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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
1,473 posts
 
FYI the virus is spreading.....! :)

Still really liking this cart and ~50 hrs now and seems to have stabilized

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/audio-technica-art9-mc-cartridge-the-real-deal.634160/
jollytinker
213 posts
 
update... 

I've finally hit 100 hours on the ART9.  No major news - no "oohs and aahs" as others have mentioned, and no big changes to the sound in the last 30 hours or so. That said, the cartridge is extremely enjoyable, and I have no desire to take it out and put something else in.  I've played around with a couple of other cartridges in the meantime - a Denon 103 and an Azden YMP50 - but it's always a relief to come back to the ART9. It just gets out of the way of the music. I know it's an illusion, but that sensation is more or less the aim of my whole system, and with that in mind the ART9 feels right at home.  

Speaking of phono stages, I'm using a Doshi Alaap 2.1 that's just now broken in. Works beautifully with the ART9.  the Doshi has an expansive, 3D quality to it. The spaciousness of the ART9 mates well with it so the two of them create a natural, believable sound. The Doshi can be very revealing of any faults in the front end but the ART9 gives up nothing under the bright lights. For those looking for more reasonably priced phono stages, I also had good results with an Audion Premier MM phono stage paired with an Auditorium 23 standard transformer. The Audion is a good bargain used and lets you play around with head amps and transformers if that's your cup of tea.  

Any caveats? Maybe the ART9 is a bit careful, a bit too conservative, and missing the extra halo of realism that I hear in the Zyx. I'm just working from memory there, so I'll put a big parentheses around that statement until I have time to compare the two. I'm waiting on a Mint LP protractor at the moment, so hopefully I can get everything working at its best before I do any comparisons. till then the Zyx is on vacation in the gadget drawer.  

@oregonpapa thanks for the tip on claude williamson - hadn't heard of him before but I'll give a listen. 
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
jollytinker ...

Glad you're enjoying the ART-9. 

Claude Williamson was the pianist for Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars back in the 50's.  I spent many nights with a friend on school nights at the Lighthouse. The owner let us sit and listen as long as we were spending money.  We drank coffee after coffee --- at twenty-five cent per cup. It was expensive for us at the time because that was the time in the country before inflation got so bad. Gasoline was twenty-five cents per gallon ... and we were drinking coffee at two bits a cup.

When it comes to West Coast Jazz its hard to beat this combination:

Howard Rumsey - Bass

Claude Williamson - Piano

Conti Candoli - Trumpet

Bob Cooper - Tenor sax.  (Bob Cooper was married to June Christy)

Bud Shank - Alto sax.

Frank Rosolino - Trombone

Howard Rumsey - Drums

Check these albums out ... Most of them are in the collection here. 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xhoward%20rumse...
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
It would be nice to read some comments from people who tested ART9 against some serious cartridges, not comparing AT with common Denon 103 or Ortofon 2M (even $150 vintage MM cartridges sounds much better than those carts). 

Anyone can post a picture of the ART9 stylus to check how did they mounted the tip on the cantilever? It is probably glued ??? I wonder why nowadays designers use this method instead of the old method (see below)?

If you will take a look at top quality vintage Audio-Technica AT-ML series from the 80s you will see that there is no glue and it's the state of the art techniques to put the tip on Beryllium cantilever (restricted for use nowadays, but probably better than boron). Same techniques has been used on top of the live JVC Victor, look here. On JVC the diamond tip goes through the hollow pipe boron cantilever. Same with the ADC Astrion sapphire cantilever here. Also the same method used by Technics, look here. I took those pics on my macro lens. 
pani
1,219 posts
 
@jollytinker I agree that the ZYX carts especially Airy3 and above have a special 3D halo effect which is quite special. I dont find it studio neutral though. It will be interesting when you go back and forth between the ART-9 and ZYX. Please do post your opinions.

@chakster I totally agree with you that comparing ART-9 with entry level carts is not very exciting to read. I am hoping there will be people who would compare it against the $2k-$5k carts and come up with a serious comment. I have done it and I have mentioned it here couple of times already. I really wonder why this cart does not have any professional reviews yet! Is it because reviewers already know it will upset the big names which is not favourable for their magazines ?
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