Manley Chinook or Any comparable Preamp?


His Guys - I have a line on a Manley Chinook ....any users have good /bad experiences? Anything comparable better in that range? 

MY gear: 
Lyngdorf TDAI -2170
Tekton DI SE's 
Technics SL15 w P205CMK3 cartridge (might upgrade to new table soon) 

* Friend of mine is recommending Acoustic Signature WOW XL / TA 1000 Tone Arm

thanks 
tommypenngotti

Showing 2 responses by 1graber2

I have to go down to the USPS to pick up my Chinook Special addition Mark II, that I bought from Upscale Audio in California.

The owner of upscale, Kevin deal, really loves the Manley Chinook. So much so, that he worked out a deal with Manley to create a Special Edition that is only sold from Upscale Audio. 

For research, Go to the Upscale Audio website and click on the Manley Chinook SE. It will take you to a page that will show you a video of Kevin talking excitedly about the Chinook. 

Kevin’s SE version uses 4 Tungsram 7DJ8s, which he specifically selected for this phono after a lot of tube testing. The SE version also gets rid of the rack mount holes, and makes it a cleaner design. 

Last week when I ordered the SE from Kevin, he had sold 3 that day. In fact, he had enough orders that the delivery of SEs from Manley was slightly backordered. 

Im not a phono aficionado, but I study the helk out of this shilt. I didn’t want a lot of tubes in my phono stage because I already have tubes in my preamp and also my room usually heats up with tubes. And I don’t have AC.

So I chose the Chinook because it only has four tubes. True, the Allnic may sound just as good as the Manley, but the Allnic has 6 to 8 tubes. That’s a lot of heat and a lot of high cost for an NOS tubes. You can use lesser tubes, but IMO you’re cheating yourself if you do.
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