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Thread: Mana MA-2 stereo Stealth power amp! Only one of it’s kind!

  1. #1
    Join Date: Dec 2008

    Location: Up a hill

    Posts: 14

    Default Mana MA-2 stereo Stealth power amp! Only one of it’s kind!

    This is a real beast of an amp that drives very difficult speaker loads with ease and finesse, superb detail retrieval and plenty of headroom even under difficult loads – it is the only MA-2 Stealth in existence, build quality is second to none, no expense was spare with this amp – a one off build that proved to time consuming and expensive to mass produce!

    180 Watts Per Channel
    1500VA Toroidal Mains Transformer
    40,000 UF Reservoir Capacity
    WBT 8 Way Speaker Posts

    This amp will outclass a NAP 500 at a fraction of it’s cost.

    I cannot risk this amp being damaged in the post, so collection only from south Wales.

    £3895

    Below is a post made by John Watson of Mana Audio Ltd back in May 2004 when questioned over the Stealth amps on the Mana forum…

    Okay for the benefit of ***** ***** and any body else for that matter, but before I go on don't expect a Hi-Fi reviewer type of post as I don't get paid for this.

    I have had the Stealth prototype MA-1s, I also had the very first Stealth prototype MA-2 stereo.

    I then had the later prototypes ( we did spend five years on this project so there were quite a few changes made over that time and I listened and evaluated all of them ).

    We finalised on what eventually was realeased albeit in a very small limited run, as the Stealth amps that some of our members here own as well a few others who do not post or frequent Hi-Fi forums.

    The only prototypes that are out there are the pair owned and used by ***.

    The quote that *** posted by me I still stand by.

    As I said they have more of the fun factor built in in much the same was as things like Kans have, maybe not the nth degree in finess or accuracy, but when you hear them played especially in anger they have a sound that just draws you in and makes you want more.

    I used thos amps for many many months so agian I think I can safely say I speak form experience.

    The system that **** ******* heard and that he always refers to as the best sound he has ever heard was with a pair of ATC150s driven actively by six Stealth prototypes. Two of these very amps from the original six are the ones that *** now owns. Not many of you knew that.

    I own the only original Stealth MA-2 stereo in existence. I also have the ECS EA2 at home. I have listened to them side by side. My opinion is that I still prefer the original, but I will put that down to the substantial casework of the original and nothing to do with the electronic inside.

    I appreciate how equipment is affected by the casework and build quality.
    In the years that I have been making Mana supports I have learn that you cannot cut corners or the end result will suffer.

    Believe when I say I have tried to cut corners with our supports by using cheaper as well as less substantial materials and I have always found that the trade-off sonically was pretty evident.

    With the ECS amps this should not be seen as a lowering of standards in build quality.

    What ECS have done is made the current amps a better commercial viabilty.
    They have piad out a lot of money on tooling to have the front panel made from a substantial alloy extrusion instead of it being machined form a single billet of alloy.

    This means that every amplifier will be identical visually, something that was nigh on impossible with the originals.

    We spent months trying to get the finsish that I demanded, this was part of the reason that we fell out with ECS as they thought we/I was asking and expecting the impossible.

    The aksing price of those originals was a lot more than the production ECS amps of today and rightly so in my opinion as they were hand crafted and extremely labour intensive.

    Internally there are nigh on no differences apart from very small changes that needed to be made with regards to the wiring configurations. Nothing major and definitely not scaled down or inferior.

    In fact when you look inside a new ECS amplifier they are to me a work of electronic art. Everything is where it should be, no messy wiring, no blobs of solder, no shabby interior casework becuase the customer would never see inside so why bother. The weight of the amps is purely down to the componets used, there is no added weights to add weight and make the product feel more substantial as I have witnessed in other manufacturers products.

    The amps are a joy to use and still have almost the menacing looks of the originals if not quite so brutal.

    Looking at the finished amps I have to say that ECS were right in going about buiding them the way they have today. If I was still part of the team I would also have gone this way. Okay it might have been with me kicking and screaming, but I would have see the commercial sense and reality in the end.

    The amps are easier to produce, more consistent in their finish and importantly from a manufacturers point easier to service, which means a quicker turn-around for the customer.

    It has been said many times the originals are not available and those of us who own them will not part with them, so what is the point of people going on and on about the current ones not being as good.

    The current amps are the best that I have heard and I have listened to many many amps in my time.

    They have been auditioned by quite a few people against some of the better known amplifier manufacturers and have come out on top.

    Only recently they were given a clean bill of health and the Editor's Choice' rating in Hi-Fi Choice.

    If anyone is interested in buying one of these amps from us and wants to hear one played politely or in anger thay can e-mail me or call the factory.

    As I said at the start of this if you want a Hi-Fi reveiw I'm afraid I dodn't do them, if I did I would be earning a living wqriting for magazines and not doing it for free on this forum.

    If you want me to describe the sonic signatures, whether the colour of the mids were blue or turquoise, the highs were pinks and purples or any such nonsense. If you want be to tell you if I could hear the moisture in the atmosphere of one of the recordings as it was recorded in an old gospel church in the deep south during the wet season ( I'm guessing they have a wet season ), then again I'm sorry I don't do that stuff.

    What I will say is that when I listen to these amps I can't hear them, I just hear music in allit's glory simple as that.
    --------------------
    JW/Mana


    Last edited by Barnie; 03-01-2009 at 23:36. Reason: Pics added...

  2. #2
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: gone

    Posts: 11,519
    I'm gone.

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    Jeepers - that is one fantastic looking amp. Way beyond my price range, though.
    .

  3. #3
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Indeed. I have a pair of monoblocks very much like it

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


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