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Anyone Familiar With the Audio Technica ART Series of Cartridges

There's also a used Grado The Statement 1 listed for a few hundred more. Quite a difficult choice this. I daresay it would be somewhat less neutral though so I guess it's between the ART9 and 7.
 
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The ART9 on the VPI has about 150 hours on it now. Every time I use it the sound quality goes to the next level. It is still improving. Last evening I played my ancient Blood Sweat and Tears album and it was like listening for the first time. It is so dynamic and musical that it is tough to describe. Very very happy with my purchase. It improves all of my old records, it is so quiet in the groove. Records that I thought close to not a pleasure to listen too, have taken on a new life. Listened to a first press "Heavy Weather" this morning that was in the flood of 1993 and it just floored me with its presentation. Deep deep bass and percussion that rang true and clear and never harsh. It is great on all types of music. It has even made Led Zepplin listenable :D
 
Ok, I pulled the trigger on the ART9, will be interesting to compare with my FGS retipped Philips GP922, Klipsch MCZ-7 and Fidelity Research FR-1 Mk3F. I'm hoping it's able to better them. :)

My Valab LCR-1 phono will do 100ohm loading though not 120 unfortunately. Hopefully there's minimal difference. Looking forward to it. I'll be beginning a cull of my cartridge collection after this. Hoping to get down to the best 6-8 cartridges only.
 
mjw21a said:
Ok, I pulled the trigger on the ART9, will be interesting to compare with my FGS retipped Philips GP922, Klipsch MCZ-7 and Fidelity Research FR-1 Mk3F. I'm hoping it's able to better them. :)

My Valab LCR-1 phono will do 100ohm loading though not 120 unfortunately. Hopefully there's minimal difference. Looking forward to it. I'll be beginning a cull of my cartridge collection after this. Hoping to get down to the best 6-8 cartridges only.
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Congrats, will look forward to your thoughts. Just give it time to break in. Keep the tail up. Two great threads over at the Audiogon Forum which helped convince me. If you ordered from 2Juki it will be there in about 4 days.
 
Yes, 2Juki though it'll take longer than that. Australia post sucks and are getting worse and worse lately.
 
Hello,

I just received my Art 9 two days ago, I´m upgrading from a OC9-III. At first the difference wasn't big enough until I started to pay attention.

Even though the OC9 is a excellent cartridge, the Art 9 if far more articulate in the bass section. I rediscovered Grace Jone's La vie en rose with this cartridge.

The details are impecable. I'm still in the process of breaking it, but current result augure a happy future.

I got mine from a German Guy williamthakker_com

Regards

Pete
 
Ok, I have the ART9 sitting on my desk at work.... Needless to say I'm very keen to finish work today.

I am glad I opted for the 9 rather than the 7 as I suspect that would have sounded very similar to the Philips GP922 I already have. That also is an air core with extremely low 0.12mv output and similarspecs. Funnily enough I recently found that this cartridge comes alive with more gain.

Rather than running my Valab LCR-1 at 72db I simply set it to 52db and 47k and put my Fidelity Research FRT-4 SUT in front set to 3 ohms. The Dynamics, sound stage and detail this cart now gets is absolutely gobsmacking. It's also resulted in better bass response and crisper highs. My cart has recieved a Garrot Bros boron cantilever and Fritz Geiger Special tip though.

If the ART9 can better this I'm going to be extremely impressed indeed.
 
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Ok, first impressions of the ART9..... Out of the box at 100 ohms it sounds very much like my Philips GP922.... Maybe the vocals are slightly more prominent? Basically prior to break in this thing equals my very best cart. That's an excellent result considering its supposed to improve quite a bit with break in. I won't have to give up anything while waiting to get the best from it :)
 
Seems my azimuth was slightly out. Also it appears that this cart is far far better bypassing my SUT and going straight into my Valab LCR-1 @ 100 ohms and 72db gain.... I may try dropping that back to sixty something as others have suggested. I believe this is actually bettering the Philips GP922 now, and not remotely close to break in yet
 
Dropped it back to 66db.... Now a deeper, more natural sound stage. It has that little extra oomph I was looking for vs the Philips. I don't think I've ever heard better from my system actually.
 
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mjw21a said:
Ok, first impressions of the ART9..... Out of the box at 100 ohms it sounds very much like my Philips GP922.... Maybe the vocals are slightly more prominent? Basically prior to break in this thing equals my very best cart. That's an excellent result considering its supposed to improve quite a bit with break in. I won't have to give up anything while waiting to get the best from it :)
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About a week ago I set my pre's ohm switch to 470. It seem to match better with my pre. Not a huge difference but the impact is a tiny bit "More in my Face" No negatives noted. Your initial impressions mirrored mine that the first spin was at least a good as anything I had. Mine is out of rotation right now as I am doing yearly maintenance on the VPI. Every time I don't listen with it for a few days the "wow" factor is even more intense, as nothing else I have measures up to this cartridge. FWIW my pre has 60db of gain on the MC settings.
 
91r100gs said:
About a week ago I set my pre's ohm switch to 470. It seem to match better with my pre. Not a huge difference but the impact is a tiny bit "More in my Face" No negatives noted. Your initial impressions mirrored mine that the first spin was at least a good as anything I had. Mine is out of rotation right now as I am doing yearly maintenance on the VPI. Every time I don't listen with it for a few days the "wow" factor is even more intense, as nothing else I have measures up to this cartridge. FWIW my pre has 60db of gain on the MC settings.
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Interesting, I may need to try that. Above 100 ohms I've 330, 500, 1k and of course 47k to choose from. Having said that, I'm not sure I want to change it from where it is now. It's just so natural and I'm getting detail beyond what I've heard before. I'm more inclined to see what happens if I drop the gain..... I believe others have reported about 56db to be good. So with the Valab that leaves me 58, 60, 62, 63.5 and 65db to play with. Even as it is though this is the best sound I've heard from my system. The analog side of my system has left the digital behind once more.
 
After extended listening + rips and listening back through headphones, I'm sad to say that my Philips GP922 with replacement boron cantilever + FGS tip is the better cart. Slightly more detailed and better treble and bass extension. The big advantage however is that it has a real "presence" which is lacking in the ART9..... I think it's time for me to stop chasing improvements and just enjoy the m
 
Fark, comparing the Philips GP922 to the ART9 I realised something. The ART9 has every bit as much punch as the Philips.... It just sounds like it has less as it's producing more detail and texture which "softens" the sound. I take back what I said before about the Philips being the better cart.

I think I'll have to compare with headphones to find out what is actually better.
 
Had my ART9 out of service for about a week while doing yearly maintenance on the VPI turntable. I put my Dual 1219 in my main system during this time. After several days of listening to the Dual w/Jico HE on a Shure M91 I thought it was sounding darn good. Well, about 15 seconds into putting the ART9 back into service, the WOW factor was totally over the top. I think our ears get used to what they are fed for several days. The Shure then seemed thin and hollow sounding in comparison. Yes I realize that the ART9 is 5 times the price. The ART9 just keeps sounding better with each listening session.
 
I've always found Shure carts to be thin and insubstantial sounding.... Until the ART9 I always considered the Audio Technica house sound to be thin and bright.... Funny how some things change and others stay the same.

I think the only carts I've heard that are in the same ball park are the Philips GP922 and Fidelity Research FR-1 Mk3, both with FGS tips. Each are quiter in the groove. I suspect if the ART9 had an FGS it would be on another level again. I look forward to wearing mine out so I can have it retipped :)
 
91r100gs said:
Had my ART9 out of service for about a week while doing yearly maintenance on the VPI turntable. I put my Dual 1219 in my main system during this time. After several days of listening to the Dual w/Jico HE on a Shure M91 I thought it was sounding darn good. Well, about 15 seconds into putting the ART9 back into service, the WOW factor was totally over the top. I think our ears get used to what they are fed for several days. The Shure then seemed thin and hollow sounding in comparison. Yes I realize that the ART9 is 5 times the price. The ART9 just keeps sounding better with each listening session.
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Did you listen the ART9 on the Dual 1219 or on the Vpi again?
 
It never left the VPI. I wasn't working on the Dual but doing alignment and lubrication on the VPi. The Dual I have has probably never had any other cartridge besides the Shure M91. It is what was on it when I bought it about 4 years ago. The only thing I have changed are the styli used. I have 4 different ones.
 
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