Is the Manley Steelhead still relevant?

I ran a Steelhead RC for four years, during which time I went through four turntables, five tonearms, and many cartridges. I liked it a lot; for the money and versatility, it's hard to beat. But that said, it was readily bested by the Allnic H3000 that replaced it, albeit at a substantially higher cost.

$15K will get the "end game" piece.

As mentioned above, the Allnic, or something cool as the Luxman are at that level. After that, it's all table madness to blame for nervosa!

The "end game" piece is the Constellation Orion.  John Curl's swan song?

Absolutely! All Manley gear will always be relevant, IMO. EveAnna is such a passionate audiophile and tube expert. She’s a total rock star. All Manley stuff is made with all top notch components and tubes, as shown here on this Analog Planet vid where Mikey Fremer tours the Manley factory. This vid will show how their gear will always stay relevant and keep most if not eventually all of their original value. https://youtu.be/iunBAzr8GK0