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Pani ... New ART-9 up and running ...

The Cartridge arrived and I took it down to Studio City to Acoustic Image to have Eliot Midwood set it up properly. Eliot is the bomb when it comes to setting up the Well Tempered turn tables correctly.

http://www.acousticimage.com/

So, last night I had Mr. Golden Ears over to get his assessment as well. For a brand new cartridge that had zero hours on it ... all I can say is WOW! This is one naturally musical cartridge that doesn't break the bank. Its everything I liked about the OC9-mk III, but it goes far beyond the OC-9 in every respect.

In a previous post, I talked about the many mono records I own and how good the OC-9 was with the monos. Well, the ART-9 is on steroids. Just amazing on mono recordings.

At under $1100.00 from LP Tunes, its a bargain. The ART-9 surpasses all cartridges I've had in the system before. That would include Dynavectors, Benz, Grado Signatures and a Lyra Clavis that I dearly loved. In fact, its more musically correct than the Clavis. The Clavis was the champ at reproducing the piano correctly ... the ART-9 is equally as good in this area.

Sound stage, depth of image, left to right all there. Highs ... crystalline. Mids ... female and male voices are dead on. Transparency ... see through. Dynamics ... Wow! Low noise floor ... black. Mono records ... who needs stereo?

Your assessment that the ART-9 doesn't draw attention to itself is dead on. You just don't think about the cartridge at all. Not what its doing, or what its not doing ... its just beautiful music filling the room.

Thanks again Pani for the recommendation. I'll keep posting here as the cartridge continues to break in.
128x128oregonpapa
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Avanti1960 1-2-2017
I have the loading at 100 ohms.... the dynamics are not as good as i thought they would be though compared to my dynavector 20X2L.
I would try a much higher value than 100 ohms. The need for heavy resistive loading is driven primarily by the sensitivity of the particular phono stage to radio frequencies, that can be introduced as a result of the resonant peak in frequency response that occurs at RF with LOMCs due to the interaction of cartridge inductance and load capacitance (load capacitance referring to the sum of the capacitances of the phono cable and tonearm wiring, and the input capacitance of the particular phono stage).

Several experts, including Keith Herron and Lyra cartridge designer Jonathan Carr, have stated that loading a LOMC with a lower resistance value than necessary can compromise dynamics. I’m running my ART9 with a Herron VTPH-2 phono stage using its "infinite loading" provision (which presents the cartridge with a load resistance value that is MUCH higher than even 47K), which draws essentially zero current from the cartridge, and just responds to the voltage it is putting out. Dynamics have been great!

Frank (Oregonpapa) has found 100 ohms to provide great results, but I note that his phono stage (the ARC PH-8) has a specified 3 db bandwidth of 400 kHz, which I believe to be exceptionally wide for a phono stage. The result very conceivably being that in the absence of that heavy load the phono stage and/or components further downstream may be exposed to greater amounts of energy in the RF region than would usually be the case. So depending on what phono stage you are using his results stand a good chance of not being applicable to your system.

Regards,
-- Al


avanti1960
1,484 posts
 
@pani thanks for confirming my suspicions. the edgy sound seems to be going away after another solid day of spinning records. it seems to be sounding much better all around and this is inspiring confidence.
i am using a lehmann black cube se ii on the 56db gain setting.
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@jollytinker thanks for the tip, i had no idea you could tighten the slotted nuts.
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@sbank thank you.
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@almarg i tried setting the resistance of my stage (lehmann black cube se ii) at 1Kohm initially but the treble was exceedingly bright. I can double back and see how it sounds now. I also have the option of adding my own resistors for values between 100 ohm and 1Kohm.

can the RF issue you are referring to be a source of hum? I notice a slight hum when standing over the speakers. ground wire is firmly connected as well as all cables.   I have never noticed a hum with any other cart among various LOMCs and MMs.  
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Avanti, no the RF issue I referred to would have no relation to a hum problem.  Not sure what to suggest in that regard, given that you haven't had that issue with other LOMCs.  FWIW I had no such problem.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al

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oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
Al ... 

Thanks for your continued technical advise and opinions. I feel compelled to say that you are very much appreciated and a valued asset here. s

Reporting on equipment and tweaks that work and sharing the good news about same with like-minded fellow hobbyists is a pleasure for me.

Thanks to Pani, there's a bunch of us who are now enjoying the ART-9 and keeping a whole lotta cash in our pockets in the process. 
j_damon
388 posts
 
I've been following this thread, pulled the trigger and ordered one. I am so disappointed, the cantilever is off to the left wen viewing upside down, I saw another poster mentioned the same thing, is this common? I have a VPI superscoutmaster and an ARC ph 6, is this a good match? (the cart is going back, don't know if I should try another) 
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