For years Benz-Micro has been known worldwide to produce some of the most desirable and musical phono cartridges in the world. One cartridge stood above all the rest for representing the ultimate in Benz technology and innovation...the Ruby. After many years of production, the original Ruby was updated with the Series 2 designation reflecting even more refinement and innovation. Now, from the creative minds of Benz designer Albert Lukaschek, US Distributor Garth Leerer from Musical Surroundings, and Portuguese Benz Distributor Luis Pires, comes the next evolution of the Ruby phono cartridge, the Ebony LP. Pires, who was born in Africa and was trained as a Mechanical Engineer, is instrumental in sourcing the special aged Ebony wood from Mozambique that forms the cartridge's outer shell. This rare, extremely dense tonewood, takes over 100 years to grow and mature and is extremely scarce (and is traditionally used to make guitar fretboards, clarinets, etc.)
Building on the already acclaimed and awesome sounding Ruby 2 platform, the team made a few key refinements and innovations. First, and most obvious, is the new aged Ebony body which is not only visually stunning, but also influences the cartridge's sonic character. Ebony is an extremely dense and rich tonewood, when combined with the Ruby 2 platform the result is a warm, lush sound with more controlled bass and a richer, rounder mid-bass response versus the Ruby 2. Not content to stop there, the team used new low output, symmetrical coil windings for the Ebony LP. The original Ruby used higher output windings that were asymmetrical and while the Ruby 2 reduced coil windings, it still kept them in an asymmetrical configuration. By changing to a symmetrical coil winding pattern, the Ebony LP offers improved clarity and increased phase coherence when compared to the Ruby and Ruby 2. As a result of the reduction in coil windings, the Ebony LP is also able to offer faster dynamic and transient response than the Ruby 2. Unlike the Ruby 2, the Ebony LP has a lower output (0.28mV). Finally, the bar for part matching, calibration and attention to detail is raised even higher for the Ebony LP. Of particular interest is the extra care and time spent with suspension fine tuning before the cartridge leaves the factory.
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