AT-ART9XI Cartridge - Reduced Compliance


Hi folks, I'm leaning toward the AT-ART9 cartridge for my SME V.  The new version - the ART9XI - has a thicker solid boron stylus (was .26mm, now .28mm) and slightly lower compliance (was 18, now 15 x10-6).

The newer version costs $300 more ($1,300 v. $1,000).  I'm inclined to buy the old one.  Any opinions?  (Please keep in mind I bought my SME V 30 years ago when it was $2k even.)  Thanks in advance!
keegiam
@keegiam 
per the Audio Technica web site you can multiply the 10um compliance by 1.5 to 2X to calculate compliance at 10Hz.  

This is the first time I have ever noted an manufacturer's compliance conversion formula in print.  

From AT:
To determine where the resonant frequency of a particular cartridge/tonearm combination will occur, you must first know a few things about your equipment. You will need to know the total effective mass of your turntable’s tonearm assembly, the compliance specification of the cartridge you are considering and the weight of the cartridge. Note that Audio-Technica specifies compliance at 100 Hz. Many resonant frequency calculators, however, use a compliance measurement taken at 10 Hz for their calculations. To determine the compliance of a cartridge at 10 Hz when only the compliance at 100 Hz is stated, multiply the 100 Hz measurement by 1.5 or 2.0. Once you have gathered this information, you can determine the resonant frequency using a resonance calculator such as the Cartridge Resonance Evaluator tool available at vinylengine.com. Enter the tonearm effective mass figure into the text box on .....

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/support/audio-solutions-question-week-determine-audio-technica-...
Yes, the XA and the V is aperfect combo about that resonance frequency.

Here you can confirm that the 10cu is at 100hz like the ART7 that's from where the XA came:

https://www.analogueseduction.net/cartridges2/atart7.html

R.
Avanti, endless thanks, your research solves my misunderstanding.  The truth is that I should have been able to track this down on my own, but the subject can be daunting.

Now I know that the XA's compliance is actually in the 15-20 range when using resources like the Vinyl Engine chart.  The ART9XA it is, and I'll order the resistors for the Classe tomorrow.

The importance we give these matters might seem obsessive to many, but we really hear this stuff.
keegiam,
no problem, i was already aware of that info for my own calculations.  yes this stuff matters, nothing wrong with that.
enjoy the xa!  
fyi music direct shipped the same day for me, recieved it on the third day. 
peace.  
I may be a bit late to this post but I've just joined the site.
Got myself an art 9 xi two weeks ago and if it helps anyone who's interested here's my twopenneth.
It's on a roksan radius/Nima arm/Tom Evans micro groove.id read lots on here which helped alot so thanks alot.art 9 replaced an ortofon quintet blue which I like alot and at first I was wondering if I'd wasted my money. I honestly couldn't hear or " see " much difference. I know from reading on here and elsewhere that running in is important so I've been working on setup for the last two weeks and playing tunes as much as possible. This things so tiny I was struggling with azimuth and then a few days ago I had an idea. I'm sure someone will shoot me down but here goes. I have a test record which chucks out seperate channel tones but I have nothing to test it with so I downloaded a spectrum analyser to my phone,measured a perfect triangle from each speaker and set phone in dead centre then played the test record.i was a good few db out so with some gentle twisting I managed to get the reading the same on both sides.dont know if it's that or the fact that the art 9 is getting some hours on it now but it's definitely a keeper for me.it even made the good lady smile!!