Thanks all. Shifting to the "tail-up" angle a bit on my Graham did noticeably improve the sound in all aspects. This shift may also account for the suspension having settled with age and perhaps the point of contact with the stylus is now a "fresh spot" all contributing to the improvement. Well my wife isn't going to see much of me this evening. Gosh I love analog!
Any of you experiment with optimal VTA for Benz Micro Cartridges
I've heard that some cartridges vary as to what VTA is actually optimal for them contrary to what the perfectly horizontal/vertical positioning of the cartridge body might suggest. I have my Benz Micro mounted such that the front plane of the wooden body is perfectly vertical as I assume that was the design intent for the correct VTA. Is that true?
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Reviving an old thread in case anyone reads this and wants more input... I've owned a Benz Micro Wood SL for over two years. I have always set VTA with the top of the cartridge level to the playing surface. Recently, I listened to some vinyl rips of a Lyra Delos that I briefly owned (bought one while the Woody was being serviced). The Wood sounded a bit dull when comparing the same recordings. So I slowly raised the tail on my VPI Classic tower an listened at each interval. It wasn't until several (many) turns later that the highs returned to where I remembered them being when the cart was young. So, the suspension definitely settled in over time and it caused the highs to be truncated. Now, the tail is raised maybe 1-2 degrees above level and it sounds fantastic (again). I am amazed that I had to go that high. But I wish I would have done this a year or so ago. I would recommend for anyone to experiment. Go way above what you think is level and have a listen. Then go further up still and check again. You might be surprised. |
Well I recently bought my first really high end turntable - Transrotor Fat Bob S - and it came with a Benz Micro Ebony L cartridge. I don't know what the hell I'm doing in terms of turntables and I'm utterly mystified by how anyone knows about what "tail" their cartridge prefers. Looks like I'll have to bookmark this thread and do some learnin'. |
@prof Nice turntable. This discussion was about the slope of the cartridge, back to front, with comments that the BM sound better with with the back (tail) of the cartridge slightly higher than the front so the comment "tail up". I hope you have plenty of gain for your Benz Micro Ebony L. The output is very low. |
@jperry Thanks. I barely can remember the difference between a MC and a MM cartridge (in fact, if you asked me right how...I couldn't tell you before having to look it up again). But I've had a much more turntable-experienced pal advising me so I think I'm ok. Some info I found on my Benz L cartridge: The Ebony L (.26mV at 3.54cm/sec, 5ohm coil impedance) optimizes with high gain phono stages (>60dB) with input impedance of less than 300 ohms or when using step-up transformers. And this is the phono stage I bought: http://www.myaudioelectronics.com/eng/itemdetails.asp?id=P000001 It seems (as far as I understand it) to have the flexibility to accommodate the Benz cartridge. |
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