Benz Micro LP S
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
Okay… yea I saw it was substantially heavier. Is that the only difference between the two? Anyhow.. -can you say this is a big recommanded cartridge.. yes..???
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Very good for my taste of music, i play plenty of records that where not perfectly recorded and mastered.
And amazing durability, i must have 3000 hours on mine.Great - Sounds attractive… actually I have never heard or looked at Benz… but now you all here has got my attention, thank youVery good for my taste of music, i play plenty of records that where not perfectly recorded and mastered.
!I've been lucky enough to have procured the Benz LP & Gullwing SLR and can confirm the comment from Birdwatcher. The Gullwing, at least in my opinion and experience, is preferable over the LP. Greater musicality, attack and a more 'complete' reproduction of the musical spectrum. In comparison the LP presented an artefact of treble and bottom end disconnection. Like two different languages being spoken at once. I owned 29 cartridges at one time and the Benz LP was unique in its ability to do such. If it's your cup of tea, go for it! I'm happy in my Koetsu/EMT/Air Tight wheelhouse.
Probably a good choice for the music you listen too, you seem to love those jap cartridges !
Be Quiet…, can you please point out more, why you like Koetsu/EMT/Air Tight (which one from these manufacturers?) over the big Benz‘s? What do these better/different for you?
I think about a big Benz for about 20 years, but everytime another cartridge came in my house. Actually I again tend to buy a new one, maybe Benz, but maybe Phasemation 2000, MSL Signature Platinum or a Koetsu stone body.
I think about a big Benz for about 20 years, but everytime another cartridge came in my house. Actually I again tend to buy a new one, maybe Benz, but maybe Phasemation 2000, MSL Signature Platinum or a Koetsu stone body.
I don't know... I was just going to type a post while I have Gidon Kremer playing Bach and for the life of me, I just can't. This Zebrawood Ruby tracing thru the grooves so perfectly keeps pulling my attention to the music where I can't finish typing a thought. It took me over 10 minutes just to begin writing this, lol.
Now this record side is done. The sound is so beautiful.... and Kremer always commands my undivided attention to listen to his interpretations of whatever he is playing. Now I can't remember what it was that I wanted to write
Oh well.... enjoy your cartridges, arms, tables, phono stages, speakers...... but most of all, immerse yourself in the music and enjoy what the composer and musicians have achieved here for you
Now onto side 2...
Best wishes to everyone,
Don
Now this record side is done. The sound is so beautiful.... and Kremer always commands my undivided attention to listen to his interpretations of whatever he is playing. Now I can't remember what it was that I wanted to write
Oh well.... enjoy your cartridges, arms, tables, phono stages, speakers...... but most of all, immerse yourself in the music and enjoy what the composer and musicians have achieved here for you
Now onto side 2...
Best wishes to everyone,
Don
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IMHO Benz Micro cartridges are great both in terms of sound and build quality. I use two of them mounted on different tonearms.Very good for my taste of music, i play plenty of records that where not perfectly recorded and mastered.
As I mentioned, I been able to listen to the SLR Gullwing & LP at length in my system. The Gullwing had greater attack, more musicality, but most importantly, it was coherent and cohesive. Something that the LP was not. The bottom end and top end detail of the LP were of opposing characters. Hence my comment of 'two different languages being spoken at once'. Not particularly a virtue I look for in a cartridge.
I have no hesitation to recommend a Gullwing for those interested in hearing a Benz.
No one of the products I've heard from the three manufacturers I mentioned (Koetsu/EMT/Air Tight) have displayed the type character I mentioned of the LP. Making them preferable, to myself anyway, for what its worth.
There's a euro in there too...Probably a good choice for the music you listen too, you seem to love those jap cartridges !
It is really hard to quantify your experience, not knowing your system or room detail, you should list your equipment in your "about" information. You could be sitting in a nearfield position in tiny room making judgments on bass behavior.
Did you own the LPS or a LP, you keep writing LP ? You could have had a bad sample, it happens !Hmm. That’s not how I would describe my LP. Not at all. Perhaps yours has a defect?
Not at all.
Arm matched the compliance of the cart.
I have had multiple owners/users make the same claims also. I’m not alone.
The LP-S arrived today, and is now sitting at the end of a Series IV (which balanced it with about a centimeter of weight adjustment to spare). It's playing its first record for me, the Opus 3 Test Record 1. Going back and forth between tracks played with it and with the Kontrapunkt C is showing me a pleasant surprise: I'm hearing vocal details I hadn't heard with the Ortofon. I know Therese Juel's track very well indeed, and this is an incremental improvement. It looks like table 2 will be purely MC (LP-S, Kontapunkt C, Cadenza Mono), and when Lee at Acoustand makes me two more pods I'll have the great moving iron shootout on Table 1. That competition will be between a London Decca Reference, Nagaoka MP-500, Soundsmith Sussurro MkII ES, and Grado Statement 3. I know the Decca has earned its place already, and if there's no surprises, the MP-500 has, as well. The battle for the last place is going to be interesting.
I’d be curious to know if you have any thoughts between the LP-S (not yet broken in, perhaps) and the Sussurro MkII ES.
Certainly. The LP-s was bought used with 30 hours on it, and I've added the same as much again already. It's on a table with three tonearms, which were Cadenza Mono, Kontrapunkt C and Sussurro MkII ES. The Kontrapunkt C was beating out the Sussurro, and when the LP-S came along it even added details and nuances to vocals when compared to the Kontrapunkt C. The Sussurro, used by itself, is an excellent cartridge (and that's me using it with a Quad 24p, set to an MC input and only 10? impedance. I have also used it with a MF NuVista Vinyl and used all sorts of loadings and not found it as pleasant, which may be a criticism of the NuVista Vinyl rather than anything else). It's got a strong bass and good rhythm, but lacks the details of the MC cartridges. If I only played rock, it could do it all by itself. The LP-S has extra detail, and I don't just mean an etched high end, but details in the mid-range, along with excellent bass, not boomy but controlled. It's my third BM cartridge and I don't really feel it deserves the overly warm epithet usually thrown at BM cartridges. In truth, it is a real competitor to the London Decca Reference, though I don't find it bests it. The Reference is still more natural and lifelike.
It has made me wonder if I'm heading along the right track with my two-table-six-tonearm goal. I have five MI cartridges and I know which one is best. I have four MC cartridges and I know which one is best. I have one dedicated mono MC cartridge, so it is an automatic winner in its class. I like the Acoustand tonearm pods and can't really say they perform less well than the built in tonearms, but I know that, theoretically, they must be less than ideal. I'm very happy with my SME Model 10 tables, and I don't feel I should upgrade them. I do think my SME tonearms are better than my Rega tonearms (big surprise!) Now I'm wondering if that goal is wrong, and I'd be better off finding a third SME Model 10, adding another Series V or IV tonearm, and simply enjoying the best MI, MC and Mono cartridge, one per table? It boils down to whether I want to take a Dionysian (enjoy everything!) or an Apollonian (enjoy the best!) approach. Using the pods lets me spin out the life of my best cartridges and delay the rebuilds. So that's important, and I still feel I haven't yet experienced the Grado Statement 3 at a level that explains all the wonderful comments I hear from others. Though to look at it another way, is it worth buying a third table just to make a dedicated home for a mono cartridge? That makes it harder to justify, though I could use one of my SME M10 tonearms or a 309 and make it a station for easy cartridge swaps - and I already have four headshells to fit those arms. I guess I'll let the order for two more Acoustand pods stand, as they are paid for and I'm waiting to get to the top of Lee's to-do list, and just keep an eye out for a used SME Model 10 at a reasonable price. In the meantime I shall try to take the attitude that this is a nice problem to have, and not torment myself.
PS Please, DO NOT tell me to do both. I don't think I can cope with three tables and seven tonearms!
It has made me wonder if I'm heading along the right track with my two-table-six-tonearm goal. I have five MI cartridges and I know which one is best. I have four MC cartridges and I know which one is best. I have one dedicated mono MC cartridge, so it is an automatic winner in its class. I like the Acoustand tonearm pods and can't really say they perform less well than the built in tonearms, but I know that, theoretically, they must be less than ideal. I'm very happy with my SME Model 10 tables, and I don't feel I should upgrade them. I do think my SME tonearms are better than my Rega tonearms (big surprise!) Now I'm wondering if that goal is wrong, and I'd be better off finding a third SME Model 10, adding another Series V or IV tonearm, and simply enjoying the best MI, MC and Mono cartridge, one per table? It boils down to whether I want to take a Dionysian (enjoy everything!) or an Apollonian (enjoy the best!) approach. Using the pods lets me spin out the life of my best cartridges and delay the rebuilds. So that's important, and I still feel I haven't yet experienced the Grado Statement 3 at a level that explains all the wonderful comments I hear from others. Though to look at it another way, is it worth buying a third table just to make a dedicated home for a mono cartridge? That makes it harder to justify, though I could use one of my SME M10 tonearms or a 309 and make it a station for easy cartridge swaps - and I already have four headshells to fit those arms. I guess I'll let the order for two more Acoustand pods stand, as they are paid for and I'm waiting to get to the top of Lee's to-do list, and just keep an eye out for a used SME Model 10 at a reasonable price. In the meantime I shall try to take the attitude that this is a nice problem to have, and not torment myself.
PS Please, DO NOT tell me to do both. I don't think I can cope with three tables and seven tonearms!
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