Manley Chinook SE MK2

Pindac, eddy currents and copper vs silver conductor are probably subjects for another thread. 

@lewm As you are very well aware, I share experiences had especially the ones that have been able to have a profound effect during a comparison.

My own system that is not up and running at present and the Systems I get out and share in the experience of hearing in use, are ones that I personally class as being very close to being each owners unique preference and ideal as a produced sonic.

It is very fair to say, that Systems that are performing at the levels I am familiar with are ones built over many many years and the selections made by the owners   have great produced set ups that have notable resolving strengths. Night > Day changes are not to be found in these set ups, a change is reduced to where subtleties are detected as being perceived. Such subtleties can be as simple as a  Veiled/Obscureness on a recording has become less obscure and much more aligned to how one feels the Sound Engineer had intended for its presence. In general the impression being detected is one that comes across as having a furthering of the fidelity that has already proven to be impressive.

I am having this experience laid out for myself on both systems heavily laden with Valve designs and Systems without a Valve in use.

I can happily see a system for myself that is the polar opposite of my my own system that is pretty much all Valve Devices downstream of the TT and CDT and  through to the Speakers.

Over the years I have met numerous owners of Phonostages, who are owners of designs belonging to All Valve, Valve Hybrid and SS. During this period I have also discussed with many individuals either face to face, as well as on a forum as a public discussion or a private discussion, methods being used to upgrade a Phon' and how they felt the changes made were perceived. 

This thread is created by a owner of a Phonostage who has inquired about: 

  "What phono preamp and how much would it take to better the Manley? I ask mainly because I have one and considering upgrading. I know it's been stated that it takes $5k upwards to better it but curious of some real world experiences."

My contribution is based on the knowledge that the Phon' in use is a Special Edition made available from Upscale Audio. The Phon' has already been modified,  there is no reason to suggest that ones suggestion that a little more thought and realisation of further modifications will not be a suitable route to consider.

My own suggestions come with a cost and I have made it clear that a outlay of $450ish might be the required budget to be considered. Incremental Spending could prove a lesser spend has been quite sufficient.

I am not one for encouraging an individual to Jump Ship and potentially lose a quick $1500 in the resale. Followed by the need to find another $3K-$4K to not get too further forward with a Sonic being produced.

The OP has made it known their recently purchased Umami Blue is still to be run in, my gut feeling, as a result of knowing what modifications to a Phon' can create, is one where I can see the OP extracting much more to their liking from the Chinook for much less monies than those that will be incurred if Brand Jumping takes place.

For the OP, the Visiting Lurker and the visitor who ends up here resulting from future searches, my suggestions are very relevant within this thread.   

I had a Steelhead (first version, not the earliest, but before the remote control version) and rolled high quality old tubes. I wound up using the MM inputs, because I had a hard time finding a good spot using the autoformer; some frequencies shone life-like but others seemed to be cancelled or suffered from ringing. This may have been down to the system -- Avantgarde Duos, which were originally driven by the curious Audiopax mono blocs, eventually swapped out for Lamm ML2s (glorious).

I eventually replaced the Steelhead with an Allnic H-3000, which some find "burnished" but with the right rectifier in the power supply, sings beautifully in my system. (Some would consider this a lateral move from the Steelhead, but it matched my system and sonic preferences better). I did have an e-conversation with Eva Manley at one point- about her "less is more" approach. I found that adding a line stage, rather than using the passive volume control on the Steelhead gave me more "meat on the bones."

I think it is hard to isolate one component and make judgments about how it sounds within a given system, partly due to all the variables as well as user preference.

Try before you buy is preferable- given the direct sales model, that is possible so long as the return policies are not prohibitive. Otherwise, a good dealer can be a blessing.

I did run a Lamm L2 Reference for a long while, and swapped it out for the Veloce, which is sadly no longer a commercial product, though Vytas is still around. (He was working as the tech director of OMA for a while).

So much is synergy, it's hard to say what is "best" in isolation.  For what it's worth, running all tubes, the system is dead quiet, even though the Duos are extremely efficient and reveal all kinds of nasties if the inter-component grounding is wanky or the power grid is having a bad day. 

@samzx12 

Turnaround was less than a week for both.

Whart thank you for the detailed response.  A fellow audiophile had a Steelhead and didn't care for it whatsoever.  He ended up with a BAT but not sure of the model. He also had Audiopax and Duo's. His system sounds phenomenal.  His room is treated professionally which I'm sure helps greatly plus his analog system is 1st rate. 

I purchased the Modwright from TMR so I'll have a return policy if not satisfied but my gut tells me it will be a notch or two above the Chinook.