By the way, the ART7 lately found a home on my Kenwood L07D turntable using the Kenwood tone arm and a carbon fiber head shell. Running into the J&R Phonolinepreamp, this is the best sound I have ever gotten out of the ART7, into modified Sound Lab 845PXs.
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At this point in time, I have now run the ART7 into two different phono stages. One is the Manley steelhead, which I mentioned previously on this thread. The other is the phonolinepreamp marketed by Raul and his friend in Mexico. With both of these devices I have plenty of gain and pretty much zero electronic noise. I know the noise is never actually zero, so don’t bother to remind me, thanks. My main point is that with any really good high and phono stage that produces adequate gain of at least 65 DB or maybe 60 DB is sufficient, there should be no issue with running this cartridge.
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Mick, if you've read the thread you know I own an ART7 too. I'm running it into a Manley Steelhead set to 65db gain via an MC input and 400 ohm load. Maybe you ought to try reducing the MC gain setting on your Rhea and try setting the load to 47K. With the SUT you can't achieve a 47K load because the SUT inevitably affects the load seen by the cartridge in inverse proportion to the square of the turns ratio. On the other hand I am having some issues with the sound of my ART7, so maybe you are doing the right thing and I am not.
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Chakster, It seems other guys here, who perhaps live in different countries, are saying they receive unopened factory containers when they order from 2juki, suggesting there was no possibility that 2juki tampered with serial numbers, let alone added a serial number from a different product. I suppose it's possible that he acts differently for products sold to your country, compared to the US, for example. In any case, others don't seem to agree about the SN tampering. That said, it's still possible that the manufacturer might not honor the warranty if the serial number suggests it was not sold through one of their dealers. I dunno. |
Guys, Just to be clear, I have no axe to grind with 2juki. I tend to agree with Raul and Peter (PBN). I bought my Technics tonearm from him, and it was exactly as described, but that is a used item not subject to any factory warranty. As others have mentioned, eBay has fairly stringent requirements for professional sellers who use their website, which also ought to make buyers feel more comfortable. I fear that I have diverted the thread from its main purpose, which is a discussion of the ART7. I was listening to mine again last night. As time goes on, it's getting better, as one would expect. Compared to very fine MM and MI cartridges that I more typically have run on the Bev system, the ART7 is quite lively, bordering on aggressive. Bass definition may be superior to any cartridge I own, but I'd have to run them all on the DV505 into the Bevs in order to compare fairly.
While we are discussing sellers, some of us have also had problems with LP Gear, in the past, for example as regards how they represent their replacement styli (aftermarket vs factory original), etc. |
Chakster, You educated me by stating that 2juki changes or obliterates the serial number. If true, that alone would void any warranty of any kind. I certainly would not argue with that logic. A case of caveat emptor.
So what about William Thakker? I purchased a few MM cartridges from him a few years ago, when the MM thread was so active. They arrived in factory packaging with what appear to be unaltered serial numbers, and of course the condition was as new.
The irony is that many of the cartridges sold NOS on eBay are attractive, because you simply cannot find them at all here in the US, which brings us back to the ART7. Thakker also sells some cartridges that are no longer available here. |
Has anyone had warranty issues with 2juki? My guess is that if you bought from him, had a problem within the warranty period, and then sent it back to AT/Japan (perhaps through 2juki), the warranty would be honored by AT/Japan. Whereas, the same warranty would likely not be honored locally (in this case referring to the US distributor). This does not mean that 2juki is shady or that he is selling defective or subpar merchandise that he sells with any attempt to deceive. The irony is that the US distributor almost certainly sends returned items back to the very same place in Japan for repair or replacement. (A lot of this is conjecture on my part. If someone actually has had the experience of being told that his cartridge is not warranteed by AT at all, because of purchase from 2juki or other foreign vendor, I stand corrected.)
For example, my defective Koetsu Urushi, purchased from an authorized dealer in Tokyo, was replaced by Koetsu in Tokyo, after I sent it back to the dealer with evidence of the warranty. The difference may be that my dealer was also a bricks and mortar store, in Akihabara. |
So 2juki is not an authorized AT dealer, or so I gather. Where then would he source his product? Does he obliterate serial numbers? |
I think Dave has it right; the ART7 is actually improved over the ANV50, even though the latter cartridge cost or costs more (depending upon whether either or both are still available). The introduction of the ANV50 preceded that of the ART7. Maybe the hypothetical "ART10" will incorporate the technology of the current high-priced ART1000, where the coil is located just above the stylus tip. I'd love to hear that one, but not own one for $5,000. We're going to Japan next month, and I will look around for the local price of the ART1000. I doubt it will be cheap enough to justify my taking the plunge.
For what it's worth, I have read the comparisons of the ART7 vs the ART9, where reviewers AND Audio Technica say that the ART7 is not so good for jazz and rock compared to the ART9. In my experience on my Beveridge system, that's a bunch of hooey. The ART7 is very dynamic. That is one of its greatest strengths. The dynamic aspect of its sound is related to what I wrote above about emphasizing the leading edges of transients. At the beginning (first few hours), this quality was bordering on fatiguing, but at this point the cartridge has gotten a lot smoother, bringing out the instrumental details better than it did at first.
Is it really true that 2juki products are "gray market"? What does that mean, in this context? The phrase arose back in the 80s, when certain foreign cars could not be imported into the US, because they did not meet our then new requirements for emissions and etc. Some privateers imported such cars and converted them within the US to meet spec or as near to it as they could get away with. The parent companies would not honor the warranty on such cars, because they couldn't vouch for the longevity of components in cars that were modified. Nothing like that is going on here. |
ART7 is about half the price and about as good, from what I've read about the ANV50 but others may know more about it. |
Problem with buying the ART7 (not the ART9) in the US or elsewhere outside of Japan, if you don’t want to buy from one of the eBay sellers like 2juki, is where do you find it for sale? I just checked the LP Gear website; if you do a search for "ART7", you are taken to the ART9 page. Can you still buy ART7 in the US?
In case one is traveling to Japan, I can say that I purchased from a highly reputable dealer in the Akihabara section of Tokyo (the electronics mecca maybe of the whole world), and the warranty is honored. They replaced a defective Koetsu Urushi for me at no cost, about 7-8 years ago. As regards the centering of the cantilever in the cartridge body, I only wish all my other cartridges were as perfect in this regard as is my ART7. I wouldn't think that would be a problem with main stream, high output, old line companies like AT, Denon, etc. |
#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. |
I'm sorry. Did you read my post? I've been using the ART7. |
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. |
