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
mine is for sale on a popular place.  current bid 199,  
someone's going to get a steal.   low hours and perfect.  
Well I got 6 hrs on this cart so far. It has very similar dimensions to the Dl-301 so installation was a snap. Oh, I stuck a little dab of blue tack on the nuts and stuck in place on the cart so screwing the screws from the top was a breeze! Oh man, the magnet on this thing could pick up nails from a roofing job! Anyways the first thing I noticed was the soundstage; how huge it is! And the soundstage on the DL-301 is no slouch. The ART9 has better highs, detail and bass than the DL-301. But then again its in a different snack bracket! And everybody kept asking me how much better can it get? It was hard to imagine cause the Denon is a great cart for the price. I just wanted a cart to end my quest for a great table/cart combo; to retire with. I read that it takes up to 100hrs to fully break-in. Oh, the first thing that I noticed when I played a old Nancy Sinatra record was the BLAT from the horns! Just great!
Cheers, Doug