Manly Steelhead - any downside??

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.

Interesting Bob. I'll start off at 100 ohm's and work from there.

Strange thou that with my previous two phono stages the cj prem 15 and Pass Xono, both sounded better in my system loaded at 47k. I have been using the XV-1 and now s for the last 5 years or so - luv the sound of it.

The rhea I have just tried liked 125 ohms better and the ayre P5x back at 47k.
I hope the steelhead works out as I would like to get my old Linn lp12 up and running again with a more reasonably priced cartridge like the Denon 103 for some fun listening.

cheers Shane

Shane, the specifications of the XV-1s cartridge would indicate that the upper end of the range for optimal impedance loading would likely not exceed 200 ohms. Loading the cartridge at 47k ohms should tend to emphasize the treble frequencies and attenuate the bass frequencies. Is it possible that you gravitated to the higher loading value in order to compensate for something else in your system that is leaning the sound of your system toward a dark or bass-heavy character?