Sound Pure's Take

The ELOP is one of those processors that offers beauty in both sound and simplicity of design. With only two main controls (Make Up Gain and Gain Reduction), it’s pretty hard to mess this limiter up. Because of this and its relatively fast attack (for an electro-optical limiter), the ELOP is one of the best options I’ve used when tracking vocals, guitars, and bass. There, it serves as a smooth and responsive audio leveler by effortlessly controlling louder peaks, resulting in a more even and full performance with a touch of Manley’s famous tube polish.
 
Oh, and don’t let the “limiter” title scare you. While having a higher ratio that technically qualifies as limiting, the applications where you’d use ELOP overlap with where you’d use a traditional compressor, as opposed to solely mix buss or mastering purposes. Meticulous detail went into designing the ELOP to be a powerful yet forgiving and easy to use box - essentially it’d take some serious determination to make the ELOP sound bad! 
 
2016 Update!  Now we are talking compression or limiting!  With the new 3:1 and 10:1 switch, you can toggle between tracking a nice soft vocal for smooth compression to harder limiting on, say, drum overheads.  This really ups the versatility of an already incredible compressor. Working at 10:1 with the original ELOP was almost a limiter for many applications.  Sometimes it could be too much, and we wished for a softer compression ratio.  BAM!  The newer 3:1 setting is going to be dynamite for tracking when you need a touch of smooth and transparent compression, but it will still go hard with the 10:1 when you need that feature.

From Manley Laboratories Inc

How Do You Improve on a Classic?

Since the early 1990’s, the Manley ELOP® stereo electro-optical limiter has been a tracking hero effortlessly controlling dynamics on countless records around the globe, delivering the coveted classic, all-tube sound that Manley Labs is known for. So how do you improve on something this good?
 
 Well, for starters, we have now added a 3:1 compression ratio feature which opens up the doors to greater versatility, especially for 2-buss applications. The 2016 ELOP+ has been completely re-engineered from the ground-up, beginning with our amazing modern high voltage switching power supply purpose-designed for our vacuum tube audio circuits. With careful reference to our sonic past, we have deployed our highest performance vacuum tube line amplifier and White Follower output stage in this new version all housed in a build-efficient chassis behind a drop-dead gorgeous precision-CNC-milled faceplate, all proudly made in America, of course. The new Manley ELOP+ is everything you love about our legendary ELOP, plus!
 

Features:

  • 10:1 Limiter and 3:1 Compressor ratios
  • All-tube audio path uses 5751 and 6922 dual triodes
  • Balanced Manley IRON® transformer-coupled XLR Inputs
  • XLR impedance-balanced outputs
  • BYPASS switches and AUTOMUTE with warm-up delay
  • Large illuminated VU meters read Gain Reduction or Output levels
  • STEREO LINK
  • Side-Chain High-Pass Filter
  • Universal internal power supply operates worldwide 90-250V~AC 50/60Hz

10:1 Limiter and 3:1 Compressor ratios

All-tube audio path uses 5751 (gain) and 6922 (White Follower Output) dual triodes each channel

Balanced Manley IRON® transformer-coupled XLR Inputs

XLR impedance-balanced outputs

BYPASS switches and AUTOMUTE with warm-up delay

Large illuminated VU meters read Gain Reduction or Output levels

STEREO LINK

Side-Chain High-Pass Filter

Standby Power Consumption: 0.5 Watts

Universal internal power supply operates worldwide 90-250V~AC 50/60Hz

ALL-TUBE audio path using a 5751 for gain, 6922 White Follower output tube (one each per channel)

Silent Conductive Plastic GAIN control.

Balanced MANLEY IRON Transformer coupled XLR input.

Input impedance: 14 kOhms

Maximum input level: +18dBu or 4.8V RMS @ 0.01% THD

Hi-current White Follower Impedance Balanced XLR output.

Output impedance=150 Ohms

Maximum Output with 100 kOhm load= +30dBu @.009%THD+N, BW 22Hz-22Khz, 1Khz sine

Maximum Output with 600 Ohm load= +20dBu @.015%THD+N, BW 22Hz-22Khz, 1Khz sine

Output Headroom (Referenced to +4dBu)= 26dB

Frequency Response= -0.15dB @ 10Hz, -0.1dB @ 20KHz

Total Harmonic Distortion (1kHz sine @ +4dBu, BW 22Hz-22kHz) = 0.004 % THD+N

Noise Floor Limiter Bypass= -90dBu (BW 22Hz-22kHz)

Noise Floor Limiter Engaged= -88dBu (BW 22Hz-22kHz) Input set to Unity gain

Dynamic Range= 118dB

Signal to Noise Ratio = 92dB (Referenced to +4dBu)

Bypass mode = Signal goes thru ALL-TUBE audio path (Bypasses limiter) this is not a “hardwire bypass”

Unity Gain= Set Input Attenuator @ 1:00 o’clock

Maximum Gain= 13 dB

Common-Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR)= 77dB (BW 22Hz-22Khz, +4dBu, 1Khz sine)

Limiter Ratio= 10:1

Compressor Ratio= 3:1

Limiter: Attack= 15ms

Limiter Release= 200ms

Compressor: Attack= 75ms Release= 200ms

Attack/Release times measured under following conditions: 4dB of Gain Reduction, 1kHz sine, +4dbu Input level, to 63% of total.

Attack times are faster with higher input levels and heavier gain reduction. Typically for complete release, release times increases up to a couple of seconds, depending upon the amount of previous reduction.

Maximum Limiting (with +4dBu 1Khz sine)= 12dB

Maximum Compression (with +4dBu 1Khz sine)= 6dB

Side-Chain High Pass Filter= 80Hz (Internal user adjust jumper to 150Hz)

Automute warmup delay=30 seconds

Operating mains voltage= 90 to 254 VAC (internal universal power supply)

Mains voltage Frequency= 50-60 Hz

Power consumption= 26 Watts

Dimensions= (w,d,h) 19" x 7 x 3 1⁄2" (occupies 2u)

Unit weight= 9.5 Ib

Shipping weight= 10 Ib

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