Best cost no object tube phono

@reimarc

I’m surprised / impressed you able to balance the 16g LPS on a ProJect arm, but this is probably a case of too much cartridge for your deck.

I have an LPS in my collection and felt it wasn’t a great match for a SUT - I’ve tried several, all ratios. My phono stage is a VAC Renaissance (internal SUT), which makes all my OTHER cartridges sound by far their best (especially with a better matched outboard SUT), but the LPS is the odd man out here. I would indeed be looking at an ARC Reference if I were tying to optimally match the LPS. I can hear many things the LPS does well on my Graham Phantom and Hagerman Trumpet MC, and it’s great, but not quite up to the levels I can reach with other cartridges (including lower Benzes) on my VAC phono.

The lower Benz Ebony L and Zebrawood L (not the Ruby) models are far, far easier to work with because of their normal body weight and low impedance coils with a good output level. And they sound wonderful! They’re stellar with a SUT in the range of 15x (Zebra) - 30x (Ebony). In my system the Ebony and Zebra get lots of play, while the LPS simply rests waiting for a better phono match - which quite honestly may not be happening anytime soon (I don’t have any room for both an ARC and the VAC lol).

TLDR; you should have got a Zebrawood L with 0.4mV output and 12 ohm coils (not the ruby-plate Zebra, the iron-cross one)

@lewm 

Yeah, no ideas on those 2 weird issues he's having. Just pointing out that his pairing of the LPS with other gear made me think "woah, I wouldn't do that".

I wander why the Steelhead is not mentioned more often since it is a USA product.

Some guesses:
It’s been around a long time without any superficially visible new versions. The ultra high-end segment seems to love either "brand NEW version Alpha Centauri Mk MCXIII SE+ Prime Sigma RED, only {$$$MEGA BUX$$$}!", or really really vintage. Also $10K is no longer attention grabbing in the ultra segment, and yet it’s too pricey for most ordinary folk. Are there even many Manley dealers anymore? They seemed to be a lot more available and talked about in hifi circles in the 2000s.

It also tops out at 65dB, which is a bit low compared to some other ultra phono stages’ 70dB+. I wouldn’t want to run a 0.2mV on 65dB. Personally I like to have 70dB on tap.

I’d still love to try one someday. It was a tantalizing fruit, well beyond my reach when I first got into vinyl.