Help me decide on phono preamp

The Manley Chinook is what I use in my main system.  I haven't done an A/B comparison of the Chinook and the Nova Phonomena, so can't speak to a direct comparison between the two, but the best way I can describe the Chinook is that it is more "musical", there's more information and it draws you into the music in a way that the Phonomena doesn't.  The Phonomena is very neutral and quiet, but there's just "more" with the Chinook. 

I'm using the Chinook in an all tube system with a Music Hall MMF-7.1 turntable with a Van Den Hul MC Two cartridge. 

I've used Jolida JD-9 tubed phono stages in systems with solid state amps and they are complementary. 

Many people say that using a combination of SS amps and tubed preamps offer some of the best of both, the control and accuracy of solid state with some of the added "color" you get from tubes. 

I have a few Marantz components and they are all very "polite", detailed, but a little laid back.  I don't know what your piece sounds like, but if it is typical of the Marantz "house" sound, the Chinook might be a little more dynamic and colorful than the phono pre in the Marantz.  I have a hard time imagining that the included phono stage in the Marantz would be better than the Chinook.

The Jolida JD9 is a nice phono stage but when I replaced it with the Chinook it was a pretty dramatic improvement.

Read some more on the Chinook. Many threads on tube rolling. Leads me to a couple of questions:

What is the typical lifespan of tubes? How do you know when they are going bad?

A number of tube threads on phono preamps relate to “noisy” tubes.  Is this an issue with noise emanating from the tube itself or noise in the signal and heard through the speakers?

Is there an issue with the stock Chinook tubes?  There are a lot of threads about swapping tubes to improve sound/ performance. Is this something I should plan on having to do eventually, ie stick tubes are Chevys not Porsches? 

My only tube experience is with my guitar amps where the mfg uses very basic tubes but there is meaningful  sonic changes with aftermarket tubes. However these are usually fairly inexpensive ( $60 total cost) compared to some tubes recommended for Chinook ($500-$800). I would expect the choice by Manley (6922’s) would have optimized their design performance goals.

Thoughts? 

Preamp tubes last for years. I prefer tubes to solid state in the phono preamp and never had any noise problems. As a matter of fact my tube phono preamp is dead quiet!

Well I managed to find a good deal on a gently used Chinook and picked it up this morning. I plan to try it out later this week at my beach house where I have a second system.  I will also try to compare it to both the internal phono stage in my Marantz as well as a Nova Phonomena.  I hope I will hear a meaningful improvement in SQ that justifies the price.