If you want to spend a little and get a whole lot more send your cartridge to Soundsmith and have a sapphire cantilever installed. It will bring your cartridge to a whole new level. For 299 you will have a cartridge that beats much more expensive cartridges. Do it now and thank me later. Meanwhile, while this is in the shop spin a Denon DL 103 loaded at 200 ohms. When that wears out send that to Soundsmith for the same and watch your jaw drop to the floor.
Benz Micro Ace Sh hours
Hey all,
Sometime in 2014 I bought from a reputable audiophile and A'goner a beautiful VPI HW-19 Mk 4 with a Sumiko FT-3 tone arm and a Benz Micro Ace SH (2.5mV) MC cartridge. Back then, the cartridge had several hundred hours' worth of playing. Since then I'v eput at least another 300-400 hours on it. So figure a total of 700 hours, minimum. It's a beautiful sounding cartridge, full of sweet mids and a powerful presence.
Lately I've noticed more high-end distortion on select tracks, especially vocals and piano. Might my cartridge be getting long in the tooth? I've adjusted for VTF and VTA with little result. I'm not averse to getting a new cartridge in the $1000-$1500 range new/used, but what should I be looking for in the shelf life of this Benz cartridge?
Associated equipment:
VPI HW-19 Mk 4 tt
Sumiko FT-3 tonearm
Hegel 160 integrated
Jolida JD9 Mk 2 phono
Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers
Acoustic Zen interconnects throughout
Decware Styx speaker cables
Sometime in 2014 I bought from a reputable audiophile and A'goner a beautiful VPI HW-19 Mk 4 with a Sumiko FT-3 tone arm and a Benz Micro Ace SH (2.5mV) MC cartridge. Back then, the cartridge had several hundred hours' worth of playing. Since then I'v eput at least another 300-400 hours on it. So figure a total of 700 hours, minimum. It's a beautiful sounding cartridge, full of sweet mids and a powerful presence.
Lately I've noticed more high-end distortion on select tracks, especially vocals and piano. Might my cartridge be getting long in the tooth? I've adjusted for VTF and VTA with little result. I'm not averse to getting a new cartridge in the $1000-$1500 range new/used, but what should I be looking for in the shelf life of this Benz cartridge?
Associated equipment:
VPI HW-19 Mk 4 tt
Sumiko FT-3 tonearm
Hegel 160 integrated
Jolida JD9 Mk 2 phono
Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers
Acoustic Zen interconnects throughout
Decware Styx speaker cables