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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
jollytinker
213 posts
 
I have 55 hrs on the cart now with no major changes since the 40 hr mark. I was about to write a post here saying that the ART9 failed the piano test as @lewm put it about the Zyx. I had picked up a really clean Japanese pressing of Keith Jarrett's Koln concert, something I hadn't heard since I was a kid, but the piano sounded kind of funky. The percussive dynamics were there and it sounded like a real instrument in a real space, but the timbre was all wrong. The mid range and bass were sucked out and lifeless, as if it wasn't a very good piano.

I did some googling before I posted and I'm glad I did. Turns out - as I'm sure many here know already - that Jarrett requested a Bosendorfer concert grand that evening and got a baby grand practice piano instead, due to an error by the promoter. He said it sounded like a 'modified electric harpsichord'. His adjustment to that piano apparently accounts for the freshness of his playing that night, at least in part. So the ART9 not only did piano well, but it captured the idiosyncrasies of that instrument so effectively that I blamed it on the cartridge. ART9 1, jollytinker 0.
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
^^^ Nice report Jollytinker .... 

I've had Keith Jarrett's Koln concert in the collection a few times. The album has really good sound and the vinyl is usually silent too. BUT, Jarrett's humming and moaning throughout the recording is way too intrusive and distracting for me. His playing is great of course, but as a friend said one evening ... "if only they would stuff a rag in his mouth!"

I was wondering ... have you, or anyone else posting to this thread ever picked up on a pianist named Claude Williamson?  I've loved his playing since I was a kid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJl3VtXxJA&list=PLxsLOAF2UJILZdcPLyBInhQDhvx58xF15
avanti1960
1,496 posts
 
Everyone who has experience with this cartridge reports how "great" it sounds, how "dynamic" and that it portrays musical performances as "real" and "live".  Also mentioning comparisons and that it sounds as good or better than cartridges costing up to 5X as much.  
While listening to it for the past few weeks I agree that it sounds "great" but was struggling to equate what I was hearing to "why" it sounds so great.  I believe I have found the answer.  
This cartridge is extremely clean sounding.   No excessive edges, noises, or strident harshness.  The effects while listening would seem subtle, kind of like drinking purified water- you notice nothing out of the ordinary.  But try a drink of some bad tap or well water and you immediately notice the difference and it reflects in the quality of the purified water.  
I swapped in my well broken in Ortofon 2M black for a bit and was literally shocked at how noisy and edgy it sounded in comparison to the ART9.  I used to love the sound of that cartridge but what once was extended treble and air instantly became excessive noise and edginess.  I literally could not tolerate it knowing how clean the ART9 sounds.  
While the tonality and transparency of the ART9 may or may not be fully developed after ~ 20 hrs and seems a little soft, less than my ideal, i could live with this as a small price to pay for the clean, pure sound that it produces.  I haven't heard vinyl sound any cleaner.   
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
Avanti ...

In addition to why the ART-9 doesn't call attention to itself, I think  you've also hit on the reason mono records sound so good when played using the ART-9.  It just seems to extract more information from deep inside those mono grooves. When it comes to mono playback, the AT OC-9 MKIII was great, but the the ART-9 is on steroids. 

As things progress with the system, I keep wondering how much more information we can extract from vinyl grooves and digital bytes.  For someone so technically ignorant as myself ... (I'm still amazed that airplanes can fly without propellers), I continue to shake my head in amazement. 

Kudos to the engineers and tinkerers who make this possible. 
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@avanti1960

I swapped in my well broken in Ortofon 2M black for a bit and was literally shocked at how noisy and edgy it sounded in comparison to the ART9.

You are comparing apples and oranges. Try to test AT’s own top of the line MM design from the golden era (AT-ML180 or AT-ML170) against your new ART9 and then you can make a decision what it the best (MM or MC).

The ortofon 2m is not in the same caregory ar all, personally i think it’s a rip-off compared to top vintage mm carts available nos for half of the price of ortofon 2m.
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