papua New Guinea Translations (UK CD, Jumpin' and Pumpin' CD TOT52) were deep, rich, and densely filled with sonic exotica. FSoL creates an alternate sonic universe, and the Manleys threw me straight onto the holodeck. Papua New Guinea's highly complex mixes have layer upon layer arranged in multiplicities of interlocking patterns. The Neo-Classics managed to effortlessly sort it all out, and brought out the organic, holistic nature of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Tube monoblock power amplifier with solid-state rectification. Tube complement: one 12AT7WA, two 6414s or 12BH7As, ten EL34Gs. Output power: 250W at 1.5% THD into 5 ohm load (tetrode), 100W at 1.5% THD into 5 ohm load (triode). Input sensitivity: 1V. Input impedance: 100k ohms. S/N ratio: 80dB. Dynamic range: 93dB. Frequency response: 10Hz-80kHz, ±0.5dB. Power consumption: 30W in standby, 815W at full power.
Dimensions: 19" W by 9" H by 13" D. Shipping weight: 73 lbs each.
Price: $9000/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 25.
Serial numbers…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: SOTA Cosmos turntable, Graham 2.2 tonearm, Dynavector DRT XV-1 cartridge.
Digital sources: Classé Omega SACD/CD player, Ayre D-1x CD/DVD-Audio player.
Preamplification: Jeff Rowland Design Group Cadence phono stage and Synergy IIi line stage; Manley Labs Steelhead phono stage; Ayre K-1x full-function preamplifier.
Loudspeakers: Apogee Duetta Signature, Silverline Sonata.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove 2, Graham Engineering. Interconnect: Wireworld Gold Eclipse 3+, Nordost Valhalla, Cardas Golden Reference. Speaker: Nordost…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
With both balanced and unbalanced inputs and an output stage capable of operating in both tetrode and triode modes, the Manley 250 Neo-Classic is four amplifiers in one chassis and thus represents four times as much labor in the measuring lab. I therefore reduced the variables by performing a complete set of tests running the amplifier balanced in tetrode mode, and repeated several of the tests in triode mode and via the unbalanced input, as necessary.
The Manley amplifier is noninverting through both inputs, the XLR wired with pin 2 hot. The input…
The distortion in either mode is heavily second-harmonic (fig.7, tetrode; fig.8, triode), and the increase at low frequencies and at higher currents seems to be due to an increase in the third harmonic (figs.9 and 10).
Fig.7 Manley 250 Neo-Classic, tetrode mode, 1kHz waveform at 16.3W into 4 ohms (top); distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched out (bottom, not to scale).
Fig.8 Manley 250 Neo-Classic, triode mode, 1kHz waveform at 17W into 4 ohms (top); distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched out (bottom, not to scale).
…
PAQUITO D'RIVERA: Portraits of Cuba
Paquito D'Rivera, alto & soprano sax, clarinet; Lew Soloff, Bob Millikan, Diego Urcola, Gustavo Bergalli, trumpet, flugelhorn; Lawrence Feldman, alto sax, flute; Thomas Christensen, tenor sax, flute; Andres Boiarsky, tenor sax, clarinet, flute; Roger Rosenberg, baritone sax, bass clarinet, bassoon; John Clark, French horn; James Pugh, trombone; David Taylor, bass trombone; Allison Franzetti, Dario Eskenazi, Carlos Franzetti, piano; David Finck, bass; Mark Walker, drums; Pernell Saturnino, percussion; Carlos Franzetti, arr., conductor
Chesky…
Paquito D'Rivera, alto & soprano sax, clarinet; Lew Soloff, Bob Millikan, Diego Urcola, Gustavo Bergalli, trumpet, flugelhorn; Lawrence Feldman, alto sax, flute; Thomas Christensen, tenor sax, flute; Andres Boiarsky, tenor sax, clarinet, flute; Roger Rosenberg, baritone sax, bass clarinet, bassoon; John Clark, French horn; James Pugh, trombone; David Taylor, bass trombone; Allison Franzetti, Dario Eskenazi, Carlos Franzetti, piano; David Finck, bass; Mark Walker, drums; Pernell Saturnino, percussion; Carlos Franzetti, arr., conductor
Chesky…
Five years: My brain hurts a lot.—David Bowie
Cherry Valley has turned out to be the unofficial turkey-buzzard capital of upstate New York, and they especially like the hill I live on. They're circling overhead as I write this, probably because they detect the swollen carcass of my first CD player, a Magnavox, stinking up a corner of my toolshed and waiting for Saturday morning, when I intend to take it to the village dump. No sense pretending I'm ever going to use it again.
Its sliding tray full of memories includes lots of uninvolving Beethoven, uninvolving Wagner, uninvolving…
The CAM 350 also did a superb job on smaller, subtler microdynamic shadings. Clark Terry has a way of bending notes just as they die out—or, in the last split second before he begins the next note, of oh so gently altering the pitch and shading the level through one or more subtle, wavering oscillations. With the Classé in the system, these delicate phrasings were vividly clear and never failed to catch my ear.
Such subtle microdynamic touches contributed significantly to the piano's realism as well. My listening notes remind me that, with the Classés, the piano notes "hang in space,…