Audio Technica ART9 sounds awful

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.

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

My point was that your symptoms are probably not due to tonearm/cartridge mismatch.

Al,

I take you at your word that your ART9 sounded great out of the box. Maybe there's something about the cart that doesn't make break in such a factor. I also agree 100% phase is worth checking, as that can also be the problem.

Going back to break in, I find the norm is that new carts break in a lot. Way more than any other component. Here's a clip from an interview with Brooks Berdan (2003).

"Brooks, do you have any caveats for readers who want to set up their own turntable?" 

Yes, there are some points that I would like to stress before we begin. First, it is essential that a turntable be absolutely level during set up and operation. If the turntable is even slightly tilted, in any direction, all adjustments will be compromised and performance will be negatively impacted. Second, cartridges require 12-15 hours of mechanical break-in to allow the suspension to settle. (Sound will continue to change over a longer period.) A good dealer will break-in a phono cartridge before final adjustments are performed. Readers who set up their own turntables should readjust stylus pressure and VTA / SRA and recheck tonearm geometry after 12-15 hours of play. Third, some critical adjustments are best done by ear and when I talk about adjusting for focus, et cetera, I’m assuming the reader has a properly functioning audio system that allows differences to be heard. Don’t try to adjust the turntable to compensate for other flaws in system performance. Fix the flaws instead.

I didn't include this quote to suggest I'm right and you're wrong. Its just to show some solid evidence for break in. Brooks was very well respected with regards to TT setup, and his above quote mirrors my own personal experiance.

@sfall  there's no disagreement here. there's a good discussion of the break in issue as regards the ART9 cartridge in the Agon thread devoted to that cartridge (link below). Ironically I was one of the people arguing for the validity of break in with carts and I promised to give my impressions of the ART9 in comparison to my Zyx after 100 hours of breakin! (soon to come). My point above was that even in its brand new state the ART9 sounds like a high quality cartridge, and nothing at all like the description given of it by the OP.