The famous Manley Stingray stereo integrated amplifier has been renewed and refreshed. New for 2009 we present to you the Stingray iTube integrated tube amplifier with iPod dock and full featured RF and IR remote control.
The STINGRAY iTube is the next evolution from our acclaimed Stingray Integrated Amplifier, legendary in the hifi world since it swam from our labs in 1997. Originally conceived with particular attention paid to optimal component placement for the purity and symmetry of the signal path layout, the Stingray quickly became one of our best-selling products. The Stingray iTube retains the same basic tube circuitry and marvelous output transformers as the original with some important improvements:
An iPod dock has been integrated into the Stingray iTube as the 4th input source. The Manley iTube has been certified by Apple and officially sanctioned as a "Made for iPod" product. The Stingray's Remote Control commands the iPod PLAY/PAUSE and TRACK FORWARD/BACK controls.
The iPod's video output is available at the S-Video output jack located on the left side facia.
The high voltage tube energy storage has been increased vastly resulting in even more solid and coherent bass control and impact.
A headphone jack has been added to the right side facia. This jack re-routes the output from the speaker binding posts and mutes the Subwoofer output feed.
The Remote Control works with both Radio Frequency and InfraRed technologies. Using the remote in RF mode gives freedom from having to "point and shoot." The RF remote is omnidirectional and works through walls and cabinets. IR capability is included for those with Universal Learning Remote Controls for consolidated integration into existing systems. The volume control, balance adjust, input switching, and iPod interface commands are all on the RF/IR Remote Control. Additionally user can perform the MUTE, DIM, INSERT and STANDBY commands with the Remote Control.
Each INPUT can be individually level trimmed to match and to optimize system gain staging of various input devices.
The fancy blue LED displays surrounding the INPUT and VOLUME encoder knobs can be dimmed down or turned off entirely, after a user-settable time period, or a "screen-saver" random light sequence can be selected. Speed and intensity of the "Starlight" mode can be tweaked to taste.
All custom user settings are hard written into memory when the unit is put into STANDBY mode and thus retained if power is later interrupted.
Individual sealed gold contact relays deliver the selected input into the volume control system before hitting the first 12AT7 input tubes. Following the mighty 6414 driver/phase splitter, the trusty EL84 output stage can be switched between either 20 watts of TRIODE power 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.
A switchable TAPE LOOP is standard. The TAPE SEND is the output of the selected input before the volume control. The TAPE RETURN can also be used as a 5th line input if needed.
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, you can use it with the Stingray's Tape LOOP.
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 iTube's 4 stereo inputs (3 RCAs + iPod output) 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 (7 stereo LINE inputs plus iPod dock).
Or if you do not want to use the TAPE LOOP feature (because you are using it for other purposes) you can use a SKIPJACK to get up to 7 stereo line inputs (6 stereo LINE inputs plus the iPod dock) by running the SKIPJACK's output into one of the Stingray's inputs as shown below:
Most iPods (except the iPod Shuffle) will play WAV and AIFF files.
Here is a list of compatible codecs
The iPod will play up to 16 bit/48Khz files.
Read John Atkinson's iPod measurements from the Stereophile review of an iPod
"The iPod's measured behavior is better than many CD players-ironic,
considering that most of the time it will be used to play MP3 and AAC files,
which will not immediately benefit from such good performance. But if you're
willing to trade off maximum playing time against the ability to play
uncompressed AIFF or WAV files, the iPod will do an excellent job of
decoding them. Excellent, cost-effective audio engineering from an
unexpected source."
iTunes Compatibility:
iTunes is not compatible with FLAC format files without a third party
plugin.
iTunes does support 24/96 wav files. iPod won't play them, but iTunes does
support them.
iTunes can in fact output 24/96 digitally, so in theory you could actually
assemble a hi-rez music server based on iTunes, and use it to drive the DAC
of your choice.
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Thus using your iPod docked on your Stingray iTube you can play WAV files which will yield similar audio quality to CD.