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Curious Why Benz Micro Slid Into Obscurity

I remember there was a time when Benz Micro was one of the more prominent cartridge manufacturers out there. The Ace and Glider sure were popular cartridges. Then there was a hiatus in production. The company recognition seems to have never recovered. There are still new cartridges for sale on the various sites. But none of ther upper tier cartridges seem to gather the same recognition or praise that the earlier cartridges did. 

Is perception of them changed that much, or is it the fact that the brand has aged out? Are the designs that dated to where people no longer believe quality and value are there?

neonknight
narrowfellow
18 posts
 

Great thread, I'm learning all about my Benz Gliders! I've got one of the originals, .9mv output with no letter/number on it, and an H2 which is, I think 2.5mv output. I'm currently using the .9mv OG Glider with a Graham Slee Gram Amp 2SE and a Lounge Copla headamp. It sounds really nice but I feel like I'm not hearing all this cartridge can do. Would the right SUT do, or is the Graham Amp too much of a limitation? And if a SUT would do, which one for this cart? The SUT math just... well it hurts my brain to be honest. Rest of my system is a rewired Rega RB300, Linn LP12, Schiit Aegir, Zu DW6.

lewm
12,858 posts
 

It’s impossible to help with your question about using a SUT with a Benz Glider, because there are so many versions of the Glider. Can you be more specific? What is the voltage output and what is the internal resistance or impedance? The original Glider was a high output MC. I found it underwhelming.

narrowfellow
18 posts
 

Sorry -- should have included the internal impedance as well. Output voltage is .9mv and Internal Impedance is 41 ohms. This is from the spec sheet included with the cartridge.

lewm
12,858 posts
 

So if you used a 1:10 SUT, that would work because you would still be OK as far as the ratio of output R to input R. (If the MM phono stage provides a 47K ohm resistance at its input, a 1:10 SUT would result in the cartridge seeing a 470 ohm load, where the load is equal to the MM load resistance (47K) divided by the turns ratio squared, which is in this case, 100. 47,000/100 = 470 ohms, which is a bit more than 10X the 41 ohm internal resistance of the cartridge. However, the phono stage would then have to handle the nominal 9mV output of the cartridge plus SUT. Actually, most MM stages can do that, but beware of overloading the phono stage, because 9mV is correct for a specific stylus velocity. On complex music or during crescendos, the output of the cartridge might far exceed 9mV, and the stage might overload on peaks.

narrowfellow
18 posts
 

Spec sheet indicates velocity as .9mv at 3.54cm/s. In any case, this does help, math aside :) Now, if I wanted to hit the recommended loading of 1000 to 47Kohms, would a 4x sut be better (if I'm understanding, it would hit about 3Kohm load)

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