Audio-Technica ART 7

I own an ART7 that I bought last year while visiting our son in Tokyo. (The cost in Tokyo is really no different from typical mail order prices in the USA, by the way.)  I only recently installed it in a Dynavector DV505 on a modified Lenco, feeding a Manley Steelhead set at 65db gain via one of the two MC inputs.  Loading at 400 ohms, because that's as high as one can go with the Manley which uses autoformers to step up voltage on its MC inputs.  The Manley is driving the built-in direct-drive amplifiers of a pair of Beveridge 2SW speakers augmented with my own home-built transmission line woofers driven by a Threshold amp. (The 2SW requires woofers for frequencies below 100 Hz.)  The low pass filter is via a Dahlquist DQLP1 and the high pass filter is built in to the Bevs.  (Both are 18db/octave, so far as I know.) My ART7 now has maybe 20 hours on it and I don't consider it to be broken in.  This cartridge has tremendous energy and excellent low bass definition.  Like many MCs, it emphasizes the leading edge of transients.  This quality was at first a bit annoying after 1-2 hours of a listening session, but lately it seems to be less so, perhaps indicating the effect of break-in.  I also think I detect an increase in the ability to convey inner musical lines, making the sound more like real. Highs are also superb with plenty of bloom and sense of reality.  In my other system, I am running a ZYX UNIverse which I think I like a little better, but it is much more expensive and is already broken in and is driving an entirely different system.  I'd really have to run them side by side in order to choose. All in all, I am very pleased with the ART7, would recommend it to anyone who does not want to spend more than $5K for a cartridge (even though you can buy one for less than $1K), and it probably competes with some cartridges that retail for more than $5K.  Of course, you need sufficient phono gain to get the most out of it.

Thanks to everyone for your valuable comments and sharing your experience. I will be contacting some members who have been using the ART 7. 

I'm sorry.  Did you read my post?  I've been using the ART7.

@lewm - yes, I read it. Thanks a lot for sharing the details. Greatly appreciate. I look forward to reading more about the cart from your posts as it breaks in :)

If I may ask a couple more questions ..... 1) how is the surface noise with the ART 7? I am worried that the high amount of gain will also amplify surface noise and/or clicks and pops? Or does the line contact stylus go deeper into the grooves thereby avoids some surface noise? 2) Did you buy it from 2juki? Thanks again.

#2.  I bought it in Tokyo.  There is no advantage to buying in Tokyo; price was about the same as eBay. 2juki has a good reputation; I would not hesitate to buy from him.

#1. I don't believe that the audibility of "surface noise" is merely a function of the gain required to amplify the music signal.  Stylus shape and phono stage (because what we hear as surface noise is in part also due to phono stage noise) have a lot to do with it. However, the ART7 is dead quiet, if the LP is of good quality.  Same goes for any of my other cartridges on any of my other turntables and tonearms. I don't hang on to scratched or worn out LPs or LPs that have imbedded dirt that cannot be removed by a good RCM.