Manley Stingray

Page 4

Got rock with lyrics so drowned out you only knew what was being said from reading ‘net liner notes? The Stingray sent the Ta’us to the elocution woodshed. The speakers came back with words over music that now made sense and could be heard at last. They never misspoke again.

And could the Stingray rock!  The Impulse speakers brought down the house and the cops to the door—All this from just 20 watts in triode mode? What the fuck?

Time for some extreme action; I hooked the Stingray up to my full range ribbons, the six foot tall Analysis Omega’s. These bad boys from Greece are not punishers like most big ribbon panels, but they do like their electric ouzo. The Stingray actually got them dancing. Not in a full mojo Hassapiko, true, but the fact that they could get them moving musically at all was pretty amazing.

But back to our English rockers. The Ta’us bass extends down to 40 Hz, and the Stingray had no problems dealing.  Not a knock out trannie punch, sure, but still much better than many far bigger tube amps I have used. And no matter what was being played; rock, jazz, classical, groups big or small; the Stingray and the Ta’us always delivered.

The only true problem with the Stingray was you kept forgetting this amp costs only about $2K.  This easily forgotten fact could lead to frustration. ‘Ray and Ta’ brought you so close to the music that, like some raging size queens, they kept pushing for that final realistic inch to get you over the top.

That last little bit costs, though, usually big time. Mostly, you find it in expensive single ended tube amps, but whose flea size no way can rock your bottom.  Like sex, only much musical experimentation informs your true predilections.

Me? I would go for the Stingray any day and be more than satisfied for a long time to come.



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