Phono Stages with External Power Supplies...Worth It?

In my years of dealing with Naim equipment, I found that adding a power supply made a huge improvement in the sound.  Not just "smoother" or "more musical" or stuff like that.  It made the music sound more musically complete, like going from standard TV to hi-res.  That may not be the case with your particular piece, but you should absolutely try one with a return privilege.  I was talking about power supplies with Peter Qvortrup from Audio Note and he told me that many people have severe space limitations, dictating 1-box solutions, but otherwise, he always prefers a separate large PS.  Enjoy. 

fsonicsmith, I am surprised you would place the AR Ref6 above the Steelhead, but if you are a "solder slinger", like me, I can suggest some very small changes to the Steelhead that make it sound worlds better. Either PM me or indicate here if you want the information and my suggestions.

Lewm; I don't. They are two separate categories. The Steelhead is a phono stage and the ARC Red 6 is a preamp. I used them as examples only. At the outset of my post, I mentioned that preamps and phono stages are very similar and they are. They both take a low voltage signal and apply attenuation to them. They are both very susceptible to EFI/MFI from transformers. Further, I love my Steelhead and if Mike Fremer is correct that it is no longer reference quality, I don't care. I would never mod it. The folks at Manley are incredible with their product support and I would never jeopardize my warranty and their support with mods. 

Has anyone suggested listening and deciding for yourself whether it is worth it? ;)
This more than anything else will tell you.

Any dealer worth his salt will be happy to swap them out for you at the dealership or lend you both for lengthy home demo. Either way you will know for sure rather than acting on random opinion?

fsonicsmith,  You must be one of the younger guys around here.  For most of my audiophile life (i.e., since the early 1970s), the term "preamplifier" meant a device that included a linestage and a phono stage, all in one. So, when you mentioned the Ref6 in the same breath with the Steelhead, I initially assumed it was what some now call a "full function" preamplifier, a linestage cum phono stage, because I am stuck in the past perhaps.  I then did some reading on the Ref6 and found that it is indeed "only" a linestage and also that it costs roughly twice as much as the Steelhead. I apologize for that. Given its cost and sophistication, I am sure the Ref6 is great at doing its job. But I don't see how you can compare its SQ to that of the Steelhead, unless you are saying that you prefer it to the sound of the output stage of the Steelhead, if the latter is used as a full function preamplifier.  The little bit of tweaking that I did to my unit affects mainly the output stage; I wouldn't want to touch the RIAA correction circuits. (I use mine as a full function preamplifier.)
 
I beg to differ with you on the relative functions of a linestage vs a phono stage.  The latter is a much trickier proposition, circuit-wise.  Much more complex.  Phono stages do more amplification of the input signal than any other piece of gear in the chain, including the amplifier.  Whereas, in most cases the input (from a phono stage, CDP, etc) to a linestage needs no further amplification in order to drive an amplifier.  Gain added in the linestage is usually needless and, as you say, is then attenuated at the output. Which is why I would say that the power supply of a phono stage is more critical to its excellence or lack thereof. 

I love my Steelhead too, but I love it much more since I tweaked it a tiny bit.  Evanna Manley seems to be a very "hip" person; I am not sure she would say that what I did would void any warranty, but as my Steelhead is several years old, I am guessing I have no warranty to worry about. I can well understand that you may be concerned on those grounds about your unit.