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
Pani - I seem to remember that you were using an EMIA MC step up before. Do you have a feel for how the EMIA and the Audio Note trannies compare? I guess the S8 is a lot higher up the chain in price. 
Hey guys for anyone interested I just posted a review of two cartridges that I ran in my system against the ART 9:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/3-cartridges-reviewed

I hope it furthers the discussion......

@dodgealum very nice write-up. After I sold my ART-9, I am yet to find a reasonable priced cartridge that I could "safely" choose as an "upgrade".
After reading through this thread I was surprised to see that @pani was so fickle in dumping the Art 9 after being so enthusiastic. 
I'm using a Lundahl LL1941 SUT on 1:32 setting with my Art 9 - which gives a 46ohm reflected resistance to the cartridge with 47K phono input. This might sound low but it was my preferred setting for the 14ohm dcr Denon 103R as well. IME, SUT loading is different to pure resistive loading on MC stages.
Anyway this works for me with my Cary tube phono, which has a low 38dB gain MM stage.

I only have about 10-15hrs on my ART 9 - but it has sounded very good from the outset after initial azimuth/vta/vtf fiddling. I like it more than my Soundsmith retipped 103R, which has a lot of great attributes but lacks the finesse and delicacy of higher end MC's - and the Art 9. From memory I also prefer the ART 9 to the Ortofon Cadenza black - which was a very nice cartridge, but never engaged me like the 103R.

FWIW, I've previously tried both the AT33 PTG and OC9-II (or III?) and for me they didn't compare well to the Denon and Ortofon cartridges I had at the time and were quickly sold. Long ago I also used the original OC9 and later the ART-1, neither of which I recall as being very robust sounding at all (though I did like them). The ART 9 is giving a different impression - there's more body and substance to it's sound and more dynamic punch.

The high compliance of the Art 9 shouldn't be a great match for the Phantom (I think around 12g effective mass - but Graham doesn't actually publish the spec). Using the HFNRR test record the resonant frequency in my Graham Phantom arm is 7-8Hz, but the cartridge is very well behaved and tracking is excellent. I seems that AT have done a very good job of controlling resonant behaviour.