I decided to try all the combinations of phono cartridges and phono pre-amps at my disposal. In the process I have learned a few things.

The Grado Red is great in the bass and midrange. Listening to Terrence Trent D'arby I could hear the sound of his lips parting as he began to sing but the upper frequencies of the instruments were missing. Bass and vocals excellent. highs very subdued.

Phono stage of the Onkyo A-9555 very similar in sound to the Rotel RQ 970BX. Neither very open in the high frequencies but good solid bass.

Benz Gold was originally mounted using the included hardware. You know the type the round nuts that are hard to tighten. I remember that after trying to align the cartridge and tighten the screws the cartridge would move. After listening to other carts I wondedred if some of the peaks were from a loosely mounted cartridge.

Since purchasing the Cambridge Audio 640P phono pre-amp I had always used it with the subsonic filter. Realizing that the other two do not have the subsonic filter and I did not have excess woofer movement from mismatched cartridge, tonearm I decided to listen without the sub filter. The pre-amp was much more balanced without the filter in use. The peakiness I heard might have had something to do with the filter in use.

Currently the Benz is back in place and the CA 640P is in use to amplify the Benz's output. The sound is much improved with the cartridge rigidly mounted with new hardware and the CA 640P not using the subsonic filter. This combo is a detailed balanced combo that will serve until a new phono pre-amp is purchased. The Benz is the best cartridge of the group and the CA 640P is the better of the available pre-amps.

"I know you send your regards
to the Queen of the Night"

Sing it Maggie Bell