Cartridges — Benz Micro EBONY TR

Also known as the Ebony TR S Class, this is the transformer version of the Swiss Benz Micro Ebony moving-coil cartridge, sold beside the L, M and H output variants that share its wooden body. Benz Micro presents the Ebony line as designer Albert Lukaschek's ultimate realization of his cross-coil generator concept, and the TR carries that concept to its lowest-output form. Each TR is assembled by hand in the company's Swiss workshop, and output stays small because aged ebony is hard to source. The model is now discontinued - it was listed in North America at USD 3,700.

Key specs that matter

Output is 0.1 mV at 3.54 cm/sec and internal impedance is just 1 ohm, with the maker recommending a load above 5 ohm. The Micro Ridge stylus has a 5 x 120 micron profile. Compliance is 14 cu and tracking force runs from 1.6 to 1.9 g. Weight is 10.7 g, with a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz and channel separation above 35 dB.

Engineering and use context

The TR generator uses a single layer coil of 50 micron copper wire wound on a pure iron cross, with the smallest practical amount of wire, and this is how internal resistance is kept so low. The body is a hollow, vented case of aged Mozambique ebony. A solid boron rod 0.28 mm in diameter forms the cantilever, a material picked for its stiffness and elasticity to help compliance and tracking. Benz Micro winds all of its coils in-house, which lets the company tailor each version to one type of phono stage instead of building a single universal cartridge. Set against the Ebony L at 0.26 mV and 3.5 ohm, the TR has both lower output and far lower impedance, which is the whole point of the design.

Pairing

The TR is meant to feed a step-up transformer, not a direct moving-coil input. Benz Micro asks for a transformer that presents a load between 5 and 50 ohm and adds at least 22 dB of gain ahead of a moving-magnet stage. Transformers built into Shindo preamplifiers, the separate Shindo step-up and the Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 are named as suitable partners. Benz Micro puts the suitable tonearm effective mass between 8 and 18 g.

Alternatives

Buyers who want a Benz Micro moving-coil cartridge less tied to a transformer can look at the LP-S, which gives 0.34 mV from a 38 ohm generator.