Anyone have experience with the PH-1000 and tube stage

@ulcerdoc, have owned two chinooks and the steelhead. If you are running an MC cart you may want to consider the Technics 305 SUT into the MM stage of the phonopre. IF you want to upgrade the phono pre you'll need to get into a VTL TP 6.5 or an ARC REF 10 to really beat the Chinook. 

JohnSS

You’re a good reference for me because you owned both Chinooks and Steelhead.

I already have a Bob’s Devices Sky20 SUT.  I think that’s a fairly big step up fron the Technics 305.  I don’t particularly enjoy the sound using the SUT with low output MC’s on the Chinook so I have no desire to try other SUT.

The Chinook sounds really good even though it has a relatively primitive circuit compacted to the Steelhead (no SUT, autoformers, simple 4 x 6922 tube set. I have the SE edition that adds 65dB gain and at that level with low output MC I get the typical tube overdrive hiss out of both channels (typcal Chinook I understand).  It’s just a little annoying not really bad.  What I really hate about the Chinook is one set of inputs, simple gain stage and set it once and hope you don’t have to ever set it again inconvenience.  

A lot of people lump the Manley Chinook and Steelhead together because they share DNA, but they were never meant to compete with each other. EveAnna Manley designed them for two different customers and two different levels of analog obsession.

The Chinook was created to hit the sweet spot of serious vinyl playback without the cost or complexity of the true reference tier. When it launched, it went up against the usual mid-upper class contenders: Allnic H-1201/1202, Parasound JC3/JC3+, PS Audio Stellar Phono, Rogue Ares, PrimaLuna EVO 100, Sutherland 20/20 & Dos Locos, Zesto Andros 1.2, Herron VTPH-2A, and other “serious but sane” tube/solid-state phono stages.

Its job was simple: deliver the Manley tube sound, real MM/MC flexibility, low noise, and genuine engineering at a price most advanced listeners could reach.

The Steelhead, on the other hand, wasn’t built for that market at all. It’s Manley’s statement phono stage — a no-compromise design with autoformer gain, multiple MC inputs, front-panel everything, huge headroom, and a full reference-grade line stage. Its real competitors aren’t Chinook’s rivals; they’re the heavy hitters:

ARC Reference, Allnic H-3000/H-7000, Ypsilon VPS-100, Boulder, CH Precision P1, Doshi, Sutherland Phono Blocks, and other top-shelf, cost-no-object phono stages.

Chinook buyers are (as I was) upgrading from good gear and want tube magic plus flexibility. Steelhead buyers already run multi-arm tables, multi-kilobuck cartridges, and want total control and reference-level dynamics.  What I see is that you go from 70-80% what you can get from the cartridge to 90-95%  With the ARC ref 10 you maybe go to 98% and maybe need a new system - and I love the flexibility, ability to run more than one tonearm and the separate PSU with much lower noise floor.

EveAnna seems to have positioned them deliberately:

Chinook = high-end tube performance that’s accessible.

Steelhead = the destination for a more uncompromising listener with a whole lot more flexibility and convenience.

Two different tools. Two different customers. But same Manley DNA.

I happen to like the house sound.  I don’t have the time or inclination to audition 20 phonostages.  And diminishing returns tells me that there’s a lot of other things I’d rather have/do than a $42K phonostage for negligible increase in benefit in my system.

That all said I am still very interested in hearing why in your experience a Steelhead isn’t significantly better than a Chinook.

@ulcerdoc, The chinook is a really nice phono stage but the VTL and ARC units are in another league especially in fully differential mode. They offer what seems like 40% more information coming off the record than what almost any other phono stage offers. The only unit I have heard that offers more resolution is the Boulder 2108 but also a tad dry sounding compared to the other two. 

The Steelhead is better than the Chinook but at the new price point unless you need all the  EQ curves better off jumping to the VTL for only a bit more. 

About two years ago tried many of the step ups including the brand you mentioned. with SUTs the key is super wide bandwidth. For that a person needs to go to Japan where they were experts at wide bandwidth transformers. 

JohnSS

Some good points in your post, but I think a few things deserve clarification for anyone cross-shopping these units.

First, the Manley Chinook is an excellent phono stage at its price point. The VTL TP-6.5 and ARC Ref Phono models are indeed in a higher tier in terms of resolution and noise performance—particularly in fully differential mode—but “40% more information” must be more of a subjective impression than anything that can be quantified.  Do you have data/experience to justify 40%?

Where the picture gets more nuanced is with the Manley Steelhead.

The Steelhead isn’t simply a “Chinook with more curves”—it’s a fundamentally different design:

• transformer-coupled gain via autoformers
• extremely flexible cartridge loading
• higher MC drive capability
• pure Class A single-ended topology
• very low noise floor
• and the ability to run as a full preamp if needed

It has a tonal richness and dynamic ease that neither ARC nor VTL completely duplicate. ARC is (apparently) more airy and analytical; VTL is reputed to be very neutral and “correct.” The Steelhead sits in the middle with more body and saturation—often a better match for cartridges I have, like Koetsu, Soundsmith, Miyajima, etc.

As for price tiers: the Steelhead RC is around $10–11K. The VTL TP-6.5 II and ARC Ref Phono 3/3SE are $15–18K units. For many of us that’s not just “a bit more”—it’s a significant jump.

Re: SUTs, I agree that wide bandwidth is important, but modern American and European winders (EMIA, Lundahl, Jensen, Bob’s Devices, etc.) are absolutely competitive with the best Japanese transformers today. Bandwidth has more to do with core material, winding geometry, and ratio than nationality.

In short:

• Chinook = excellent for the money.  Has served me well.  
• Steelhead = reference-level, not simply an incremental step.  Sound suits my taste and cartridges.  Very flexible and convenient.
• ARC/VTL = different voicings, not strictly “better”, let alone 40% better.
• Boulder = hyper-resolving but can sound lean depending on system synergy and stratospheric cost.

And as always, system matching matters just as much as specs. 

Thanks for your input!

Small points:  (1) Nearly all phono and linestages ever made are "Pure Class A" topology.  That is a bragging point often touted by manufacturers as if it is novel. (2) The Steelhead uses autoformers, not transformers or "SUTs", and I am not sure they use autoformers for voltage gain.  I say this because the owners manual and other sources as well say that you can dial up 65db of gain even when the unit is set in MM mode. Come to think of it, I once called Manley, and they confirmed this fact. Separate information says that the autoformers are out of the signal path in MM mode.  Putting those two facts together suggests the autoformers are doing something else.  Furthermore, inside there are sets of discrete load resistors in values equal to the load resistance options that you can select on the front panel. This suggests again that they are not using autoformers in the way we think about SUTs, because if that were the case, then the autoformers would play a role in determining the load seen by the cartridge. Maybe Intact Audio knows.