Benz LP Ebony, and S-Class Ebony

Instead of retipping my LP, Benz and my dealer offered to upgrade it to an S-Class. They basically sent me a brand new cartridge. It has somewhat more mass than the LP but still mates seamlessly with the TriPlanar.

It's still breaking in but so far seems more linear, not leaner but imparting body and texture more uniformly across the frequency spectrum, resulting in more dynamics.

It's a little more detailed but even more musical.

A retipped LP might easily do the same but I'm not sending this one back.

Stringreen, the S looks just like the LP to my eye. I made a minor VTA adjustment quickly by ear but will wait until after breakin for final calibration. I do not use damping with these cartridges. I had to pull one of the counterweights way back to balance the S so I will also reconfigure the TriPlanar with heavier ones to keep them closer to the bearing after breakin.

Thom, I naturally could not agree with you more. The LP has been seriously underestimated as a world class contender: good sounds good, bad sounds bad, yet it's all utterly engaging, involving, captivating.

Not sure how they do that, but the S already seems to do it a bit more.

It's the musical instrument of pickups IMNSHO.