Richardmr, jikes the thor is expensive! n$US8490. that is a lot of aussie $.
Looks beautiful thou.
Gain information is conmflicting. specs say 55db MC which would not be enuf to drive my .3 xv-1s, but the printer friendly page has 78db. Big difference! |
thanks guys.
I got the slightly lean charactisation from reading a lot of the reviews and reading somewhat in between the lines.
I just sold my Pass Xono for a pretty good price, so looking at what will be my last phono stage.
Thye steelhead seems to be the real deal. The main thing is that I want to be able to enjoy all my records, not just my finely engineered audiophile quality one's.
Is rolling the 6922's mandatory for the best musical sound? |
HOw much tube rush to you get at medium and loud volumes.
I just tried the Aesthetix Rhea and it had noticable tube rush and medium and loud volumes. |
Thanks Vetterone. How did you find the sound compared to the rhea?.
EvaAnna from manley said the same thing re tune rush, however always better to get that from someone who owns one.
You and I have the same dyna XV-1s ( great cartridge) What do you load the thing at with the Manley?.
I am hoping to get a demo of a manley next week, living in Sydney that is no mean feat as they are bringing one in!
Did you have much burn in time? |
thanks Opalchip for the recommendation. I don't need a full pre amp and Granite does not have a presence in Australia. Most importantly I cannot live without a remote for volume control at the very least. yes very laxy but important to me as I like to mix the volume around even on one LP.
cheers |
Raul, What I mean but not wanting something "ultra revealing" is that buying hi fi is a means to an end. the end is to enjoy most of the LP's that you own.
I have heard/owned ultra revealing and detailed gear in the past which has all the detail but you cannot listen to it for long periods and makes your "non audiophile" records sound like shit. That is not what I call being able to listen to music and enjoy.
Great recordings will always sound great, but it is the way a phono stage treats the not so good recordings and makes them enjoyable and removes the equipment from the equation (as much as possible) is what turms me on, not something that makes every fault magnified.
After all that is why I have 4000 odd LP's, to be able to listen to all of them at some stage and enjoy them for their musical qualities.
Does that answer your basic question?
BTW what is wrong with autoformers?. I am aware of tube noise, that is why I am asking, but it would seem that the steelhead is quiet.
Have you heard the steelhead in your sytstem Raul? , as that is the advise I am looking for, people who have lived with the steelhead and can idendify it's positives and negatives.
cheers Shane |
Nrchy, If the steelhead is quieter than the Xonon that would be great!. I have just sold the Xono( great phono stage!), hence looking for an other phono stage.
I am listening to the Ayre-P5x at the moment at it sounds very very good, especially at the price and has a more pure sound than the Xono, better bass control but is a little softer on top. |
Interesting Bob. I'll start off at 100 ohm's and work from there.
Strange thou that with my previous two phono stages the cj prem 15 and Pass Xono, both sounded better in my system loaded at 47k. I have been using the XV-1 and now s for the last 5 years or so - luv the sound of it.
The rhea I have just tried liked 125 ohms better and the ayre P5x back at 47k.
I hope the steelhead works out as I would like to get my old Linn lp12 up and running again with a more reasonably priced cartridge like the Denon 103 for some fun listening.
cheers Shane |
Bob, I have never found loading at 47k to reduce bass, but you are correct you do get more air in the high frequencies. As I said it has depended on the phono stage. Prior to that I used to have tube monoblock's coupled with hard to drive mahler speakers a little too close to the wall giving it a slightly boomy character - got that licked now with my ss cj amp a little tighter in the bass and able to drive the mahlers better and have moved out from the back wall a little more.
Looks as thou MM input might be best for the XV-1s and MC for my fun TT.
Vetterone, thanks for the update. Sounds like it is a lot quieter than the rhea which just frustrated me. Also given the large Floyd back drop you must like loud rock music! rock on.
I'll listen to the steelhead with standard tubes - it should give me most of what it does, NOS should just be icing on the cake.
How many hours does it take before the unit is sounding sweet?
Sounds like Raul may not heard the steelhead after all, just summarising a set of audio urban legends and applying them as fact :>)
Now I can't wait for the unit to come in for listen!
cheers Shane |
Raul. I don't own a steelhead, hence all my questions. I think it is instructive and a bit of fun getting the thoughts of fellow music lovers both positive and negative. Including your own :)
Ultimately when I get the opportunity to listen to the steelhead I will make up my own mind, at this price it should sound better than any other phono stage I have owned or listened to.
Can't comment about the RIAA curve deviation - do all tube phono stages deviate that much or perhaps manley are just being honest :) Does not seem to make the unit sound any worse.
They do state they have accurate "4-corner" riaa equalisation which covers all the 4 time constants of 3180, 318, 75 microseconds and 3.2us, which the say most phono stages ignore which gives flat response to about 50khz. Not sure exactly what this means, pewrhaps someone else could expand. |
Gents. Are there any current production 6922's that improve the sound compared to the Steelhead stk 6922's?? |
Mikey. It is yourself and other reviewers that enable guys like me outside the US to know what is available and what might take our fancy. I am looking forward to hearing the steelhead and if I like it to power up my old Linn. |
I just received the brand spanking new steelhead from the distributor and finished playing three LP's. New Order's latest LP "waiting for the sirens call", New Order "Brotherhood" and 1st Dire Straits album.
WOW! It sounds great straight from the box (well 30 minutes after switch on:). Sometimes when you plug something in it just sounds right - well the steelhead is one of those piece's of equipment.
The steelhead has great bass weight and drive, that unmistakeable tube bloom/meat on the bones(or whatever one wants to call it) in the upper bass,lower mid's and it actaually does PRAT, like the best naim equipment.
If it continues to get better over the next few days - it ain't going back!.
After many years and quite a few phono stages either owned or at home for demo's - namely Naim prefix, fm acoustics 122, cj prem 15, CAT internal phono, Aesthetix IO & rhea, ayre P5x,herron phono and finally the very nice Pass Xono. the steelhead just on 3 records has quite easily bested these nice phono stages buy making the records like good music. I guess sometimes money does buy a better sounding product.
thanks to all you goner's that gave me your insights to how it sounded in your systems from this thread.
back to listening to the steelhead and music! |
Steve, Where would one get a set of Amperex white label PQ 6922's??.
R there any current production tubes that are better than the stk tubes?.
cheers Shane |
thanks Tim, I have seen that web site, but $325 is a lot to pay for a set of tubes!.
Vetterone indicated he bought his amperex 6922 tubes for $40 bucks.
that is where I would like to shop if he will give up his source:) |
Hey guys, after living with the steelhead for a week I decided not to pull the trigger. For me and my tastes it was SOTA in bass, upper bass/lower mid texture, quieter than the Pass Xono, but ultimately I did not get into its slightly forward matter of fact upper mids and treble. It was crystal clean, but did not have enough meat on the bone for me and was ultimately fatiguing.
I did change the sovtec 6922's to JJ/tesla and that was better, but overall I didn;t want to listen to it enough to justify the steep price of admission.
guess this is why there are sooo many hi fi brands out there - everyone has different tastes and bias's.
Looks like I need a slightly warmer phono stage -
any idea's guys? |
thanks Nrchy, my choice of lack of does not invalidate the choice and joy the steelhead is bringing to many other music lovers.
Yes, the trials and tribulations of the hi fi hobby. In the last 12 mnths gone from worn out xv-1 to dyna xv-1s and biggest change of all is going from big cj tube mono's to cj SS prem350.
All those changes have changed the systems tonal qualities slightly,tighter better controlled bass, however the SS amp does not have quite the treble delicacy that the old prem8a's had.( no such thing as a free lunch) It is still SOTA SS sound, but does not sound like tube treble. If I still had the prem8's I would have like the steelhead more.
Interestly I just borrowed an ARC SP-8 from a mate and using his phono section, and it sounds great. makes me wonder how much hi fi has improved in the last 20 years. Even the P-75 I am using sounds close enuf to the Pass Xono and steelhead, that unless you have the money it does seem hard to justify the expense.
I am going to listen to a sutherland and ARC PH-5 in the next couple of weeks - both are supposed to be very musical - so we will see what happens. I can if needed go back to the XONO, but I think I am looking for a little more sofistication.
Tim, I did have the ACT 2 in the system for about a month. Sounds fantastic. compared to the VTL 7.5 it just sounds different. the cj is a little more forward and direct, the bass is a little more obvious, however the VTL just sounds a bit more luxurious. the cj maybe sounds a little coarser in the upper mids, however on the other hand the VTL could be seen as a little less direct. the VTL has better ergonomics no doubt.
BTW, I am thinking about cj phono with SUT like the inbuilt jensen's or Bent audio Mu as well, but the controversy of SUT or no SUT is amazing.
At the time I was looking at changing due to a noise/gain issue between the high gain VTL and high gain cj. Now I have found fantastic attenuators from Endler, that has solved any issues I had with the 7.5.
Tim, I could quite easily live with both - both sound fantastic but different.
cheers Shane |
