SUT With a Manley Steelhead RC?

It’s a complicated question, because the steelhead’s "Z" inputs uses autoformers (primary only) rather than a traditional SUT (primary + secondary windings). I don’t think most of us have a good understanding of autoformers in this application lol. I’m not even sure anyone else is using them here.

The description on Manley’s site is fairly good but still kinda hard to parse out. It sounds (perhaps) a bit more like a "current injection" head-amp in electrical function, versus a traditional SUT - where the "optimal" level Manley speaks of is going to be loading the cartridge pretty heavily (and that’s OK).

The "rough" gain range listed of 3 - 12dB is much lower than most head-amps and SUTs, but the extremely high "base" Steelhead gain (up to 65dB) covers for that.

If you get a SUT - it’s going to sound different than the autoformers, that’s for sure. Even SUTs can sound wildly different to each other! All you can do is try a SUT and decide which you like better. If you do, the SUT should be run at the lowest gain level (50dB) on the R input set to 47K and minimal capacitance load (0 is fine). Even 50dB is quite high, so you don’t want to push past the usually recommended SUT gain ratio for your cartridge. For an MSL Platinum at 0.5mV, I think a 10x SUT would be perfect here.

The "Sky" SUT Bob sells is excellent, and in your shoes - yeah I’d give it a shot against the Manley’s autoformers. The "Sky" has a warm, vibrant, rich sound with superb dynamics and big bass response. It’s not as refined or nimble as some of the other top tier SUTs (more expensive), but it’s a fun listen. Fantastic for rock. It really reminds me of a classic tube amp’s sonic style. And it absolutely clobbers the cheaper SUTs (entry level Lundahls, CineMag 3440A) IMO. My main complaint is the little metal boxes can be microphonic and they're also easily bullied around by stiff cables (both solve-able, but a PITA).

@mulveling Thanks for your reply.  If I do buy an SUT it will probably be the MSL model, since it's made for their cartridges.  I've spent less money that that on a very good phono preamp so it's hard to justify, but it's an itch I've had for a long time.  I also have to buy a good RCA phono cable to link everything up.  It sounds like I'm trying to talk myself out of this, eh?  

@artemus_5 I can see what you mean, which is actually why I asked the question, but I'm always interested in squeezing out more performance from my analog setup.  I have never tried a SUT, and have heard many good things about them in reviews I've read.  Art Dudley often wrote lovingly about his experiences, and I respected his opinions in general.  I'm baffled by the fact that when I asked three of my local high end audio shops about SUTs that they had no idea what I was talking about!  However, when I lived in Japan I learned that many users of high end rigs swear by them.  

in my opinion, this is an idea, for sure, but not what you would call a good idea. If you just want to know what a step up transformer can do for you, sure, go ahead and try it. But if you expect a SUT to change the sonic character of the steelhead in some particular way, perhaps it would help if you would say what it is you want to change. As someone else noted, the steelhead on its MC inputs already uses autoformers, but from what I can tell, and Manleyare fairly mysterious about this, the autoformers are not used purely for gain, as in the case of using a SUT. I say this because you can dial gain up to 65 db using the MM inputs which bypasses the autoformers entirely. And that is what you would have to do with an external SUT. Connect it to the MM inputs, and set gain to the minimum of 50 db. it doesn’t make any sense to me, but if you want to do it, you will not be hurting anything except your pocketbook. If you want to tweak the Steelhead, upgrade the output coupling capacitors, which are mediocre at best. And way higher in value than necessary. My next thought, not yet done, is to upgrade the attenuator. ( I use mine as a full function preamp.)

I had a Steelhead before they offered remote control but after the first batch. I rolled the tubes on the audio path, using NOS Tele, Siemens and old Raytheons for the 7044. I could never get it to gel in my system, especially using the MC autoformers. I ran it wide open, at that time using a Lyra Titan I (which I think was their best then) and the original Airtight PC-1 (later upgrade to a Supreme). I added a line stage- Lamm L2 Reference, then a Veloce (which is up to date as of this writing) and eventually migrated to an entirely different room, with a number of small changes. I also changed phono stages.

One of the things I found in listening was a slight electronic glaze from the Steelhead which was a constraint to more natural, flowing analog sound. I think every person has their own biases, and their choices-assuming no price constraint- are limited by what they have heard.

The Steelhead in my estimation sounded better with a line stage than using its passive volume control. Thing is really well built, quite flexible, and Eva is a saint. 

In relation to the MSL SUT, there is a particular Tonal Quality Japanese Audio Enthusiasts seemingly lean towards, which is for the Rich Tone.

The MSL SUT may? be voiced to create the perception of rich tone is increased to compensate for the Cart' user that desires for more of  Rich Tone than the Cart' is able to produce in a typical MC Input.

I like @mulveling  have quite a few SUT experiences behind us, and even though we lean towards different sides of the Rich/Lean Scale, we both know SUT's can be perceived as unbearably overblown in the Lower Frequencies, to being perceived as Lean in the Upper Frequencies.

What really matters is where the individual chooses to hit the stop button and get of the Bus on the Rich/Lean Route.