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A Review (of sorts) of my Benz Micro Ebony L

Posted by artemus (A) on April 4, 2009 at 14:46:29

I now have about 65 hrs on the cartridge and so I feel comfortable that it is properly broken in. Let me first say that one surprise is that I only have 65 hrs on it considering the amount of time I have had it (appx 8 mos) I have slowed somewhat on playing, but not immensely.

The cart is mounted on the Sig JMW-9 arm of the VPI ScoutMaster. I have a K&K tranny and Wright PP100 phono preamp. The load is sat at 0 43ohms via resistors placed in a Y connector which is at the input of the tranny. The rest of the system can be seen if you look at my profile

First impressions were that the Ebony L didn't sound much different than the Dyna20XL which it replaced except for the humongous sound stage. It was somewhat a letdown. The 20xl is a great cart, but I was expecting more. And more is what I got. But it was a matter of time
I cannot say there was a point in time where the cart came alive. It was a gradual betterment each time I listened to it.
As the cartridge broke in there were 2 things noticeable. First, the sound stage is huge. Second the bass is almost subsonic at times. The bass line is articulate in that it is very clean and clear. Not sterile or overdone but real. It is easy to hear all the separate bass notes rather than a conglomeration of bass notes which lack clarity in lesser carts. My room is big with a high ceiling, so increases in the quality of bass is noticeable. Plus being a drummer, I tend to notice bass more than others do.
The midrange is also very good. The tone of all the instruments seems right. There is a crispness to the notes especially plucked strings and piano. The highs are nice and there is no tendency towards brightness which is something that I fight against. I think the battle of brightness is due to the room rather than the electronics. It has been a long fault battle in which the Ebony L has made great advances in overcoming
Tracking is no problem with the Ebony L either. I have noticed no tendency towards inner groove distortion. However, if there is one thing that the Dyna 20xl does better it is in the surface noise area. This is not to say that the Ebony L is bad. To date the 20XL is the best cart I’ve had when it comes to hiding surface noise. So the comparison may be one sided. But don’t let the SN issue stop you from getting the Ebony L.It is a fantastic cartridge in that it does everything right. Had I not had a 20xl, I would never have noticed the SN issue.
IMO, maybe one of the best attributes of any piece of equipment is how it treats your entire music collection. I’ve had some equipment where good recordings sounded fantastic while lesser recordings sounded bad with some just plainly unlistenable. Some will tell you that it is a sign of an accurate piece of equipment. That may be true to some extent. However the Ebony L is not that way. Maybe it is less accurate than others. But I can now say that I don’t have any vinyl that is unlistenable. Sure, some sound better than others. But as a whole I can now say that just about all of my albums sound good and some are just fantastic. I like it that way.
If you want a cart that will be forgiving of the dogs you have in your collection, I’d highly recommend the Benz Micro Ebony L. And if the dogs are very few or even non existent, I’d still recommend the Ebony L without reservation. It just does things right.

Strengths = Huge Sound Stage - Deep clear articulate bass. Excellent midrange, tames the highs which can lead to harshness
Weaknesses= Surface Noise. However I think this cart is actually in line with the norm
Given the choice to be an Elephant or a Jackass, I chose Elephant. It seemed the logical choice to me. They're both wild senseless animals but one represents less sense than the other.

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