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Audio Technica ART9 sounds awful

I have a new ART9, maybe 2 hours on it.  I used to run a Dynavector 10x5.  With the ART9 the bass is very tubby or exaggerated.  The soundstage is shifted to the left.  I never heard either situation from the 10x5...nor is it consistent with cd of same albums.  It really sounds terrible. 

I've checked the cartridge out and nothing looks out of the ordinary.  The vtf is set at 1.8...experimented with 1.7, 1.9 and 2.0 just to see.  No luck.  VTA has the arm visually level...I've experimented with different angles.  No luck.

Turntable:  Basis Audio 2001
Tonearm:   Basis Audio Vector III
Rogue Ares:  Phono stage (set at 100 ohms)

The system has not changed other than the cartridge.

Any suggestions or ideas about how to correct the problem?

Thx


safebelayer
ninetynine's avatar
ninetynine
135 posts
 
Someone tried to sell it to me as a good one. I like AT, but they have some build problems. Not always, but sometimes.
harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
^^ Yes, it must be faulty, mine sounded good from very start.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,740 posts
 
Are you sure the arm and cartridge are compatible with each other? What is the mass of the tonearm?
sebrof's avatar
sebrof
837 posts
 
The soundstage is shifted to the left. I never heard either situation from the 10x5...
Well it would seem that there is something wrong here, either with the cartridge itself or installation/setup.
paraneer's avatar
paraneer
818 posts
 
+ yogiboy.

I searched to find the effective mass of your tonearm and cannot find it.  The problem with the ART9 is that it has a very high compliance rating of 32 @ 10Hz.  That would mean it should be matched with ultra low mass tonearms to avoid unwanted and very low resonances.  That could explain the tubbiness in the bass.  Your arm does not look to be ultra low mass and could simply be a mismatch.

The compliance rating of a cartridge does matter and cartridge manufacturers seem to take it more seriously than tonearm manufacturers as both specs must be known.

 
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