Miner...I have a chinook, bought it from Audiogon member used. Had it connected to a VPI Prime with an Ortophon Bronze MM. Everything sounded great! I then bought an Ortophon Cadenza Bronze to experience the MC world. This necessitated I remove the cover and move the dip switches. In my eagerness to hear the new cartridge I placed the cover on and spun a favorite record. Wow...a tremendous hum now and I of course assumed it was my cartridge right. So I tweaked it, reset it, etc etc. still a loud hum. I was pretty concerned and thought it must be the Chinook? So I re-screwed in all the cover screws since I had just laid the cover on. Thought I would try it again before I sent it to Manley. Well.....NO hum. It was humming/resonating because the cover screws weren't in! So with all this said since you removed the cover to replace the tubes make sure you re-screw the top down before listening. Good luck...I love the Chinook!
Manley Chinook
In Dec 2015 I purchased a Manley Chinook SE from Upscale Audio. The box I received and serial number stated a SE version but it was actually the standard version. Kevin D. asked if I wanted to return for the SE model and we agreed that he would send me the Philips PCC88 tubes instead. This weekend when I went to the room for a listening session once I powered up the Chinook a loud hum persisted. I checked all connections and they were good. Changed the tubes - still hummed. Changed the ICs - still hummed. Moved to another audio setup - still hummed. But, after being on for about 30 minutes the hum lessened but a scratchy/crackly sound could be heard in the background. Yesterday I sent it back to Manley for diagnosis. I estimate there is less than 20 hrs use. When I bought this unit I did my research and felt that this would be a workhorse with no problems. Has anyone else experienced this type of phenomena with the Chinook. I have hooked my VPI TT back up to my onboard phono stage on my McIntosh C2300; as good as the Mc is I miss the Chinook.