Calculating total capacitance

The total capacitance adds up in your case if you find out the cartridge capacitance.
From ballpark estimate point I would increase the load capacitance if adjustable.

Dialing up the cap values to 550 pf , to my ears , so far as it is a cop out(half way from 0 to max)is OK.

What I have found is that adding more gives more body but you loose the upper high details.

Too little and you hear too much surface noise and the music lacks the body, so I settled for right in the middle.

I really like the Steel head, it replaced a Sutherland PHD, which was also a decent phono stage with it's own good points,but different from this phono stage.

I'm really just a set it and forget it type of person the older I get, the less patience I have, hence the Rega set up.

Setting it by ear is fine,but so far, each lp requires a different tweek of the dials , what works on some lps doesn't sound as good on others.

This is not finding a fault with the unit, in fact it is a real plus.

I am wondering if other steelhead owners have experienced the same thing.
In other words, do you dial in different settings for different lps?

According to this loading calculator

http://www.hagtech.com/loading.html

minimum capacitance loading is the best.

But since everyone's sonic taste is different, it is best to make adjustment by ear.

Thanks for the link, I'll go back and do some more dial tuning in the low pf range, although I felt when I did this before that the sound had too much sizzle in the upper range which elevated the groove noise.