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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
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
avanti ...

Glad you're cartridge finally blossomed.   I've stopped setting up cartridges on my own. I use a person who knows the Well Tempered Turntable inside and out. Its difficult to set up any cartridge on that table, let alone the ART-9.  Over the past couple of years, my hands have been the resident of "The Brothers" ... Arthur and Mister I. Tiss, plus they cramp up easily. Wish I could do the setup myself, but I don't relish the thought of destroying a thousand dollar cartridge because of my own limitations. 

j_damon ...

Nice going. You're going to be very happy, I'm sure.

With the ART-9 playing through the ARC PH-8 most records sound best with the ARC REF-3 preamp gain set at 66 ... give or take a few notches. So, that's plenty of gain with still retaining total background silence. 
 
Al ...

I just went to the LP Gear site to see if they had a read-out or a chart on the ART-9 where we could see the specs for the top end. I didn't find the chart, but noticed that LP Gear has reduced the price of the ART-9 down to $929.00 turning it into a real bargain. In fact, a steal.

Frank

j_damon
388 posts
 
Thanks Frank and everyone else for all the advice. I was a bit let down with the misaligned cart, now I am looking forward to delivery again.
pani
1,219 posts
 
Wow! I have been missing from the party :-).

@j_damon Sorry to hear that your first attempt to ART-9 has not been smooth. I agree with what others have said, it must be an isolated case. Generally Japanese have a very good track record when it comes to reliability. Please let us know when you get the replacement unit.

@sbank I will post my system soon. I am now arriving at a system that will stay long enough to be posted in the first place :D

@sebrof Please do share your views on your new ART-9 when you have more hours on it. Its only after the honeymoon period that you know if it was a great decision :)

@avanti1960 Great to hear that your ART-9 is doing well, at least it has improved to a level that now you are not in a hurry to replace it with 2m Black and compare. I know how it feels when a new unit is not performing as good as your old unit and you get desperate to really believe what you are hearing. I wanted you to hold on because I also did that. Please keep writing.

@jollytinker How is your ART-9 doing ? Has the compression in highs reduced ? I saw that you also have a ZYX. I have heard a few ZYX and I can relate to your enthusiasm to ZYX sound. They have a spectacular presentation, huge, airy and very detailed. I would like to get a ZYX 4D some day. However, to my ears the ART-9 is better than the ZYX Airy and the lower models. ART-9 sounds more studio neutral IMO.



oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
^^^ I think the rising top end of most high end moving coil cartridges give s false sense of "detail" or "transparency" when in actuality, its more of a slight edgy brightness and  not natural.

I believe that when reproducing music in our homes with all of our fancy and expensive gear, we should try to emulate a live performance as much as possible. I attend concerts a little less frequently than I used to, but I never recall a time at any concert thinking ... "boy, those strings sound "detailed," or ... oh geeze, what a black background." 

I believe that one's system has arrived when audiophile and music loving friends come over for a listening session and say ... "Man, those GUYS sound great," instead of, "Hey, your system sounds great."   Big difference. 

So, for last nights listening pleasure I invited Kenny Burrell and Stanley Turrentine into the room along with Gabor Szabo.  Both recording are on fine Japanese CD transfers. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kenny-Burrell-Midnight-Blue-Japan-CD-cp32-5229-MEGA-RARE-/201748350397?hash=...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SZABO-SORCERER-CD-NEW-/401166703602?hash=item5d67661bf2:g:-oAAAOSwRGlXpz1s

Again ... these guys sounded great. 

Frank
pani
1,219 posts
 
@oregonpapa Thanks for creating this thread and keeping it alive with valuable posts. Regarding the rising top end on MC carts, I experienced it drastically with Lyra and Van Den Hul carts and even though they were very dynamic and lively I could not live with them. I wonder if these artefacts could have been taken care of if one would use a SUT instead of an active stage. After all MC carts were built to be used with SUTs in the first place. Just thinking aloud since I am considering going the SUT route for a change.

@almarg I would be grateful to get some advice from you on choosing the right SUT for the ART-9. I am considering Jensen JT-347-AXT with 1:12 step-up, here it is:
http://www.jensen-transformers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/jt-347-axt-112.pdf

I was having a discussion with Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note and he emphasized that the primary impedance of the SUT is a huge factor in matching a MC cart to the SUT. He suggested that I look at SUTs with primary impedance in the range of 30 - 40 ohms. I guess primary impedance of the SUT is not the same as the reflected impedance that the SUT presents to the MC cart. The reflected impedance as we know is the (input impedance of the MM stage i.e 47k)/(square of turns ratio). So what do you think about Peter's suggestion around primary impedance of the SUT ?
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