MANLEY LABORATORIES, INC. OWNER'S MANUAL THE REFERENCE PREAMPLIFIER MANLEY LABORATORIES, INC. 13880 MAGNOLIA AVE. CHINO, CA. 91710 TEL: (909) 627-4256 FAX: (909) 628-2482 email: emanley@netcom.com http://www.manleylabs.
CONTENTS SECTION PAGE INTRODUCTION 3 MAINS CONNECTIONS 4 CONNECTING YOUR PREAMPLIFIER 5 REAR PANEL 6 FRONT PANEL 7 FRONT PANEL SPECIAL FUNCTIONS (SOFT-START, phono) 8 BALANCED or UNBALANCED ? 9 TOP VIEW 10 (Tube Locations, Fuses) OPERATIONAL NOTES 11 TROUBLESHOOTING 12 SPECIFICATIONS 14 WARRANTY 15 WARRANTY REGISTRATION 16
INTRODUCTION THANK YOU!... for choosing the Manley Laboratories "The Reference Preamplifier". Designed by David Manley, the Reference Preamplifier uses the best available parts with the shortest, cleanest, active signal path possible. This Preamp is the most expensive and high quality in our range of preamps. Manley is very highly regarded for power amplifiers and pro recording equiment but often forgotten for preamps. Why? Simply never had a review of one. Nothing published, no ads and no USA showrooms.
MAINS CONNECTIONS Your preamplifier has been factory set to the correct mains voltage for your country. The voltage setting is marked on the serial badge, located on the rear panel. Check that this complies with your local supply. Export units for certain markets have a moulded mains plug fitted to comply with local requirements. If your unit does not have a plug fitted the coloured wires should be connected to the appropriate plug terminals in accordance with the following code.
CONNECTING YOUR PREAMPLIFIER 1. Please refer to the following page for an illustration of the back of the preamplifier. 2. There are two main outputs per channel. These get connected to the power amplifier(s) when all ON/OFF switches are off (including the amps). One pair is standard RCA unbalanced line outputs and the other pair are balanced XLR outputs. Use either (the unbalanced RCA's are more"purist")(The Balanced outputs have one more stage of amplification).
REAR PANEL A UNBALANCED BALANCED MOVING MAGNET C D E F G MAIN OUTPUTS RIGHT A BALANCED AUX AUX CD CD TAPE J C D E F G TAPE TUNER TUNER VIDEO VIDEO POWER UNBALANCED MAIN OUTPUTS LEFT POWER MOVING COIL RECORD RECORD H OUT R H L BALANCED B OUT BALANCED SUPPLY SUPPLY I I B REFER TO PAGE 5 FOR MORE EXPLANATION A - LINE OUTPUTS - Connect these to your power amplifier inputs when the amps are off. The XLR outputs are balanced with Pin 2 = hot or positive. Standard. See H.
FRONT PANEL G C J A D K L M N G I E B H A & B - INPUT SELECTS - 6 Position switches for input selection. There is one switch per channel to preserve absolute separation. The RECORD OUT directly follows these switches. C - VOLUME - 24 Position switch with precise 2 dB steps of attenuation throughout most of the range. The most counter-clockwise position is mute, then , -60, -50, -46, -44, -42, -40 etc in 2 dB steps until -10, then the next position is -6, then 0.
FRONT PANEL SPECIAL FUNCTIONS THESE CONTROLS ARE NOT ON ALL MODELS. SOFT-START IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR 117 VOLT COUNTRIES. PHONO CONTROLS ARE ONLY ON THE PHONO MODELS. I - SOFT/START - This is only available on units wired for 117 volts. The SOFT/START (down) mode is designed as a warm-up mode or a way to leave the pre-amp semi-powered so that it powers up and stabilizes quicker. NORMAL mode is up and should always be used for listening.
BALANCED or UNBALANCED ? The topic of balanced inputs and outputs is relatively new and often confusing to some. Balanced inputs and outputs are very old stuff to the professional recording business and telephone systems. It was invented to reduce hum and interferance in systems with very long cables. Shielding is a good thing but never perfect. Hum can still get in. Balanced cables use the shield the same as unbalanced wires but they add a second signal wire.
TOP VIEW 6414 12AU7WA 12AT7WA 12AT7WA PHONO PHONO 12AX7WA 12AX7WA PHONO PHONO 6072 12AT7WA 6414 12AU7WA 6072 PHONO 12AT7WA PHONO PREAMP FUSES 6GF7A 6GF7A OA2 OA2 POWER SUPPLY TUBE LOCATIONS - See the diagram above for the proper tube locations. Power should be unplugged and allow the tubes to cool before handling them. Changing tubes on this preamp is a little more tricky than most because the printed circuit boards are elastically suspended.
OPERATIONAL NOTES SWITCHING ON & OFF The power switch is located on the center of the power supply unit. The best way to power up is to start the unit in SOFT-START (toggle down). The Power Amps should be off. Turn ON the POWER with the toggle next to it simply labelled ON and OFF. Wait a few minutes. Flip the other toggle from SOFT-START to NORMAL, wait 30 seconds, now turn on the power amps. You should probably wait another 5 minutes for the amps to warm up before listening.
TROUBLESHOOTING GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING We don't presume you are expert with a sodering iron or that this is your first audio system. This section is for all and is simply meant to help with a variety of audio problems and some not specific to your preamp. It is easier to find a problem in a stereo system than a mono system even though there is twice as much electronics and wires. When you have two channels, there is some built in redundancy that can make fast work of finding a problem.
DEAD CHANNEL or BOTH CHANNELS SILENT. One channel dead should be easy if you follow the channel swapping technique. If it is the preamp, then go the next step and swap tubes. What is the most common repair technique? - wiggle or re-seat the interconnects. Often it's that easy to find a bad connection. A very technical version of this is used to troubleshoot intermittant gear. Open it up and tap around with a plastic pen. Some part, connection or area of the circuit will usually be the worst.
SPECIFICATIONS Vacuum Tubes: 2 x 12AT7WA, 2 x 12AU7WA 2 x 6414, 2 x 6GF7A, 2 x OA2 2 x 6072, 2 x 12AX7WA 2 x 12AT7WA, Phono Tubes Fuse type 120VAC operation: 220VAC operation: Maximum Gain (AUX, TUNER, VIDEO, TAPE) (BALANCED INPUT) (CD) (PHONO) ( if available)(both MC & MM) Gain Steps (volume control) MDL1, 1 AMP / 250 Volt MDL1, 1 AMP / 250 Volt SLO-BLO 19 dB at max Volume (min FB) (1 volt in = 5 volts out) 20 dB 13 dB 55 dB @ 1KHz 24 x 2 dB except extremes (-∞,-60,-50,-46, -44,-42,-40,-38,-36,-34,
WARRANTY All Manley Laboratories equipment is covered by a limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 90 days from date of purchase to the original purchaser only. A further optional limited 5 year warranty is available to the original purchaser upon proper registration of ownership within 30 days of date of first purchase.
WARRANTY REGISTRATION We ask that you please fill out this registration form and send the bottom half to: MANLEY LABORATORIES REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT 13880 MAGNOLIA AVE. CHINO CA, 91710 Or you may FAX this form in to: 909-628-2482 Registration entitles you to product support, full warranty benefits, and notice of product enhancements and upgrades. You MUST complete and return the following to validate your warranty and registration. Thank you again for choosing Manley Laboratories.
