Benz Micro

There is no doubt that, over the years, BENZ MICRO has earned its reputation as a leader among the world’s top manufacturers of high-end phono cartridges. Swiss precision and craftsmanship go hand in hand with the cutting-edge technologies used to create these unique designs. Of the two basic cartridge systems, moving-coil (MC) cartridges are the most highly regarded among connoisseurs. For this reason, the company has decided to produce exclusively MC cartridges. To ensure compatibility with a wide range of phono preamplifiers, versions with various output levels—ranging from 0.26 to 2.5 mV—are produced. With the exception of the three least expensive models, all cartridges are hand-assembled at the company’s headquarters. The components that make up the finished systems are also manufactured on-site. This even applies to the styluses and the cross-wound coils, which are wound by hand using Olympus microscopes. The styluses are mounted on supports made from a boron rod with a diameter of just 0.28 mm. This material ensures excellent rigidity and virtually perfect control over the stylus’s movement. In the top-tier models, the housing is made from a type of wood called Bruyere, which possesses excellent anti-resonance properties. The latest cartridge, called the LP—currently BENZ MICRO’s top-of-the-line model—features an ebony body. Each handcrafted cartridge has its own unique serial number and individual technical specifications, including a printed frequency response curve.

The MC Silver and MC Gold models are manufactured under strict quality control at a Japanese assembly plant that has specialized in this type of production for many years. This approach was driven by the desire to create a cartridge that is accessible to every enthusiast of high-end audio. The only way to reduce costs was to find an assembly plant capable of handling the production of a system designed by the Swiss. The Japanese proved to be the best partners, and thanks to this collaboration, cartridges that set a new standard in a market dominated by mass-market manufacturers are now available.