Manly Steelhead - any downside??


I am thinking of going for a Manley steelhead and have read many great reviews.
One thing that is mentioned consistenly is that it is a little lean.
Does that translate to the music being a little too revealing on the not so good recordings?.
Or does it make these recordings sound better and easier to listen to compared to warmer sounding phono stages?

me I want to to be able to listen and enjoy all my records, so ultra revealing is not something I am looking for in any phono stage.

appreciate any thoughts
downunder
Just found this thread. Have had my Steelhead since '07. But just hearing how great it really is! Always had to run it through My Spectral preamp to drive Spectral amps. Am now letting go of Spectral. Using Steelhead to drive a pair of Forte' model 7 monos. WOW! Not enough power to drive my Avalons; Hope to try a pair of Pass 160.8s soon. There is a lot of tube info in this thread that I will try to sort through but I would appreciate if someone would spell out the tubes to really get and phone# to source them? Thanks
Thanks to Nkonor for reviving this thread.  I bought a Steelhead just a few months ago, and so far I quite like it. My gripes would be as follows:
(1) Input resistance choices for MM.  The MM input offers 47K ohms and then a series of very much lower resistances that are totally irrelevant for MM cartridges.  I do realize that the optional low (under 1000R) input resistances are actually for using MC cartridges through the MM inputs, if one wants to bypass the built-in autoformers that are in the circuit path if you use the MC inputs, but still...  
(2) I was rather surprised to read that nkonor prefers using the Steelhead as a full preamplifier rather than feeding its output to his Spectral preamplifier, since most others have reported that it sounds best as a phono stage.  I too am using mine as a full function preamplifier, and I agree with others that it is not at all lean in sound quality.  In that regard, the topology of the White Cathode Follower output circuit uses a lot of capacitance (30uF) and a low value shunt resistor (10K).  This is to ameliorate problems related to using high capacitance interconnects.  However, I cannot believe it would not sound better with a lower value capacitance (e.g., 3 or 4uF) and a larger shunt resistor (100K ohms).  The latter combo of C and R would result in the exact same bass cut-off, and I am going to try it.  Lower coupling C should sound better. Maybe this is why others report that the Steelhead sounds best as a phono stage, because if you take the output ahead of the "line stage" section, you avoid this possibly suboptimal output circuit.  (I do understand why Manley may have chosen the values for R and C; you never know what folks might use as cables and what downstream equipment they might expect the Steelhead to drive.)  There's more to this stuff than rolling tubes.

nkonor,

I rolled a LOT of tubes when I got my Steelhead (~ 2005). I ultimately had no difficulty settling on Siemens CCa's and Bendix/Mu 6900's. Siemens was definitely more revealing than Telefunken. The 6900's were much cleaner than any other tubes I tried in that position. Still have those tubes in there, totally satisfied (don't get to listen nearly as much as I'd like).

Now for the bad news. The CCa's are pretty available, but expect to pay $300-$400 for a real NOS pair. The 6900's are even worse - almost unobtainable, my guess is $250-$400 each if you can find them.


Richard

Hi Lewm, can you give a brief comparison between the Steelhead and the phono sections of your Atma-sphere MP1 and the Aesthetix Janus?

 

I am using the Aesthetix IO and thinking of getting an additional phonostage / preamp, the Steelhead and MP1 are on my short list.

 

Thanks!

6 moons review online comparing Steelhead with Tom Evans Audio Design Groove+ makes an interesting read. The jist of it that the TEAD blows the SH away.