Manly Steelhead - any downside??

If anything, the Steelhead is known for being just a touch on the warm side. In my experience it is certainly not lean or analytical sounding. The bass is full, extended, exceptionally taut and well articulated. The treble frequencies are smooth and well extended. I should also note that the Steelhead bested the Lamm LP2 in my system. The Steelhead is the best phono stage I have personally experienced. If you are looking for a component to lend a decidedly warm character to your system, the Steelhead is probably not your best choice, but if neutrality with just a slight lean toward the warm side of the spectrum is what you are after, I would buy the Steelhead without hesitation.

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.

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?

Shane, I bought my Steelhead new, and I found that it settled in very quickly. It bested my Lamm LP2 right out of the box. The changes in the sound with additional run-in were subtle.