Manley Stereo Variable MU Vacuum Tube Limiter/Compressor (The Works Options)

Rs. 5,130.00

Includes both the Mid/Side and TBAR Mods factory installed!

The MANLEY VARIABLE MU® LIMITER COMPRESSOR is one of the very few compressors that has become a real standard in Mastering studios and contributed to most hit records over the last decade and probably the next. Mu is tube-speak for gain, and Variable Mu® is Manley's registered trademark for this limiter compressor. It works by using the remote cut-off or re-biasing of a vacuum tube to achieve compression.

Features:

MANLEY input & output transformers with nickel laminations in mu-metal cases with flat frequency response from 20Hz-25KHz
BALANCED INPUTS & OUTPUTS (600 Ohms)
Fully differential ALL-TUBE circuitry using one each 5670, 5751, 7044 or 5687, & 12AL5 per channel
Independently regulated B+ and Heater supplies
Hard-wire BYPASS switch
Stepped switch INPUT attenuator as of 10/2011. (older units use Silent dual-ganged potentiometer)
RECOVERY 5 steps: 0.2s, 0.4s, 0.6s, 4sec., 8sec.
Variable ATTACK: 25msec-70msec
Continuously variable THRESHOLD
LIMIT (4:1 to 20:1) or COMPRESS (1.5 to 1)
HP SC: High Pass Side Chain Filter -3dB @ 100Hz
Large ILLUMINATED Sifam METERS (older units before serial number MSLC61642 shipped before 12/2003 use: 26V 1.2W FESTOON LAMPS; Manley's Part Number: VAR016B) Order spare bulbs using our parts order form. (newest units after serial number MSLC61642 shipped after 12/2003 use white LED lighting)
STEREO LINK SWITCH
Several units can be linked for Surround (custom order )
Maximum gain: 35dB
Max. output: +30dBu (26Vrms) 26dB Headroom
<0.1% THD @ 1KHz Noise floor: -85dB typical
Power Consumption (120/240VAC): 80 watts
Unit is factory set for 100V, 120V or 220-240VAC operation for original destination country's mains voltage.
Operating Mains Voltage changeable with power transformer changeover switch and fuse value change.
Mains Fuse Value for 100~120VAC operation: replace with 1.25A as of 10/2011
Mains Fuse Value for 220~240VAC operation: replace with 0.6A (600mA) as of 10/2011
Mains Fuse Type: MDA or MDL SLO-BLO Time delay 1 1/4 x 1/4
Mains Voltage Frequency: 50~60Hz
Dimensions: 19” x 3 1/2” x 10” (chassis occupies 2u) Power transformer protrudes 3.5 out the back of the chassis.
Shipping Weight: 23 lbs.

Manley also offers a Mid/Side mod upgrade (aka. Vertical/Lateral or Sum/Difference) to the Variable Mu® Limiter Compressor which opens the door to stereo encoding and decoding as well as exciting image enhancement processing capabilities. For instance, setting to compress only the in-phase information allows the augmentation of the stereo image as the out-of-phase content is left untouched. Or, conversely, if you need a more-mono mix for broadcast, or vinyl-cutting for instance, you can set it to kill off more of the out-of-phase info which leaves more in-phase material in the final result. In order to add both M-S and the HP SC mods, Manley's techs move the power switch to the rear panel and install both channels' HP SC switch to the center hole where the power switch was. The M-S switches then flank this switch.

After about 6dB of limiting, the 5670 version of this compressor tends to sound more squashed than the original 6386 version. Some like it better, some don't-- depends on what you're trying to do. To solve all these problems, Manley came up with a really good solution: the T-Bar Mod which uses a pair of 6BA6 pentodes wired as single triodes to replace each dual triode 5670 (or 6386). the 6BA6 TBAR Mod is the preferred system to use in the Manley Variable Mu® for reasons of ability to perfectly match each phase-halve section and each stereo set, ability to select for lo-noise and lo-microphonic sets for a low cost, and because the action of the 6BA6's so closely resemble the smooth 6386 limiting curves.