Manley Chinook SE MK2

@pindac I do not have experience with really high end cartridges other than my Dynavector 20x2L however, the Blue is definitely a step or 2 forward. I've also heard some very expensive Koetsu and Lyra carts and the Blue is very similar in sonics. I'm not saying at those levels but close in my opinion. 

Giving Descriptions is not the easiest way to get info across.

I make it my business to have a sat in front of experience where ever possible.

It don't take much time to decide if it worth hanging around due to being impressed along with being a sociable guest and express being courteous.    

@lewm my Chinook, which I believe was the mk1, was really silent. Not noisy at all.  Anyone that had a noisy Chinook, in my opinion, needs to investigate tubes. Unless they consider ear to speaker silence a must. The Chinook was the first tubed phono I used and I would highly recommend it coming in to the $2k club of phonos. 

Tubes are one cause of "noise", but we don’t know what sort of noise was experienced with the noisy Chinook. One reason the Chinook (and the Steelhead) are both exceptionally quiet for "tube" phono stages is that they are not purely tube phono stages, as I have mentioned at least twice. The gain stage is a hybrid cascode where a transistor receives the signal and drives a high transconductance tube (one half of a 6922) via its cathode. This makes for high signal to noise ratio, very high gain, very low input capacitance, and wide bandwidth. The only downside is a highish output impedance, which is obviated by adding a cathode follower downstream. That’s the basic circuit of the Steelhead so far as I can determine without having a schematic. Now, to be clear, I am not saying that the Chinook is superior to the Modwright on other grounds; I have never heard the Modwright, and I am sure it too is very good. You pay your money and you take your choice, as the saying goes. I’m only saying that the Chinook is unlikely to be rejected on account of inherent noise.

I chose the Steelhead for its capacity to handle more than one tonearm input and both MM and MC cartridges (actually two MCs and one MM), and for its adjustable input parameters. I think I made mine better by upgrading the output coupling capacitors and the phono load resistors.

@samzx12 

Updates?