What's A Good Upgrade From A Manley Steelhead?

To the OP - of course you have excellent speakers ;-)  i would be way more inclined to really work over your Debut / Arm / Cartridge because you have an extremely competent phonostage…but IF the music doesn’t make it to ANY phono stage…. well you understand. How are your setup skills, tools and inclination to seek help ? JR at WAM would be a target phone call for sure. 

AJ who designed your table ( RIP ) was a genius, while i’m not suggesting a new Basis… there is depth in the community of owners and dealers and of course factory keeping them rolling and upgrading them…. Reach out if needed, i know a few of them…. fast friends…

Best to you

Jim

Ah….. even at the levels Bill frequents..for decades now, he realizes improvement is always possible…. No matter the $. Perhaps that could be your first lesson ?

My best to those who love music and the endless quest for better….

OP might i suggest a call w Jonathan at Ultra Fidelis, he is super into analog and carries Moon and ARC, Lyra…. etc…. Honest and helpful as the day is long. He helped immensely in guiding my buddy an Orchestra conductor of note to a fantastic Moon pre and power based system.

Re your Basis, Randy at Optimal in Santa Monica has probably sold more ? Basis TT on planet than anyone… he will have some insights also….

Best to you in music

Jim

@lewm thanks for sharing the cap choices w wider audience…. i think there might be a decent overlap of our parts bins…. Roger and Richard Vandersteen helped inform many choices there…. 

To the OP - great move… a bit of a trove of NOS tubes from trusted sources - I use both Brent and Andy at Vintage tube services. I might add that isolation of a tube phono stage and to a lesser degree but still important for SS, is critical. I use HRS but obviously there are MANY other effective isolation devices…. 

@mulveling spot on dude… both my Phono 2se and 5se have Andy sourced NJ 1960’s Tung Sol black plates in the power supply….. wow….. and greatly maginified by HRS…

Low cost dip toe into water SS stage is….. Dynavector…on mk 4 now as i recall….. but again….. seeker of neutrality…or ?

Fun to all.

Jim

Bill - frankly, i was way more interested in what caps @lewm had sitting bench in the parts drawer….and i would rather talk Beveridge…. alas…. been a long time since i heard or sold a well sorted system from Harold and Roger…. ah…youth

Audiophile know thyself…. accurate or flavorized…. it’s very helpful and can save you a lot of churn….

Currently, i have an ARC Ref 2se and a Herron with a quasi successful roll of French Mazda silvers in the front end. Neither of my phono are very rollable…

Enjoy the music