Any of you experiment with optimal VTA for Benz Micro Cartridges

@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.

@prof 

Enjoy your new analog set up. Your phono stage looks like it has enough gain and plenty of settings for load.

Best Regards,

Jim Perry

Good to have that confirmed, Jim.

BTW, what is the point of a manufacturer making such a low output cartridge?   It seems to me in theory come with the liabilities of higher noise in the system, not to mention needing a phono stage with enough gain.

I seem to remember once reading that low output MC cartridges had at least in theory some advantage for sound quality, but I'm not sure what it is.

@prof regarding why low output vs higher in a MC? Well one advantage of a lower output rather than higher is that getting more output entails more coil turns and hence more mass to move. 

There's lots of discussion on this point in threads such as this
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/high-output-mc-cartridges-vs-low-output-any-difference-in-soun...

The phono stage you've selected looks as if it should work well. Have you also invested in a suitable set of mounting tools and templates? My recommendation would be to go with a setup like this (which is a simplified version of the Acoustical Systems alignment tool I own)
https://www.musicdirect.com/analog-accessories/pro-ject-align-it-cartridge-alignment-gauge

Thanks for the link folkfreak.

I'm trying not to be sucked into too much tweakery as far as turntables go, though of course I want to have good performance.  I intend to have someone from a local high end store set up the turntable to ensure I'm off on the right foot.  (It was purportedly already set up by the dealer of the person I bought it from, though I have no idea if anything might have drifted due to the turntable being transported in my car).

But...if there are in fact tools that make some DIY adjustments easy enough I may grab one, such as the project align-it tool.