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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
sebrof's avatar
sebrof
835 posts
 
I have only about 10 hrs. on the Art-9 after 2 weeks (travel, work...life just gets in the way sometimes). I have the loading on my Pass Labs Ono @ 1,000R and have not played with it. I haven't played with VTF either, it is set at factory recommended. 
The Art-9 is replacing an Ortofon Rondo Red (~$800 MSRP a few years ago for reference).

At this point it sounds like I would expect a good $1,000 cartridge to sound.
Right away I hear more detail, and specifically the soundstage is much wider. I can only attribute that to channel separation. Instruments are more distinctly placed in the soundstage as well. There is a slight glare/grain??? in the higher frequencies, but compared to the Rondo the sound is much more open and pleasant. 

I am guessing at this point that the glare/grain?? will relax a bit after I get some more hours on it, and that it can be addressed further with VTF and preamp loading but that remains to be seen. I won't play around with it until I get closer to 50 hours on it.

In any case I like it and will surely keep it. 
avanti1960
1,474 posts
 
@jollytinker 

thanks for the info.   I am playing lots of records and may make the decision to put the ART9 back on and will take VTF into more critical consideration.  

@sebrof 

can you comment on the tone of the cartridge compared to a neutral digital source?  
pani
1,219 posts
 
@audiolabyrinth As far as I have seen and used, the ART-9 should work well with most phonostages which has adequate gain of around 60db and loading option of 100-120 ohms. Which phonostage do you use ?
pani
1,219 posts
 
@sebrof the slight glare you hear is something I also heard. It will go away by 100 hours or so.
sebrof's avatar
sebrof
835 posts
 

@Avanti - In my system I can only compare to my Rega Apollo CD player, but of course I have heard many other good digital sources.

The Art-9 is pretty much the opposite of dull/dark in my system. I bi-amp and have the ability to adjust tweeter vs. woofer/mid levels, and one of the things I have in mind as a possible tweak once I get some time on the Art-9 and begin to mess with it is to knock down the tweeters maybe just a hair. Not sure if it will be necessary, but from what I am hearing now I certainly don't think I'll need to bump the tweeters up.


I haven't heard a really good Art-9 as mine is not broken in or optimized yet so I don't have that perspective, but from what you describe you and I are hearing different things from a "new" Art-9.

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