Manley Stingray II User Manual
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
MAINS CONNECTIONS..........................................................................................................4
CONNECTING YOUR STINGRAY..........................................................................................5
FRONT & BACK PANELS.......................................................................................................6
INPUTS, OUTPUTS, & THE STUFF ON THE SIDES........................................................7-8
DETAILED FRONT PANEL FUNCTIONS..............................................................................9
DISPLAY MODES...................................................................................................................10
OPTIMIZING YOUR SOUND SYSTEM..........................................................................11-12
TUBE F.A.Q........................................................................................................................13-14
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BIAS....................................................................14-15
REMOTE CONTROL..............................................................................................................16
TROUBLESHOOTING...........................................................................................................17
CREDITS.................................................................................................................................18
SPECIFICATIONS..................................................................................................................19
FCC INSTRUCTION TO THE USER....................................................................................20
rev 4/19/11 CD
INTRODUCTION
THANK YOU!…
for choosing the Manley Stingray II integrated amplier for your loudspeaker driving requirements. You possibly
chose this product because you auditioned it in a store or heard it at a hi show and were impressed with the sound.
It may have been the right combination of price, power, features and styling for you. It may have been because you
know the Manley Labs reputation for quality, reliability, and integrity. If any or all of these were the reasons, you
made a good choice and for that, we thank you.
The Stingray II is the next step up the ladder of evolution from our acclaimed Stingray Integrated Amplier, which
has had a strong presence in the hi industry since it swam from our labs in 1997. Originally designed with the idea of
“two monoblocks in one chassis”, the Stingray quickly became one of our best-selling products. Its passive preamplier delivers near absolute transparancy, no added noise, and extreme signal path simplicity. This preamp is essentially
coupled with a pair of 50 Watt monoblocks, which include custom-designed output transformers and an “overkill”
power supply that keeps immense amounts of energy stored so your system’s dynamic range and performance are
never lacking. In addition to “beeng up” the power supply for the Stingray II, we have added digitally controlled
volume, balance, input switching, a headphone jack, and a separate 1/8” stereo auxilliary input. All added features are
accessible via the front panel as well as with the included REMOTE CONTROL! We’re nally catching up with the
21st century...or maybe just the 20th...
This product shares the same philosophies and standards of component quality and build technique as all of the recent
Manley products. It uses the best available parts with the shortest, cleanest signal path possible. Visually, this product
is unique, elegant, and practical. Visual beauty may be a prime factor for some but the size, shape and component
locations were chosen rst for performance reasons.
Please take a few moments to read through this manual; there may be features and information about this unit which
you should familiarize yourself with.
Thank you again, and please enjoy!
GENERAL NOTES
LOCATION AND VENTILATION: The Stingray II should be installed on a stable location with ample ventilation
to allow some cooling. A table top or cabinet top is a good choice. A speaker top is not the best location because the
vibration can transfer to the Stingray II and degrade the sound and possibly cause the tubes to become microphonic.
If your household has small children, we suggest that the Stingray II be in a location where it may be out of reach.
Similar considerations should apply if you have pets. You do not want the cat or dog jumping up on it or across it or
possibly exposing them to hot tubes accidentally. This unit is meant for indoor use and should be kept clean and dry.
You will probably need occasional access to the sides and back so placing this unit inside a 3-sided cabinet may be not
practical. If the Stingray II is placed on top of other equipment, we suggest that rubber feet or pads be placed under the
Stingray II’s feet to prevent scratching the surface of the other gear. Pennies work just ne for this too.
WATER & MOISTURE: As with any electrical equipment, this unit should not be used near water or moisture.
SERVICING: The user should not attempt to service the amplier beyond that described in the owner’s manual.
Refer all servicing other than tube or fuse replacement to Manley Laboratories.
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MAINS CONNECTIONS
Your STINGRAY II has been factory set to the correct mains voltage for your country. The voltage setting
is marked on the serial badge, located on the Right-Back of the unit, just above the Right-channel inputs. Check
that this complies with your local supply.
Export units for certain markets have a moulded mains plug tted to comply with local requirements. If your
unit does not have a plug tted, the coloured wires should be connected to the appropriate plug terminals in accordance with the following code:
GREEN/YELLOW EARTH
BLUE NEUTRAL
BROWN LIVE
As the colours of the wires in the mains lead may not correspond with the coloured marking identifying the
terminals in your plug, proceed as follows:
The wire which is coloured GREEN/YELLOW must be connected to the terminal in the plug which is
marked by the letter E or by the safety earth symbol or coloured GREEN or GREEN and YELLOW.
The wire which is coloured BLUE must be connected to the terminal in the plug which is marked by the
letter N or coloured BLACK.
The wire which is coloured BROWN must be connected to the terminal in the plug which is marked by
the letter L or coloured RED.
DO NOT CONNECT/SWITCH ON THE MAINS SUPPLY UNTIL ALL OTHER CONNECTIONS HAVE
BEEN MADE.
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
Information for customers:
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have issued the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. The purpose of the Directive is the prevention of waste of electrical and electronic equipment, and to promote the reuse and recycling and other forms of recovery of such waste. As such
the Directive concerns producers, distributors and consumers.
The WEEE directive requires that both manufacturers and end-consumers dispose of electrical and electronic equipment and parts in an environmentally safe manner, and that equipment and waste are reused or recovered for their materials or energy. Electrical and electronic equipment and parts must not be disposed of with
normal household wastage; all electrical and electronic equipment and parts must be collected and disposed of separately.
Products and equipment which must be collected for reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery are marked with the following pictogram:
Small products may not always be marked with this pictogram in which case this is present in the instructions for use, on the guarantee certicate and printed on
the packaging.
When disposing of electrical and electronic equipment by use of the collection systems available in your country, you protect the environment, human health and
contribute to the prudent and rational use of natural resources. Collecting electrical and electronic equipment and waste prevents the potential contamination of
nature with the hazardous substances which may be present in electrical and electronic products and equipment.
Your MANLEY or LANGEVIN retailer will assist with and advise you of the correct method of disposal in your country.
4
Connecting Your Stingray II
Setting up this integrated amplier is rather easy. Please refer to pages 8 & 9 for pictures of the back and sides of
the Stingray II.
1. You will be connecting power last and turning the system on after all other connections are made to prevent
ugly noises as wires are connected and to prevent possible damage to the amps and speakers. In general, it is
best to make any connections with the power off, the unit in “Standby” mode, or the volume control turned all
the way down. With all tube amps, you MUST have speakers (or a load box) properly connected to the speaker
terminals before power is turned on. Without a speaker, the voltage swings can be large enough to possibly cause
an electrical arc inside a tube, tube socket or transformer and this may damage the amp. Solid state amps operate
with no speaker connected but generally don’t tolerate a short circuit. Most tube amps will tolerate a short, but
we try to avoid this.
2. Before plugging in your interconnects, take a quick visual inspection of the tubes. Sometimes either through
shipping or unpacking things get jostled. Make sure all tubes are rmly in their sockets and standing straight up.
You might also verify that none have turned white inside. That indicates that air has leaked inside the tube (or the
vacuum leaked out!). Though it is rare, a tube is sometimes cracked or broken in shipping. It would need to be
replaced before powering up the amp.
3. On a rectangular chassis it is easy to specify front, back, sides etc - but on the 6 sided Stingray II we should
adopt a convention and refer to the sides that have the RCA inputs as Left-Back and Right-Back. We provide 3
left inputs on the Left-Back, 3 right inputs on the Right-Back, and a 1/8” input on the Left-Front. Plug in your
interconnects, one at a time, from each source (i.e. CD, Tuner, AUX, etc.) then connect each input to the appropriate RCA jack on the Stingray II. All RCA jacks are clearly labled as 1, 2, and 3. Each input is for all intents
functionally and electronically the same - only the labels are different. You may have to separate or split interconnects an extra 12 inches if they are the “paired” type or slide the loop that holds the pair together. If you need
to connect a turntable (vinyl!) you will need a separate phono preamp to raise the level from the tiny signal from
the cartridge to regular line levels. Manley builds these, as do some other manufacturers. The nal interconnect
available is the 1/8” line input on the front panel.
5. Connect the speaker leads to the terminals on the far left and far right corners of the Stingray II. Be sure that
the RED (+) terminal is connected to the RED (+) wire and the WHITE (-) terminal connects to the WHITE (-)
wire. This color scheme may vary as to which color represents (-), but it is generally either black or white. Connect the opposite ends to the speakers also RED to RED and WHITE to WHITE. This insures that your speakers will be “in-phase”. All too often people accidently connect their speakers out-of-phase and lose most of the
lows. We have even seen this happen in “unthinkable” situations, most notably at hi- trade shows and in record
company executive ofces. There is always some indication on the wire to help get “polarity” right but it may be
as subtle as a “ridge” on the insulation or different colored conductors. Most high quality speaker interconnects
are clearly labeled and/or color coded. Be sure that these connections are rm and solid. We do not recommend
using pliers or a wrench to tighten the terminals because one can easily overtighten or mar the nish of the bolts.
Good nger tightening is usually the best.
6. Before proceeding to the next step (power!) check that the On/Off switch on the back of the unit is in the
“Off” position. Now connect the IEC power cable to the back of the Stingray II and the other end to your mains
wall socket, or to your Power Supply Regulator if you have one.
7. Turn on the On/Off switch, and you will see a mini light-show on the front panel knobs. This will put the unit
into “Standby” mode. If you then press the “Standby” button (now glowing blue) on the front panel, it will initiate a 10-second warmup/mute period and the “Standby” button light will begin to pulse. You should be seeing
the tubes begin to glow a bit. None should turn bright red - that would indicate a problem. After 10 seconds, the
unit will power on completely and the front-panel LEDs will stop pulsing and remain lit.
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8. To select one of the RCA inputs on the back of the unit or the 1/8” input on the Left-Front, use the Input Selection knob on the left side of the faceplate. The LEDs around the knob will tell you which input is selected. For more
information on this knob, see page 9.
9. To adjust the volume of your Stingray II, simply turn the Volume/Balance knob on the right side of the faceplate.
To adjust the L/R balance, push this knob and hold it in for 2 seconds - then you are in Balance Mode. To exit Balance
Mode and return to Volume Mode, simply press and quickly release the knob. For more information on this knob, see
page 9.
FRONT PANEL
A) Input Selection & Menu Control: This knob displays and allows the selection of any one of the 4 inputs available on
your Stingray II. The LEDs show which input is selected, starting at the 9:00 position for Input 1 and ending at the 12:00
position for Input 4 (1/8” input). It also allows access to the Menu functions of the Stingray II, including individual input
gain adjustment and remote control modes. For more information on these functions, see page 9.
B) Standby Button: After powering on the unit via the switch on the back panel, this button will remain lit until the
Mute cycle has ended. At that point, pushing this button will turn on the Stingray II completely and allow audio to pass
through. To put the unit back into Standby Mode (no power to tubes, no audio signal passing through), simply push this
button again.
C) Volume & Balance Control: This knob displays and controls the volume of the Stingray II. Turning it clockwise
increases the volume, and counterclockwise decreases it. Push in the knob for 2 seconds and release it to enter Balance
Mode. To exit Balance Mode, push and quickly release the knob. For more information on these functions, see page 9.
NOTE: The two knobs on the front panel are known as “innite rotary knobs”. This means they can rotate indenitely
without ever encountering an “end” to their rotation. Rather than being a normal pot, the knob is actually a Grayhill
encoder that controls a Cirrus digital volume control chip. This chip changes the gain of the signal entering the tube
preamp section. As with the previous version of the Stingray, the Balance Mode reduces the gain of one channel at a time
to control the balance.
BACK PANEL
A) MAINS FUSE COVER: Pry the small slot to move the locking tab towards the fuse cover and it should pop open.
Only use an MDL 3 AMP / 250 Volt SLO-BLO fuse if it needs replacing (MDL 1.5 AMP / 250 Volt SLO-BLO for
220~240 units).
B) POWER SWITCH: Towards the fuse or away from the IEC power cable is
ON (I), towards the power cable is OFF (O). Make sure to power up your
sources rst, to avoid any ugly noises from your speakers as your sources
come on. Now it’s Stingray II time! After you turn on this switch, the amp
will automatically go into Standby Mode. Press the blue Standby button on
the front panel, and the unit will Soft-Start (audio is muted), and will power
on fully after about 10 seconds. (When you are ready to turn your system off,
powering down should happen in reverse order from stated before - Stingray
II rst, then everything else.)
C) IEC MAINS SOCKET: This is where the power cable goes. Note that your amp should be wired correctly for your
country. You may want to check the packing box to be sure. Also notice that this is a grounded 3-pin cable. If you get
a hum problem, see page 17 for some simple troubleshooting hints.
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