Manley 300B preamp

Cool, a setup with Stax. You have two awesome preamplifiers. Have never heard Allnic, but read about them.

Good to know that Svetlana and JJ also are musical in Manley.

Which 6SL7 do you prefer?

Joeinid, thanks. I see why you go the Manley road: it's cool. What preamp will drive those beastly 250?

Joeinid, it sounds like your McIntosh plays music. I have never auditioned Nola speakers; not easy to come about in my country. But I have read great things about them.

It seems that there are few with a Manley 300B on the forum right now. Too bad for me :-( "Anybody out there?" (Pink Floyd: The Wall)

Joinid: I'll write about my impression when it sings music in my home.

Unfortunate I'm still waiting for my 300B and would love to hear about it. I know there ain't that many of them, but is there anybody who would chip in with some experience on this fascinating preamp?

Chatta: I've read about it's qualities as a headamp, and am at the moment researching into, for me, an unknown territory: headphones. Any experience with cans that match with this preamp?

Vow, this is something! Just got the preamp, and up and running. I'll come back with impressions after some digesting.

Yes, I am gaining some impressions of Manley Neo-Classic 300B. When I change a component I always get sensitive about a couple of things and I have then to listen for a long time to get the nuances. And I'm not a guy who changes gear often. 

The preamp has played around 110 hours. So it probably still need some breaking-in. However, it doesn't seem to change as much each day now.

My first impressions is that this Manley 300B preamp interprets the signals from the source in an authoritative way: it portraits music in a bold and dramatic way. Music is played with dynamic swings, both in micro and macro parts. The timbre of instruments and voices is rich and organic. Yet, the most unexpected quality is that is more transparent than my last preamp: Leben RS-28CX. This comes forward in a clearer presentation of low noises in a piece of music but also a more holographic and dimensional projection of the music into my living room. 

Musically the 300B satisfies me immensely. It seem to have the magical qualities of the 300B tube, but playing together with the Snappers it really rocks: plenty of bass, slam and drama. So this match gives that midrange magic with a lot of power. And speaking of midrange: voices just stand out of a band. It is so clear, natural and with an inner glow. 

I think I've become manleyfied: 300B and Snappers are staying.

As always with a new tube amplifier I buy a spare set of tubes. Even if Manley stuff is seldomly stable, it is part of living with tube magic that you need to change a tube once in awhile. And you don't want that to happen after a nice bottle of Pinot Noir is opened and some pals is digging into the new tune of some fave artist.

Any advices on a tube setup that has good synergy with this Manley preamp. I'v been reading about Shuguang Treasure series and TJ mesh plate. But what about the other tubes: 6SL7, 5AR4 and OD3? Any experience with what of all the combinations that works together?

Thanks Fwinston. I'll check them out. Any other experiences from other users of this preamp?

Mtrspt5, it seems you have a great system. I'll check out some more about the EML 300B mesh. Could you swap in the EML directly or was it necessary to adjust bias?

My local tube dealer talks positive about the Golden Dragon 300B mesh. Any experience with this one?

I'll also check out the Brimar 6sl7gty.

I've read somewhere that you have to check out if your amp (in my situation: preamp) can swap directly to EML 300B mesh. That this 300B works best under specific conditions. Mtrspt5; how is this with Manley 300B, did you have to adjust bias in order to use the EML mesh?

Mtrspt5: thanks, good to know that you don't have to adjust anything because of EML. However, I have just got a pair of Psvane 300B grade A from Grant Fidelity (great service) that need burn in time And, from my experience with Black Treasure it will take some time. At the moment I'm at holiday; so I'm abstinence after some listening on my system :-(. And since you have a Manley power, like me, that uses EL34 I can tell you that I also ordered a pair of quads of 6ca7 Black Treasure. So as you probably can understand, I'm eager to check out my system.

At the moment I only use a pair of Golden Dragon 6SL7 in the preamp. So I could check out your Brimar; is this the best choice?

I'll check the RCA 6SL7 out.

Why do you use "5Z3 rectifiers ST type with tube adapters"? And not ones that don't need adapters?