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Preamplifiers & Converters | Little Amps | Big Amps | Integrated Amps |
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It all began at the HI-FI '97 show, at the bar of course, where things like this seem to happen. J. Gordon Holt was with his traditional martini, and EveAnna Manley with her stimulant of choice, a cup of coffee. She was describing a new, integrated amplifier she wanted to build and sketched one of those legendary "bar napkin drawings". Gordon remarked, "It looks like a stingray!" (the fish, not the car.) And so, in honor of J. Gordon Holt, we call this catch of the day: "The Stingray". No stinger, but it sure does pack a punch! EveAnna arrived at this distinguished chassis design after careful research of optimal component placement for the purity and symmetry of the signal path layout. She also set out to reclaim the rich midrange and silky top end of our vintage designs and combine it with a driving low frequency register which had not previously been achieved with MANLEY's smaller amplifiers. The key to realizing this all-encompassing, driving spirit would be found in a new output transformer design which "Hutch" Hutchison and Michael Hunter set upon with great vigor. Armed with our extensive technical library and in-house transformer winding facilities, they returned to more traditional thinking with the clever twists coming along at the end. Measuring, listening, testing and tuning led to a decision to replace our venerable 15 year old input stage with an innovative and fresh contribution from Paul Fargo. The door to "true Soul" was unlocked and burst open wide. Separate left and right silver-contact select switches (for the four stereo line inputs) deliver your music into the premium Noble® balance and volume controls before hitting the first 12AT7 input tubes. The advantages of a passive preamp driving an extremely short and low capacitance two inches of cable are well known: near-absolute transparency, no added noise, and extreme signal path simplicity. This is the perfect place to implement a passive preamp as it were. Following the mighty 6414 driver/phase splitter, the trusty EL84 output stage can be switched between either around 20 watts of TRIODE or 40 watts of Ultra Linear mode push-pull operation. Individual bias for each tube is easily adjusted using the trimpots and test points, conveniently located on the top surface of the amplifier. The Stingray's power supply is extra-rugged and stiff, a MANLEY hallmark. It swims with the sharks: fast, agile, fluid, and with consummate authority. |
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In Summer 2005 we added the
following features to production.
Subwoofer OUT a line level output that is AFTER the volume control so your powered subwoofer follows the same volume as your main speakers. These are unbalanced RCA jacks, line level. They feed the line inputs of your subwoofer, NOT the speaker jacks. RECORD OUT (aka Tape OUT) is BEFORE the volume control so you can record whatever input you have selected without your listening level affecting the level going to your recorder. These are unbalanced RCA's. It is UNbalanced RCA's and UNbuffered so check out the input Z to your recorder to make sure it won't load down the Stingray main input while it is plugged in. Usually with unbuffered record outs we recommend you only plug in your recorder only when you are actually recording... Tape LOOP: Also known as an INSERT point, the SEND or Tape Out comes off the selector switch as the Record Out option does going to your outboard EQ or Merlin BAM unit or tape recorder and then the signal returns (RETURN) to the Stingray in front of of the volume control so you can play tunes. A toggle switch selects whether the Tape LOOP (and whatever is plugged into the Tape Loop) is active or the signal goes straight through the Stingray as normal. If you have the Merlin BAM system, order your Stingray with the Tape LOOP option. Need more than four inputs? Get a SKIPJACK line switcher and run it into this LOOP RETURN: The SKIPJACK is perfect for adding more inputs to anything. So if you use a SKIPJACK's 4 stereo inputs plus the Stingray's 4 stereo inputs you'll get 8 stereo inputs total. The way to do that is to consider the TAPE LOOP: you can bring the SKIPJACK output into the LOOP RETURN, enact the LOOP ACTIVE switch and use the 4 x SKIPJACK inputs feeding the LOOP RETURN with the SKIPJACK controlling source switching for those 4 inputs. Then if you put the Stingray's LOOP switch to BYPASS you will be working with the 4 x Stingray inputs selectable on the Stingray. That gives you 8 total stereo inputs as shown below.
Or if you do not want to use the TAPE LOOP feature (because you are using it for other purposes) or if you have an older Stingray without the TAPE LOOP, you can use a SKIPJACK to get up to 7 stereo line inputs by running the SKIPJACK's output into one of the Stingray's inputs as shown below:
NOTE: The SUBWOOFER OUT, RECORD OUT, and TAPE LOOP are all passive. So are the BALANCE and VOLUME controls also passive. No active electronics or buffers are used in these circuits. The RECORD OUT comes straight off the input select switch. So whatever source is selected will show up passed through at the TAPE OUT, regardless of whether or not the Stingray is on or off. The SUBWOOFER OUT will also produce signal when the Stingray is off, but you can turn down the volume control if you do not want tunes coming out of it when the unit is turned off.
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2006: The French HIFI magazine |
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Features And Specifications |
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Manley Stingray®
*** USING OTHER TUBES: Read FAQ #16 ! ***
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Stingray Sushi! Extensive review caught in the March 2005 issue of the Japanese MJ Magazine! |
Read the Stingray Owner's Manual PDF
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Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price: $2,250 clams (USD $) Available Options for upgrading older units, for serial codes MST###:
Yes these are all mods for BOTH channels, and the prices are for BOTH
channels. NOT Available Options:
24K Gold Plated & Stainless Steel version: No more left!
Balanced inputs are not available. It's a single-ended input topology and so to balance it we would have to add chips or transformers. There is no power supply for IC's available inside and no room to fit more transformers or XLR's so please take the RCA's with a kind heart! Remote control is not available. There is no more space left in the unit. We don't have any logic or low voltage logic power supplies in the Stingray. The volume control is an analog Noble pot. It is not motorised. And there is no space for a motor. The input switching is via analog switches. There are no relays in the Stingray. There is no space in this existing design to add remote control. Maybe someday we'll change the whole design of this thing, but for now, we can not "stick" a remote control system in there. And no we cannot cram a phono stage in there... *** Read FAQ #16 ! ***
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TECH NOTE 4/2007: "Using Russian EL84M/6Π14Π-EB in older Stingrays"
Conditions: If you are retubing an older Stingray built before July 2006, carrying serial number below MSTx803, that originally shipped with Yugoslavian Ei EL84/6BQ5, and you cannot get the current draw high enough when trying to retube with Russian EL84M/6Π14Π-EB, we have an Adjustable Master Bias Board available to retrofit which will allow for more bias voltage swing or adjustability so that a wider range of tubes may be used.The Adjustable Master Bias Board is available from our Service Department to replace the 6K8 Master Bias Resistor located next to the right channel B+ fuse. The Adjustable Master Bias Board contains a 10K trimpot in parallel with a 10K resistor, in series with a 3K57 resistor. Installation instructions will be given by the service department when you order the board (if you are installing it yourself.) You need to be able to solder. If you do not work on your own amps, then you can book your Stingray with Paul in our Service Department to have this board installed for you.
After installation: For Russian EL84M/6Π14Π-EB, set the Master Bias
Trimpot to number 10 on its dial and check each tube to be sure it can bias up
to 300mV reading on the bias points. (Some Russian EL84s are too low to work,
and don't draw enough current by birth, so select another one that draws more
current.)
Reset all individual bias pots to get a bias voltage reading of 250mV on each
test point.
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Manley Labs
Stingray… |
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Stingray review in TAS Vol #122 1999 Golden Ear Award Winner |
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EveAnna triumphantly displays her Stingray at CES 2002 |
Luther Ward of the Lone Star Bottleheads sent in this lovely picture of his Stingray!
Might as well put the walls to work too.
Stingray chassis invading Elias's silk-screening area.
STINGRAY® is a registered trademark of Manley Laboratories, Inc.
Worldwide
Dealers
With the Stingray, the MANLEY team has struck a
remarkably harmonious balance in design which satisfies the
sonic desires of the audiophile and the rocker, the artist
and the musician, the student and the master, the yin and
the yang. We invite you to experience the stunning sonic
quality and visual beauty of the Stingray personally. 