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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
 
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) 
tablejockey
3,888 posts
 
J_damon-
I feel your disappointment, especially after shelling out so much cash.

Send a pic to the vendor, have them email you a return label for a new one.

The hassle is worth the performance you will get out of the ART 9.
Mine has been keeping me happy on my  VPI Classic for a 1 1/2 years.  

Good luck


sebrof's avatar
sebrof
835 posts
 
j_damon - I don't know how common it is to have a bent canti, but I just received my Art-9 today and it is perfectly straight. Not sure what cart you're coming from but to me it's worth the price already, even before break-in.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
J_Damon, based on the many reports we’ve seen here from purchasers of the ART-9 it would seem that while there have been a few isolated cases of misoriented cantilevers the odds are heavily in your favor that a replacement would not have that problem.

Regarding compatibility with the associated equipment you mentioned, I have no knowledge of the technical characteristics of the arm on the VPI Super Scoutmaster. But I would point out that the relevant technical specs on your ARC PH-6 are identical to those of Oregonpapa’s PH-8. And as you’ve most likely seen his results with the cartridge have been fabulous. The only conceivable technical issue I can envision is that in the very unlikely situation where the combination of preamp gain, power amp gain, and speaker sensitivity is unusually low the 58 db of gain provided by the PH-6 (and PH-8) might on some recordings result in having to turn the volume control on the preamp so high that you would risk running out of range. Or if preamp gain and power amp sensitivity are both very low (meaning that power amp sensitivity is numerically high) you might not be able to turn the volume control high enough to drive the amp to full power, should you ever want to do so. But those issues would only arise in system configurations that are unusual, and if you’ve already used some other LOMC in the system you would almost certainly have noticed any such issue already.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

P.S: Frank (Oregonpapa), thanks very much for the nice words in your last post.

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