Ugraditus is calling....again. Phono stage?

@analogluvr & @uberwaltz,

Like many others here I’ve been delighted with the ART9. Among its many excellent qualities I would say that the one which stands out the most is simply its neutrality, meaning that it doesn’t seem to overemphasize or underemphasize any part of the spectrum. Dynamics and resolution of detail are also excellent.

To provide context, for the better part of the previous 30+ years I was using various incarnations of the Grace F-9E and F-9E Ruby. Most recently an F-9 with Soundsmith’s $350 "Ruby Cantilever / Nude Contact Line Diamond" stylus/cantilever assembly. Which is a very nice cartridge, but I found it to be not quite as accurate or dynamic as the ART9.

My tonearm is a 1980’s Magnepan Unitrac I, which has a relatively low effective mass of 8 grams. The ART9 has a highish compliance, specified as 18 × 10-6 cm/dyne at 100Hz, which I suspect probably means something like 30 x 10-6 cm/dyne at the 10 Hz frequency that compliance specs provided by non-Japanese cartridge manufacturers are usually based on.

I see that the Lyra Helikon is spec’d at 12 x 10-6 cm/dyne at 100Hz, and has a weight that is very similar to the ART9. Given that as well as the fact that several members here have reported excellent results using the ART9 in medium mass arms I doubt that there would be any compatibility issues using the ART9 in an arm that is suitable for use with the Helikon.

I’m uncertain about compatibility in Uberwaltz’s case, though, as I’m not familiar with his arm and the compliance of his Shelter cartridge appears to be somewhat lower, at 9 x 10-6 cm/dyne, presumably at 100 Hz since it is made in Japan. Although it’s weight is again very similar to the weight of the ART9.

Best regards,
-- Al

Thanks Al for a very informative post as per usual
So in my case I may be taking a bit of a chance, my Spacedeck has a stock Spacearm ( as far as I know at least), do not think it will be anything special.
However at $860 new on eBay the ART9 is not what you would call high priced so it might be worth a try.

 Thanks Al. My go to arms are a 12 inch well tempered which has exceeded my expectations and an eminent technology ii. I suspected to have better luck with the well tempered. I also have an SME series 3 but that maybe too light? 

I also have an SME series 3 but that maybe too light?

@analogluvr, on paper a reasonable case could be made both for and against that combination, IMO, so it may very well be worth trying the ART9 in the SME III.

A case that could be made for it would be that if the ART9’s compliance at 10 Hz is in fact in the rough vicinity of 30 the 5 gram effective mass of the SME III (according to its listing at vinylengine.com), together with the 8.5 gram weight of the cartridge, would result in a resonant frequency of about 7.9 Hz. While an arm having higher effective mass would result in a resonant frequency somewhat lower than that, and therefore further from the 8 to 12 Hz region that is generally considered to be optimal.

A case that could be made against it would be that many people have reported great results with the ART9 when used in medium mass arms.

In any event, best of luck if you decide to purchase one.

Best regards,
-- Al

What would be the real world difference between art9 and art7?
Art7 is a lot lower output at just 0.12mv.

What real benefit could one expect from that over the art9 ?

Please bear in mind I am no mc cartridge expert only experience is the shelter 501 that came with my tt.