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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
oregon
809 posts
 

I use a Benz LPS and it's a wonderful cart. 

 Although LP sales continue to grow slowly, it seems that analog (high end tables, arms and carts) sales have slowed with the popularity of streaming. Especially if you'r not a dinosaur.

tatyana69
269 posts
 

I have had two Benz Lp cartridges and still have one as they are SO good. I really can't see the point of this speculation.

Blatant rumour mongering

A pointless and silly post

 

j-wall's avatar
j-wall
346 posts
 

I must be going backwards. Started with a Hana, now a Dynavector, next a Benz LPs

dogberry
573 posts
 

I have enjoyed a Ruby 3, and now have a line on a half-price 30-hour LP-s. It will cost me, all the same, about ten times the price of a re-tip on the Ruby 3. How shall I proceed?

normb's avatar
normb
145 posts
 

I bought a BM Glider SL from KRON a few years back - got COVID and completely forgot about the cartridge. I paid roughly $600 at the time and thinking there might be a possibility of counterfeiting I contacted the factory via email and was informed that no, there are no counterfeit BM cartridges.

What a surprise when I was asking about low output MC cartridges about a year ago (considering Hana, Ortofon, a couple others I don’t recall) and someone mentioned the BM line… a little light went off and I dug in my box of stuff and VOILA!

Yeah, I had covid for over a month, some brain fog a lot longer.

 

I am VERY happy with this cartridge’s performance, have clocked easily 300+ hours on it this past 8 months alone - I’d been using an Ortofon 2M Black prior to this and it’s like night and day for sound reproduction. I borrow my son’s ears from time to time for equipment change evaluations (he’s a multi-instrument musician and no tinnitus like his old man).

Something that made a big change for me recently was changing from an electric phono stage (Musical Surroundings Nova III) to a Quadratic Audio MC-1 SUT, another night-day performance changer. 

Still loving the BM Glider sound reproduction but… I have an Ortofon Cadenza Black sitting here I just paid off which I’ve “auditioned” and like VERY much but, I’m thinking I’ll just keep playing the BM for now until I wear out the stylus in another thousand hours or so then send it out for rebuild.

If I replace the cartridge NOW, I’ll have to start listening to all my records all over again… not an entirely BAD thought, and I AM retired so…

 

For the price point, I can’t recommend Benz Micro highly enough.

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