So, I wanted to update this thread with about a week of listening under my belt on these babies, with so far (crossing fingers) no issues at all.
After letting the initial issue go after having fixed the amps last week I decided to sit down and listen with the intent of forming a relationship with these babies. With some great things said on this thread after my initial listening post, I decided perhaps it was best to analyze the sound instead of analyzing what could happen if a tubed failed again.
Initially I noted that the amplifiers sounded very similar to the Pass Amplifier I had before, and to an extent I still stand behind this reaction.
Tonally speaking, on first dimensional basis, I think that both amplifiers really nail timbre very well. Instruments sound like I believe they should in real life. However, here is where the differences end.
In my system, to my ears, I most definitely, one hundred percent prefer the Manley 250s in triode mode. I have not yet kicked the amplifier into pentode mode, as I have fallen in love with triode mode. My speakers are fairly efficient, and my room smallish, so I find the 100 watts of triode mode more then plenty to satisfy me volume wise.
First, let me get out of the way the things the Pass did BETTER.
1) Dynamics. I find the Pass Labs has the slight edge in dynamics and punch.
2) Transparency. I find the Pass Labs to have presented me with a slightly "cleaner" window to the music.
3) Bass extension.
Now, let me get to what the Manleys do BETTER.
1) Music.
Just a little humor...
1 For Real) Timbre. I mentioned before that I thought that the Pass and the Manleys were very close here, and I still feel so. However, I feel that the Manleys do it just a little better. Vocals are really where I found the Manleys to pull the furthest a head. The Manleys present the human voice with more naturalness and that slighest bit of warmth in male voices to really make you feel like the vocalist is there in front of you.
2) Resolution. Some people might think this conflicts with my note that the Pass has better transparency, but while the Pass was "clearer," the Manleys are more informationally dense. For example, lets take someone picking a guitar. With the Pass you could hear the pick hit the guitar very precisely and delineated. With the Manleys, you lose the slightest bit of delineation, but instead of just hearing the guitar pick hit the string, and then the chord that is produced by the action, you hear the "in between" of the transaction between the pick and the string. You hear the material of the string romancing the material of the pick; and you get the little bit more to make it seem more real.
3) Layering. No contest here IMO. The Manleys, and probably by extension, tube amplifiers, best the Pass in layering of the detail and information in a 3D space; front to back, side to side.
I am really loving the Manleys, so much so that I have to talk myself out of saving up to buy a new pair to have them in most pristine condition possible; I feel like I might want them for life. Or course, some of us audiophools are fickle; but this one feels different for real.
Am I completely happy with my system yet? Not quite, but I feel like I have a solid platform to play off of now.
There is still some "grunge" in the system, which is the best way I can describe it, but it has always been there.
I have a Synergistic Research Powercell 10SE for conditioning, but I feel like I now need to finish power cabling out my equipment now that I think I found a good match between them.
I also am using radio shack speaker cables since I need 16 feet of cable, and havent been able to find 16 feet of speaker cable from a solid brand for under a kidney.
I also just ordered some Herbies footers for my source.
A completion of all these things I feel should remove the remaining "grunge" and "noise," and leave me with a pretty solid system.
