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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
lancelock
1,093 posts
 
I don't have as much experience as some of you here. I now have a new SL1200GAE and about 25 hours on the ART9. I am loving this combo. Running my Parasound JC3+ at 100 Ohms. I can only compare to my last set up which includes VPI Scout 1.1 and Soundsmith Zepher. The SL1200GAE with the ART9 is in another league entirely and the ART9 has some more break-in to go.
ps68
230 posts
 
Having lived with the 9 for over a year now, I'm really wondering at what cost will a worthwhile improvement come at? I've used several Dynavectors, and do like them, XX-2 mk11 and 17d2 which I still have bought new in 1991, and it still sounds fine. Art9 is in a totally different TT though, a rebuild of a Sony TTS 8000 with SAEC 506/30. This combination with very careful set up is addictive. I recently re-wired the 506 with silk covered silver which brought more out of the art9 than before, depth, definition space and bass /hf extremes are extended but very natural, nothing is fighting for attention more than other area's, just more like the music flows better. So, how much more does the ART1000 give over the ART9? Or, a Dynavector XV-1t??

tablejockey
3,886 posts
 
"Having lived with the 9 for over a year now, I'm really wondering at what cost will a worthwhile improvement come at?"

ps68- I mentioned in another thread at some point, we should see a MKII model and perhaps there is something to fill in the considerable gap  with the 9&1000?

Following what's been done with other other models, kinda expected?
Been playing mine for 1.5 years, if a revised model came out, I would buy one.

pani
1,219 posts
 
Having lived with the 9 for over a year now, I'm really wondering at what cost will a worthwhile improvement come at?
That is the whole point. The ART9 is not the ultimate cart but it is at a level where you are surfing in the upper echelons of what is possible from an MC cart. A worthwhile improvement from here means getting the top cartridges from other serious brands like Ortofon (A90 and above), Lyra (Etna and above), Dynavector (Xv1s and above), AT ART-1000, Transfiguration Proteus etc. Even among them you may have to choose carefully. So, when you are ready to get into that ultra-fi category it would make sense to look beyond ART9



avanti1960
1,472 posts
 
My Soundsmith re-tipped Dynavector 20X2L (nude contact line stylus with ruby cantilever) gives the ART9 a serious run for the money and is slightly more dynamic but not quite as clean / smooth on all recordings.
I can see where some Soundsmith carts might be an upgrade from the ART9- e.g. the Zephyr MIMC star- especially if the dynamics are better than my re-tipped DV. The MIMC Star is a low output moving iron that has ultra low moving mass that is a fraction of the mass of a low output moving coil.
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