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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
avanti1960
1,484 posts
 
thanks gents.  I have the loading at 100 ohms, i'll increase VTF from 1.8 to 2g.  i did play some mono records, a jefferson airplane and a bob dylan and they sounded great.  i do have some jazz mono as well that i will play later.
listening more last night the tonality is very nice- jazz horns have a nice sound with a good presence and slight bite.  
the dynamics are not as good as i thought they would be though compared to my dynavector 20X2L.  
the biggest issue is an occasional slight edginess / distortion to some of the high frequencies.  is this what you all refer to as artifacts?  if they go away i believe i will be happy with the cart.    
pani
1,219 posts
 
Avanti1960, yes initially you will hear some brightness and edginess with this cart. I also heard it and so did my friends. It will all go away in about 100-150 hours. And dynamics are splendid, just wait for it. What phonostage do you use ?
pani
1,219 posts
 
Sbank, my suggestion on lowering Vtf is not a concept. I just figured it out as I used the ART-9. Initially I liked it closer to the 2 grams mark, probably because the high frequencies artifacts was compensated by some heaviness in the lows. As the cart broke in I preferred 1.8 grams where the sound was very balanced. After 200 hours when things really settled down 1.76 grams sounded most delicate and nuanced without the loss in impact and presence. I suggested this to a couple of my friends who bought the ART-9 and they too concurred with this observation.

My system at the time ART-9 was new:
Nouvelle Verdier platine TT
SME M2-12 tonearm
Naim Superline/Supercap phonostage
Lamm LL2 preamp
Wavac EC-300B amplifier
Tannoy Turnberry SE speakers
Auditorium 23 cables
sebrof's avatar
sebrof
835 posts
 
All I can say is you guys better be right about the ART-9. Based completely on your raves in this thread I ordered one, shipped today from LP Gear. Of course I never have bought anything because of some dudes on the internet, but hey what the heck.

I have an Ortofon Rondo MC cart and was looking at MC carts in the $2,000 range to replace it (this was $929). If the Art-9 works out I'll owe y'all a beer ;)
pani
1,219 posts
 
sebrof, just for your info I had the Rondo Red for some time too. Recently I compared the ART-9 to the Cadenza Blue, I would say the only area where the Blue and ART-9 were close was their relative neutrality to tone and timbre. In all other areas the Blue was a step below the ART-9. 
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