The AT ART7 gets very little mention here and elsewhere. I own one and I like it very much. I have never heard an ART9, so I am not able to say that the 7 is better or worse, but it is hard to beat the ART7 even with very much more expensive LOMC cartridges (Koetsu, ZYX, and Ortofon at my house). That’s the thing about the ART7; it has a low output of 0.24mV, so you need a high gain phono or a SUT into an MM phono. The ART9 is less fussy because more gain. If we’re judging cartridges based on how they are made, which I am loathe to do, the 7 may be superior to the 9 in that it uses an amorphous core coil structure, whereas the 9 is conventional. Strangely, the 7 is a bit less expensive than the 9. Strange because the amorphous core would add cost. Further, the low output suggests that the 7 may have lower moving mass than the 9. That's difficult to say for sure because of the factor of the amorphous core used in its coil, which might also reduce generator output.
By the way, isn't the AT20SLa a non-select version of the AT20SS? In other words, the 20SS ought on principle to outperform the 20SLa. But if you crank in the age of these cartridges and the differing histories of previous use and users, all bets like that are off.
By the way, isn't the AT20SLa a non-select version of the AT20SS? In other words, the 20SS ought on principle to outperform the 20SLa. But if you crank in the age of these cartridges and the differing histories of previous use and users, all bets like that are off.
