SoundSmith-Benz trade-in program

Why trade great cartridges for average ???

Benz is superior to SoundSmith!

Benz has there own great trade in program!

Because Benz is out of business, at least that is the rumor I heard from my dealer. Also if you check needle doctor there are no more price posted for Benz cartridges just a message "call for price".

I am in no way an authority on this matter but it would be interesting to hear if someone could confirm this rumor.

I am not sure if Benz is out of business or not, but no new stock is coming in and dealers have no idea when to expect inventory.

That's just not true. Benz is alive and well and I have just received new stock from them.

Neilnz, did you receive any of their higher end carts?

A wood SL and an LPS have come in recently.

Dear Nick_sr: +++++ " at least that is the rumor I heard from my dealer... " +++++

rumours are only that: just rumours. IMHO propagate that kind of rumor ( I know with out any bad intention. ) could makes a lot of damage to all of us members of the audio comunity. I think always is best to be sure about something like that before posted.

Of course that I respect you and everyone is free to talk about everything. It's just an opinion.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Neilnz, it sounds like your a dealer. Are you in the US or other location? This may be a problem with high demand and limited availabilty affecting product being sent to the US and the only report we get is from the US dealers and US importer. Perhaps a ski trip to Switzerland is in order.

Dear Raul,

My intention was not to propagate the rumour, that is why clearly stated that this is only a rumour. My intention was to validate it, hence why i asked if anyone in the forum, with knowledge, could chime in.

It seems from the posts so far that Benz is likely in business but there appear to be supply issues. But this has not been substantiated anymore than the rumor which I heard.

This said, the reason I heard this rumor in the first place was because I was inquiring about the Benz exchange program as I fear that my Benz glider will be nearing its useful life.

The reason for the post in this specific thread, is that it seemed coincidental that sound smith would announce a Benz trade in program after my dealer told me that we're closing.

For the record I would much prefer to have a new Benz, than to have a Soundsmith retip. But if the new Benz is not possible then SS seems like a good option.

@Davt, my dealer is in Canada, probably makes the supply issues worse. I have been to quite a few nice hifi and record shops in Zurich, it is great place to shop, that is if the shops are open (closed on Sunday, reduced hours Saturday, closed at lunch, closed in the evenings, even closed when the sign on the door says they should be open!)

It seems Salvatore has the same info on his site. See the end of the review of the Benz cartridge.
http://www.high-endaudio.com/RECENT.html#Feb

A few months ago Soundsmith retipped my Benz LP and to my ears it sounds just like it did when it was new. I would not hesitate to do this again. Soundsmith's retipping is a genuine bargain especially compared to Benz's trade-in credit on a new LP-S. To be clear, I used Peter's "retip only" service so the cart still has the original cantilever.