Головки звукоснимателя — Benz Micro EBONY

Benz Micro builds the Ebony moving-coil cartridge in Switzerland; the company was started by Ernst Benz in the 1980s and run by designer Albert Lukaschek since 1994. It belongs to the company's upper range of cross-coil generator designs and is built on the Ruby platform with further changes to the coils and body. The cartridge is assembled entirely by hand at the Benz Micro facility in Switzerland, and output is limited because the aged ebony used for the body is scarce. It comes in three standard output versions, the Ebony L, M and H.

Key specs that matter

The Ebony L delivers 0.26 mV, the Ebony M 0.8 mV and the Ebony H 2.5 mV. Internal resistance is 5 ohm for the M and 90 ohm for the H, and the recommended loading is above 50 ohm for the L, above 35 ohm for the M and above 1,000 ohm for the H. All three versions share a Micro Ridge stylus with a 5 x 120 micron profile, a compliance of 14 cu, a tracking force range of 1.6 to 1.9 g and a body mass of 10.7 g. The North American list price was USD 3,700.

Engineering and use context

Aged Mozambique ebony is machined and vented to form the body, which is not left as a solid block. On the L version the nude line-contact diamond, a Fritz Geiger S type, is mirror polished and bonded to a solid boron cantilever 5.5 mm long. Coils sit on a square ruby jewel plate, the platform taken over from the Ruby model, and the low-output versions use symmetrical coil windings intended to improve phase coherence. Benz Micro describes the H as its top high-output moving-coil cartridge, and the TR as the final form of Lukaschek's design aimed at step-up transformers. Offering one mechanical design in several electrical outputs means the choice of version depends mainly on the phono stage already in the system, not on the tonearm.

Pairing

The 10.7 g mass and moderate 14 cu compliance point to medium-mass tonearms. The L suits phono stages with plenty of moving-coil gain, and its low output also works with a step-up device. The M lands between the two and can be used with medium-gain moving-coil inputs. The H is designed for moving-magnet phono stages, low-gain valve phono stages and high-end AV systems, and its high recommended load makes the standard 47 kohm input suitable. For owners who prefer a transformer, Benz Micro also makes an Ebony TR with 0.1 mV output and 1 ohm internal resistance, loaded above 5 ohm.

Alternatives

Among other Benz Micro moving-coil cartridges, the Gullwing SLR uses a brass body in place of wood.