I'm onto @ hour 15 with the ART20 - I was curious to see if I was just in a honeymoon phase initially when I posted my glowing review and can easily say nope, this cartridge is phenomenal. The way instruments/elements emerge with clarity, dimension and presence is unlike anything else I've heard. All while having a superb evenness across the frequency range with outstanding bass and HF that is clear but not shrill, piercing or anything less than enjoyable. Mids are perfectly realized. I do think the fact that my system is on the warm side of things helps, it's possible this cartridge on a brighter sounding system might not be the best fit. An interesting note is that after the first hour of listening I think the cartridge was basically not far from where it is now many hours later sonically. Perhaps it's a tad smoother but I can't positively say that's true, the overall impression I have today is identical to my thoughts back when I first got this cart. I'm going to live with the ART20 until I hit @ 20 hrs then I'm going to go back to my beloved Grado Aeon3 to see how it hits me after this experience. My Koetsu is being sold. To be continued!
Recommended a highly resolving cartridge
Hi all, all tube system that is warm with a good midrange presence inherently. I’m looking for a cartridge that offers high detail / resolution and wide / deep soundstage. This is on a stock SL-1200G TT. On a side note, if anyone has experience “upgrading” the stock tonearm on a G please chime in. I’ve read conflicting reports of the merits of such a move, and while I’m very happy with the tone of my TT and am not looking to move off of it, I am curious about a tonearm swap (must allow for headshell swapping).
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- 163 posts total
Highly unreasonable expectations from a cartridge upgrade (might as well ask the cartridge to make a chicken sandwich while its busy deepening the soundstage by 20 ft)... They’ll have to make a cartridge out of fairy dust for this and the prize shall be a million dollars. Dartzeel made one for a million dollars just for the OP.
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@deep_333 One of my favorite expressions is "those who say it cannot be done are usually interrupted by someone doing it". The ART20 satisfies this easily FYI. |
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