Benz Micro Ruby-Z MC Cartridge, Zebra wood, Line-contact diamond, Boron Cantilever, like new condition

From my private collection, this cartridge that I have treasured for a long time.

Benz Micro Ruby-Z Low Output MC Moving Coil Cartridge.

This is a like new condition, sounds sweet, musical, works beautifully cartridge, excellent detail, stylus still sharp, cantilever and suspension is also in excellent condition. Used under 100 hours only.

Benz cartridges are well known for combining excellent detail with a warm, sweetly musical sound, and the $4800 Ruby Z upholds that tradition. Housed in a handsome Zebrawood body, the Ruby’s name is more than a pretty tag; it refers to the ruby square plate at the core of the coil winding, which has the advantages of being both lightweight (hence, ultra-fast and responsive) and non-ferrous (so magnetic interference is rendered moot). Benz also uses this ruby-plate generator in its other top models, the Gullwing, LP, and LP-S.

Weighing in at just 10.6 grams, the Ruby Z was designed to be compatible with a wide range of tonearms, from the best of today’s offerings to what the company tactfully describes as “older models lacking the energy control, bearing designs, or counter-weight range” of contemporary arms.

Spinning Yarlung Records’ outstanding 45rpm pressing of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D Minor for solo violin revealed the Ruby Z’s inherent musicality. If you don’t know this LP, I urge you to grab a copy. It’s about as natural a rendition of a violin captured in real space as you’re going to hear, and Petteri Iivonen’s playing is first rate—sensitive and nuanced far beyond what one would expect from a 20-year-old (which he was in 2008, the date of this recording).

The Ruby Z did a lovely job recreating the ambience of the Alfred Newman Hall in L.A., where the recording was made, and its reproduction of the bloom of air around the violin, the timbre of Iivonen’s 1767 Gagliano fiddle, the texture of wood and strings—like a fine Tequila, warm and semi-sweet but with the right balance of toothy edge—the harmonic overlay, the micro-dynamics, the dancing vibrancy of Bach’s masterwork were wholly immersive.

listening to the new edition of the Karajan Mahler Symphony No 5, a recording I purchased on release in 1975, I was bowled over by the huge improvement this reissue offers over that now almost 50-year-old edition. Rather than the cool, compressed, two-dimensional sound that caused me to shelve this LP for ages, the Original Source release sounds enveloping and warm, with lush string tone and dynamics like we’ve never heard before from this disc—explosive brass and percussion and a natural sense of orchestral weight. Note, as well, there is far greater instrumental detail in tone and texture. During the famous Adagietto, massed strings sound sweet and silky with rosin, the French horns warm, mellow, and rich. The entire orchestra held together very nicely during massively complex passages, as the Ruby Z tracked the grooves with no-sweat aplomb.

Finally, to an LP I play with some frequency, Evgeny Kissin’s deeply felt reading of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 32, where the Ruby Z rendered a fine sense of the venue’s ambience from this live recording, with an excellent “bloom” of air surrounding the piano. There was also fine tonal coherence across the spectrum.

The 4th generation of Benz Micro's Ruby series, this model has undergone years of refinement. Using Benz Micro's signature square ruby plate generator, the Ruby Z is able to extract minute textural details from the record groove due to the lightweight, non-ferrous nature of the ruby core. The Zebra wood body completes what is perhaps the most beautiful looking and sounding of

Specifications:

Body: Vented machined Zebra wood
Cantilever: Solid boron rod: 0.28 mm diameter
Stylus: Nude line-contact diamond, mirror polished
Stylus tip radius: 3 x 60 µm
Vertical tracking angle (VTA): 20 degrees
Coil: Square ruby jewel plate
Weight: 10.7 grams
Output voltage: 0.34 mV at 3.54 cm/s
Internal impedance: 38 ohms
Frequency response: 10 – 50,000 Hz ± 1 dB
Channel balance: Better than 0.5 dB
Channel separation: Better than 35 dB at 1 kHz
Tracking ability at 315 Hz at a tracking force of 2 grams: 80 µm
Dynamic compliance: 15 µm/MN
Recommended loading: 500 – 47,000 ohms
Recommended tracking force: 1.8 – 2.2 grams
Optimum tracking force: 1.8 – 2.0 grams
Break-in period: 40 hours

This cartridge comes with original wood box, Specifications, Measuring paper, Bubble level, Tools, and screws.

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Thanks!

Wayne
Wayne's Audio