Amp advice sought for Coincident Total Victory

IF you can find them used, you may want to look at Manley Neo-Classic 300B SE/PP monoblocks. Unfortunatley, I thinkt he price went up to $9200 per pair today (might be tomorrow) from the previous $7400.

I just bought a pair about a month ago. First, the amps are selectable between SE at 11 wpc and PP at 24 wpc. They also have variable feedback setting and a switch to optimize speaker impedance.

I am using them to drive my Zu Essence speakers in a 12*16*8 room, and I can promise you that they are VERY dynamic and will play ridiculously loud in either SE or PP. The Essence are listed as 97 dB efficient, but Stereophile estimated their real efficiency to be around 94 dB.

Now that the amps are beginning to be fully broken in, I am literally startled at the dynamics and bass that they are capable of on material that I thought I was intimately familiar with when listening to it on my former solid state gear (Rega Elicit). Imaging and soundstage depth, width, and height are also in a different league.

I believe that Manley gear is supposed to be a synergistic match with Coincident speakers, and I think at one time, Israel had purchased a pair of EveAnna's 300B's.

If the Frankenstein is even better than the Manley as some tend to think-- then HOLY COW!

I, for one, have NO desire to switch out my amps. I may do some tube rolling to replace the stock Electro-Harmonix with something like Treasures or EAT's, but that will be it.

One caveat, I don't think the Manley's are as tonally neutral as some other gear, but I am personally fine with that. Rachel Yamagata was in my living room last night. The Manley/Zu combo is so dynamic that you can feel the pressure variations on the phrasing of the vocals on tracks on this disc.

Charles1dad, if the Frankensteins are even better, I am super-jealous.

PMB

Palasr, the TV2 is benign enough that our smallest amp, the S-30, does quite well with it. Its been my experience though that you really want more power- 60 watts is plenty to really make them sing.

Hi,
PMB,who knows which is better, what`s obvious is that you`re very pleased with the Manley amp and it`s providing you much happiness.I`m curious about the transformers in your amp.I always thought SET transformers were different from those used in a PP amplifier.Continue to enjoy.

Charles1dad, I am enjoying my Manley's very much. It seems that you are enjoying your Frankenstein's as well. If you like them as much as I like my Manley's, I'm still jealous :)

Apparently there is a long-running debate about these particular Manley's and the transformer design. My understanding is that Manley traded some overall output level and efficiency in order to optimize them for both operating conditions. I'm not too much into the physics of it. I can tell you that it works. Some will tell you that you get better performance for the same money if you choose one operating mode over the other. That may be true, but I don't care.

What I do know is that the transformers are obviously designed in such a manner as they have no problem delivering the necessary current to track dynamics and are not "soft" and "mushy". Bass and dynamics are actually better than my Rega gear which was no slouch in the PRAT department.

I suspect that the Frankensteins offer some of the same characteristics that I love on my Manley's. My understanding is the Manley and Cary 300B SET's are pretty much on opposite ends of the 300B SET spectrum.

Dave, you may want to try to audtion both the Manley's and the Frankensteins. Hopefully, you could then let us know your impressions with your speakers. I'm curious as I am still trying to decide if I want to "upgrade" my speakers, and Coincident is on my short list of manufacturers. BTW, thanks for starting a good thread.

Cheers,

PMB

Dave,
For the sake of followup after such an interesting thread, what amp did you decide to go with?