Audio-Technica ART 7

At this point in time, I have now run the ART7 into two different phono stages. One is the Manley steelhead, which I mentioned previously on this thread. The other is the phonolinepreamp marketed by Raul and his friend in Mexico. With both of these devices I have plenty of gain and pretty much zero electronic noise. I know the noise is never actually zero, so don’t bother to remind me, thanks. My main point is that with any really good high and phono stage that produces adequate gain of at least 65 DB or maybe 60 DB is sufficient, there should be no issue with running this cartridge.

By the way, the ART7 lately found a home on my Kenwood L07D turntable using the Kenwood tone arm and a carbon fiber head shell. Running into the J&R Phonolinepreamp, this is the best sound I have ever gotten out of the ART7, into modified Sound Lab 845PXs.

I wanted to add a comment on the controversy over so-called grey-market gear sellers, namely 2juki-cartridges on eBay and based in Hong Kong. Sorry to add to this thread on this topic, but nowhere else on Audigon is it as ripe as discussed here. Excuse me for that.

I’ve read all that chakster and others have said. I do get the point that chakster was making, even though 2juki supports his sales for initial issues. I have no experience here otherwise.

Yet I will comment on manufacturer support, one of the main points chakster made. Since 1965 when I began listening to vinyl on turntables, I’ve own a lot of cartridges, in recent years more expensive ones. I don’t swap out cartridges, I hang with them until they need for the stylus to be replaced or to be retipped. At the moment, I am using an Ortofon Cadenza Black (OCB, a MC cartridge). I also own the 2M Black (MM) and the 2M Mono SE, both used on a second turntable. But in all of the years I’ve been using phono cartridges, I have never had an issue with them except for the need to replace the stylus at some point.

Last year when I had about 700 hours (I used a counter for sides played) on the OCB, I inquired of my US dealer about retipping this MC cartridge. They said, they would not do a retip and this cartridge was not retippable, but I could secure a 25% discount if I purchased a new one. So I emailed Ortofon USA in New York about that. I got the same message. Shortly thereafter I had the cartridge retipped by Expert Stylus in the UK, who sent a report telling me the stylus was "badly worn" and was past due for a retip. And all my play is on records cleaned on a VPI17 and in an USC! But that is another story.

What is my point? If an issue comes up before the cartridge needs to be retipped or the stylus replaced, the manufacturer may have a warranty but it may not be worth much. This is particularly true if you damage the cartridge on your own and its not a manufacturing issue with the cartridge. Not to pick on them, but go to Ortofon and look up warranty. You will have to search high and low to find it, the list of topics on their website does not even include a warranty link. So check out their Terms and Conditions page, written by lawyers no doubt.

"The Customer is obligated to examine the delivered goods immediately upon receipt for any defects and shall notify Ortofon of any visible defects or shortcomings immediately upon receipt, as any claims against Ortofon are otherwise forfeited."

Later in the T&C...

"The Customer shall give notice of any defect to Ortofon no later than 2 years after the date of delivery."

"The Customer shall only be entitled to claim remedy of defects in the products supplied and shall not be entitled to make any other claim for compensation, and the Customer shall not be entitled to rescind the purchase or claim a price reduction due to defects. Ortofon’s liability shall not extend to defects occurring in materials supplied by the Customer or in a design required by him, provided that the defect is not ascribable to work performed by Ortofon."

Maybe that level of support really is worth paying double (plus) the price for, to chakster’s point. Maybe you folks using other cartridges are darned happy to have that manufacturer’s warranty and its worked out for you. Everyone needs to make that determination. But if (big if) 2juki to use an example is selling a grey-market product, the original manufacturer got paid his wholesale price and its a distributor or retailer who lost the sale. Depending on who they are, they may go to bat for you should the cartridge have an issue within a few years. What is that hypothetical worth? Each buyer needs to assess that for themselves.

As far as 2juki, he gets great reviews. I have no idea if when you purchase though him you get a manufacturer’s warranty or not. I have never purchased from him. And I have no idea if he modifies the serial number on new product, as claimed by some. But he is established as supporting the product completely at least upon receipt, and that is as much as Ortofon does as written above. Honestly, that is pretty good.