Manly Steelhead - any downside??


I am thinking of going for a Manley steelhead and have read many great reviews.
One thing that is mentioned consistenly is that it is a little lean.
Does that translate to the music being a little too revealing on the not so good recordings?.
Or does it make these recordings sound better and easier to listen to compared to warmer sounding phono stages?

me I want to to be able to listen and enjoy all my records, so ultra revealing is not something I am looking for in any phono stage.

appreciate any thoughts
downunder
Raul, true to form is simply wrong again! The Steelhead is one of the quietest phono sections that money can buy. Some of that is going to be tube choice issues.

Vetterone told me that it is quieter than the X-Ono which I bought from him. Many people have claimed that there are not more than a handful of phono stages quieter than the Pass Labs (see Michael Fremers review), but the Manley is one of them.

The sound of the Steelhead is amazing, both as a pre-amp, and a phono section. You will not be disappointed with this unit. I plan to buy one in spring!
Raul, What I mean but not wanting something "ultra revealing" is that buying hi fi is a means to an end. the end is to enjoy most of the LP's that you own.
I have heard/owned ultra revealing and detailed gear in the past which has all the detail but you cannot listen to it for long periods and makes your "non audiophile" records sound like shit. That is not what I call being able to listen to music and enjoy.
Great recordings will always sound great, but it is the way a phono stage treats the not so good recordings and makes them enjoyable and removes the equipment from the equation (as much as possible) is what turms me on, not something that makes every fault magnified.
After all that is why I have 4000 odd LP's, to be able to listen to all of them at some stage and enjoy them for their musical qualities.

Does that answer your basic question?

BTW what is wrong with autoformers?. I am aware of tube noise, that is why I am asking, but it would seem that the steelhead is quiet.
Have you heard the steelhead in your sytstem Raul? , as that is the advise I am looking for, people who have lived with the steelhead and can idendify it's positives and negatives.

cheers Shane
Nrchy, If the steelhead is quieter than the Xonon that would be great!. I have just sold the Xono( great phono stage!), hence looking for an other phono stage.
I am listening to the Ayre-P5x at the moment at it sounds very very good, especially at the price and has a more pure sound than the Xono, better bass control but is a little softer on top.
IMO the only response to Raul's posts is no response. He is entitled to his opinions, as misguided as most of them are, like everybody else here. The record is replete with his omniscient and combative ideas so why not let him go? I for one take no stock in anything he says and read them for the entertainment content. Roll with them and grab a few laughs.
Shane, I am running the Manley Steelhead with a Dynavector XV-1s cartridge. The XV-1s pairs very well with this phono stage. (Given the flexibility of this phono stage, I am hard-pressed to name a cartridge that does not pair well.) You will find that you have the flexibility of running your cartridge into either the MM section or the MC section of the Steelhead.

I am running the XV-1s into the MM section of the Steelhead with 55dB of gain. I find that the sound is a bit more immediate and transparent through the MM section than it is when run through the step-up transformer, but the difference is subtle.

As for impedance loading, I have found that the 100 ohm setting is optimal with most LPs in my system. However, if a recording tends to be bright, I find that the 50 ohm setting sometimes results in better tonal balance. Perhaps the ideal impedance setting is somewhere in between these two values. FYI, the U.S. Dynavector importer tells me that most XV-1s owners are loading the cartridge somewhere between 30 ohms and 100 ohms.