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Review 1 of 3
Price Paid:
$450.00
from elusive disc Summary:
I am an amateur musician, but beyond that, a music lover (as a listener) who has survived the LP quad era, cassette and 8-track tape, reel-to-reel, and the compact disc and now ipod formats, enjoying brass, Baroque, Renaissance, Mahler, Dvporak, Shostakovich, Bruckner, Haydn - you get the picture. Through it all, while I have amasses a decent commercial CD collection over time, I recently went back to vinyl and vintage audio playback equipment (both thanks to ebay) and have NOT regretted one minute. I now listen to the CDRs that I make from my vinyl LPs more than to my regular CDs. Why? The sound is different/"better". Words tend to be clumsy to try to explain: more warmth, more vivid sound, more like a live performance, bigger soundstage, even with the occasional surface noise inherent in the LP format.
Which brings me to the Benz Ace. This cartiride creates a very low noise floor, meaning the LP music jumps out from a near-silent backdrop. This makes them sound like CDs (especially if it is an LP with quiet surfaces). The cartridge did sound very good "right out of the box", although my experience told me it would even improve with time, and it has (about 30 hours on it so far). I love the midrange detail, the solid bass, the lack of harshness, the overall "musical" presentation - I will keep this cartidge and not need to look for any other. That is the best compliment I can give any item such as this. Strengths:
At this price point, it delivers ALL the goods that I was looking for: wide soundstage, enjoyable imaging, fullness, smooth treble and midrange, strong bass, inner detail, and nice transients, all accomplished without fatiguing this listener - or providing annoying HUM or RUMBLE!!! Plus, it is beautiful to look at (I have the blue high output, mated to another great audio bargain, the Pro-Ject RM-5 turntable). As someone else said, you will smile all day long listening to your records the Benz Ace way! Weaknesses:
I have NONE to report. Similar Products Used:
I had been using a tried and true vintage MARANTZ 6300 turntable, which is an outstanding quality product - plus a wonderful Grado Platinum cartridge. The downside to this combo was a slight HUM, and the fact that the cartridge required over 90 hours to burn in (!) before it "opened up" noticeably and nicely. Once that happened, I was captivated by the sound, especially for a $395 mm cartridge.
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