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MANLEY MAHI® MONOBLOCKS
These cute little guys produce around 40 watts RMS in Ultra-Linear
mode or around 20 watts in TRIODE from a quartet of
EL84 / 6BQ5 tubes driven by a 6414 dual triode driver and a 12AT7EH input dual triode. The EL84 has been one of
our very favorite tubes for many years, extremely long
lasting and reliable, and can be considered the smaller
brother of the much beloved EL34: really quick-sounding both
in the bass and especially in the top end. And of course
this has a lot to do with our Manley Output transformer, the same one
we build for the Manley
Stingray.
We have been building EL84 amplifiers for well over a decade. The
Manley-branded Tiny Triodes were much acclaimed in the early 1990's. In
1993 after the Manley company split off from VTL, the Manley Tiny
Triodes underwent a chassis rework to become the Manley 35 watt
Monoblocks soon followed by the 50 Watt
Monoblocks. The more powerful Ultra-Linear mode operation became
the standard with hard-wired Triode operation or Triode/UL switching
available upon special request.
After the introduction of the Stingray Integrated
amplifier in 1998, we then went back and incorporated the Stingray's new
circuitry design refinements into the 50 Watt Monoblocks. Finally, big
bass out of a small amplifier! So, topology-wise, the post-1998 50
watters were the monoblock version of the stereo Stingray,
with the additional variable feedback feature. After the introduction
of the fabulous Manley Snappers
in 2002, it was obvious that we had to update our classic EL84 50 watt
monoblocks both cosmetically and feature-wise. Make-over time!
Everyone was always asking us for Triode/Ultra-Linear switching. We
listened to ya and put on the Triode-UL switch as standard for the new
MAHI's. As are the beautiful german WBT binding posts. Also we
increased the B+ rail capacity in a major way. The 50 Watt monos only
had around 49 Joules or energy storage in the B+ rail. Now the MAHI's
have nearly 180 Joules of energy storage for the B+ rail. You can hear
this improvement in the especially in the bass region: tighter, faster,
deeper. More is more in this case.
The chassis design is like a mini-Snapper. They are so cute! And of
course they come standard as a pair so you get.... "Mahi-Mahi."
We
believe the MANLEY MAHI's give a lot of value
for an affordable price and we think you will be surprised
at just how big these little guys sound.
For more information about variable feedback,
read
"Notes on Negative Feedback".
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