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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
jollytinker
213 posts
 
+1 on almarg's idea. I don't think break-in is the issue here. the cart should sound great from the get-go, and get better.  
lewm
13,252 posts
 
In my post above about the plasticity of the relationship between effective mass and compliance, I might better have written that one should make the calculation of Fr for a variety of values of M and C, in order to see that you can get away with some fairly unlikely combinations and still be within an "acceptable" range.  In part, this depends also upon what one considers acceptable.

Anyway, I still think Almarg nailed this particular problem. Which has nothing to do with M and C.
sfall
346 posts
 
" I don't think break-in is the issue here. the cart should sound great from the get-go, and get better."

Did you ever have a brand new cart? If you get one that sounds good out of the box, its probably not new. Or, if you had a dealer install it for you, they usually let it play for a while to get through those huge changes that occur when new.
safebelayer OP
66 posts
 
Thank you all for your suggestions and ideas...well, maybe not lewm, what!?  I'll check the out of phase connections with speakers and with the cartridge.  Checked it once already, but worth the extra work.

sfall:  the Phono stage is set up right.  Also, I've had several new cartridges and each had sounded fine right out of the box but improved over time.

Thanks again.  I'll report back with the results.

almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Consistent with comments by some of the others, my ART9 sounded good right out of the box, and never sounded awful/terrible/bad/defective (to use some of the adjectives that have been stated above) at any time during its breakin period.

Also, I had purchased it new, from a dealer, and installed it myself. So it was not subjected to any prior breakin.

Safebelayer, keep in mind that as I alluded to earlier it is conceivable that the cartridge might be miswired internally, such that there is a polarity reversal in one channel.  Especially, as I said, if imaging is vague and diffuse.

Regards,
-- Al

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