Benz Micro Ace .......Are the reviewers right ?

[Etnier]

Any Micro Ace aficionados care to comment on how it would mate with my system (below)?

[Dinohyus Hollandi]

I ran mine on a Planar 3 / RB300 / GT Reference / Rega white belt through a Project Tube Box (the old, boxy type) at 1kOhm. The Ace likes high impedance inputs, so if the Quasar can be configured higher than the recommended value of your particular Ace model then it'll probably work fine.

Edit: http://www.vxm.com/BenzAce_1.htm

[Popey]

I've just come across this thread. I'm about to have my Linn LP12 serviced and as part of the service, I have asked for a Micro Ace to be fitted. It's going in an Ittok LVIII Mk 1 arm.

It will be plugged into an Exposure XI pre-amplifier. The input loading is 470 ohms/ 6800pf...

I can't wait..., Especially as the turntable is having a Lingo power supply fitted too

[Dinohyus Hollandi]

Sounds good. Probably sounds good too!
My Ace S Medium now does its thang on a Transrotor Leonardo. Initial impressions: in control, authoritative.

[Keso77]

The Heed Quasar and the Ace is LOVELY together. I don't want to comment on the rb303 since i've never played around with it.

[Etnier]

Thanks, folks.

[Popey]

Well, I have my newly upgraded turntable back and the Benz Micro Ace L is a lovely cartridge.
I am absolutely delighted with it. The great thing is, it will sound even better once it's run in.

[Blue Shadow]

We had a Benz Ace SM in the system for evaluation and it did not win. It sounded great with some music and not so with other types. Mostly jazz and rock. With a McCormack DNA-1 driving Magneplanar MG-IIIas and an appropriate tonearm for the cartridge the consensus was that it was a very good cartridge but it just did not reproduce some types of music as well as others.

Cartridges used for comparison were
Ortofon MC-20-Magnepan Unitrac-I
Audio Technica AT-15Sa-Magnepan Unitrac I
Koetsu Black-Fidelity Research FR-64s
Adcom XC-LT-Magnepan (same as the recently popular NOS SAE 1000 LT that been all over the bay)
Dynavector 23R-Magnepan Unitrac I
Ace SM-Sansui SR-838 IIRC, not as good as the Magnepan but proper mass for the cartridge.

Preamplification was an SP-9 II and Crown DL-2 phono stage (MC for the low output cartridges, line level output to SP-9) or the Musical Fidelity AC-1 prepreamp to phono input. High output cartridges went into the SP-9 phono stage, the AT and Adcom.

Dyna-very good overall
Adcom-best value when an NOS version is available for $200 (and two of the folks listening to these cartridges did buy one of the SAE cartridges)
Koetsu-midrange strength, bass not as well defined and needing different loading to make the high end right.
AT-We all know of the high end peak of these cartridge. Not good with ribbon tweeters that can reproduce all of that. Needs loading adjustments. More analytical than the others which was determined to be a bit of harshness.
Ortofon-Very good overall, lead the Benz owner to get one and then the MC-30.
MC-30 big improvement over the MC-20 in clarity. Worked magically in an FR-64s. This is a sweet clean sounding cartridge.

The new owner of the Benz is very happy. The former owner of the Benz has tapping feet all the time now instead of just part time.

[satanfriendly]

I get the impression just about all of the Benz owners are happy. I've been down the Ortofon MC range road and can't say they left me gasping and thinking 'now this is great'. But then everyone is listening to different musical aspects. I find the Ortofon sound hard to get in to.

I can't say I quite agree with the Benz being particular to a certain musical genre as it behaves well all the way across the board. At least on a modified 774 on my 'bastardised' RD110. I'm sure the others feel much the same.

Like I have said before the draw backs are there, it is not what I would term 'organic' and the choice of the Ortofon's would be very much dictated by how you like your music presented. The Benz suits my ears and how I like the end product.

Interesting your words on the 23R as I am about to go down this road and hoping 'big things' happen. It's been some 30 years since I dabbled in the precious stone cantilevers of Dynavector, but they are still in my mind for good reasons.

Overall though I am giving my backing to the ACE, not simply because I have one, but because it impresses me no end and I have/had quite a selection of similar priced MC's recently to draw personal comparisons against.

[Blue Shadow]

The Benz owner dropped by so I found out more about his impressions. He said it was lacking in frequency extremes compared to the MC-20 that he was borrowing when he bought the ACE. This lack of frequency extremes lead the group to agree the cartridge was very nice but not what the owner was looking for. This lead him to believe that the cartridge was better for jazz than rock.

Remember, the Benz owner was a headphone guy until he heard my system and he has damn near replicated it. He bought a TT from me in April 2011 and now owns 453 albums, having brought over his latest purchase this evening.

He mentioned that the Dynavector is the best cartridge he has heard...having only heard the ones listed above and other lesser cartridges we have, AT 440, V-15II/SAS, Grace F9E, B&O MMC, Grado and such.

This is one area we enjoy experimenting in, the change of cartridge, to hear the differences. Having 2 Magnepan Unitracs and 4 headshells makes this fairly easy. Having an additionl turntable using a standard headshell allows others to bring headshells over as well as making it easy for me not having to mount everything on the Unitrac. Fortunately the SR-838 and SL-1600 II are pretty good, but again they are not Magnepan arms so not fully revealing but they do allow the sound of the cartridge to be determined.

I had the ACE for a few days. I used it. I had the MC-30 for a few days and I found myself drawn to playing vinyl. I think that speaks to my preference of the cartridges I have used recently. I have moved the Dynavector over to the save this cartridge since everyone liked that one.

[Etnier]

Why were so many out-of-production cartridges in this shootout?

[Blue Shadow]

These are cartridges I collected during my days in the business. They are good enough that I don't need to jump on new stuff.
The Adcom, AT and Ortofon were bought new, the 23R came in the purchase of the TD-160 Super/Musical Fidelity AC-1/Magnepan Unitrac (in 1986) and the Koetsu came with the purchase of the KD-600/Fidelity Research a few years ago.

Would I like new, sure, will it be better, not for less than a grand. These cartridges all together were cheap but I have taken care of them and limited the wear. This latter issue, the wear, is to be determined as the local shop now has a microscope to check them out.

The Benz owner tried a newer cartridge and preferred the old MC-20 and got one. Then an MC-30 showed up locally and he grabbed that.

I guess it is value for the money not going for all newer equipment.

Anyone wanting a newer high end cartridge auditioned send it to me. There are a few folks here that would like to hear it.

[Etnier]

Thanks for that...