Manley Mastering Backbone, Руководство пользователя

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INTRODUCTION
THANK YOU!…
…for purchasing the Manley Laboratories Mastering Insert Switcher. This product is the culmination
of many custom Manley mastering consoles and mastering processors. It all started back around 1990
when the only option for mastering houses was to commission custom pieces needed for their art. Sev-
eral of the top mastering engineers approached us and requested audiophile grade consoles and special
mastering versions of our compressors and EQs. We were happy to listen and oblige - and frankly,
somebody had to support that neglected side of the business.
Over the next dozen years, mastering businesses flourished and branched, and many more audio
companies developed products aimed specifically for mastering. In fact, a whole new sub-category of
mastering grew out of this, most often called “project mastering”. Manley was getting deluged with
requests for custom projects at a point in time when it was difficult to keep up with orders for standard
products. We had to limit the number we could accept, and even those were beginning to take too long
to build and test, before we finally declined any new custom consoles. Meanwhile, several smaller
companies were beginning to market non-custom off-the-shelf mastering consoles (some remarkably
similar to Manley’s). This at least helped fill the void, which is why we did it in the first place.
However, even with several companies building reasonable mastering consoles, we were still get-
ting requests for something similar; not custom, but “Manley, like the famous guys use.” The Manley
Laboratories Mastering Insert Switcher is one part of our solution. In fact, it represents an evolution in
performance from where we left off performing custom work.
The Manley Laboratories Mastering Insert Switcher is built with a unique electronic topology that
maintains a fully balanced signal path through 95% of the console. All other designs require the bal-
anced signals to be converted to unbalanced before sections that, for example, allow you to boost or cut
level, then inversely need to be converted back to balanced to feed the outside world. In other words,
this new topology not only does it in one stage rather than 3 or 4, but also does it as cleanly and quietly
as any single stage that we know of, including fully discrete approaches. This topology also provides
better common mode rejection and power supply rejection than conventional approaches. This is sig-
nificant especially in the “Sum-Difference” functions.
Each of the 10 gain blocks and all of the switches are on connectors, which means, if the need ever
arises for service, it can likely be done quickly without the need for a technician or soldering iron – just
a medium-small Philips screwdriver. No expense was spared in the quality of the parts, so one should
expect many years of continuous professional use.
Please note that this is not a “Monitor Control Box.” It is simply a device that helps route various
analog processors with maximum fidelity or allows you to maintain the shortest possible signal paths
while providing some flexible central control functions. This unit is not supposed to color your sound in
the least; it just exists to let you use your favorite outboard gear in more creative ways.