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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
 
Speaking of mono ... I have tons of mono jazz and vocal recordings from the 50s. I was really impressed by how well the AT-OC9 MK III played mono records. It just seemed to get a lot more information out of those mono grooves than other cartridges I've had over the years. The cartridge is available from LP Tunes for $499. While the OC-9 excels on mono recordings, the ART-9 is even better. At over twice the price of the OC-9, it should be better. If I were running two tonearms and wanted a mono cartridge that sounded great, I'd go with the OC-9 MKIII and call it a day.

Want to hear a killer mono record? Are you a Brubeck/Paul Desmond fan? Here you go:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAVE-BRUBECK-JAZZ-IMPRESSIONS-OF-USA-LP-VG-VG-White-Label-PROMO-6-Eye-/361359501484?hash=item5422b468ac
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Am i alone with ART-2000 cartridge relesed 15 years ago as limited edition reference model of Audio-Technica ? Or anyone can share the experience (compared to latest ATs) , maybe ?
fleib
1,124 posts
 
Oregonpapa,
If you have tons of mono records, you might want to consider a mono cart. A stereo cart, no matter how good, can't compete with a true mono cart. Your ART9 or OC9 might have better resolution than a particular mono cart, but it also has differences between channels that at best, get blended rather than eliminated.

That difference includes phase, crosstalk, noise, antiskate, etc, are virtually eliminated with a mono cart. The absence of output for vertical movement does away with a lot of noise on mono records. It also eliminates the affects of pinch effect - vertical tip displacement in-groove.
Besides the usual mono carts, I've read that any Soundsmith cart can be ordered in mono. I bought the inexpensive MONO3 to check this out for myself. It doesn't have the resolution of my better stereo carts, but it does have superior presentation on mono.
Regards,
bill_k
909 posts
 
Fleib - With all due respect I would beg to differ with you on one point. I don't have much experience with mono carts, but I don't think that skating forces are eliminated (or even virtually so) with a mono cartridge. Skating forces are inherent due to the physics of a pivoted tonearm tracking the groove, and I don't believe that they would be impacted by the signal being mono instead of stereo. Please correct me if I'm wrong by providing some supporting documentation. Thanks in advance for your time.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
How do you guys dealing with mono tip radious for different pressing if your cartridge is MC?

- 1mil. tip for mono records with a 1mil groove pressed pre-1967 (or
thereabouts, the date is not exact)

- and 0.7mil tip for post-1967 mono pressings with the smaller 0.7mil groove, including modern pressings.

Here you can read about it in recent review on Miyajima mono:
http://www.miyajima-lab.com/MiyajimaZeroHFWJul15.pdf
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