Audio Technica ART-7

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Tehvoodoo, Apr 19, 2019.

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  1. Tehvoodoo

    Tehvoodoo New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Earth
    I'm looking to upgrade my current cartridge to a MC cartridge. I'm looking at the Audio Technica ART-7. the problem is that I can't find much about it. does anyone here have experience with this cart?

    I recently found some forgotten equipment I purchased and going from MM to MC has peaked my interest..

    for those interested in some background story keep reading.

    A little over 3 years ago I bought a phono preamp. I was very new to vinyl playback. And I didn't really understand the gear and terminology much. When I finally got everything I needed I realized my expensive $600 mistake. my phono preamp was no phono preamp.. at least not the type I needed with RIAA equalization. what I had was a Audio Technica AT-1000T step up transformer... I tried returning it but the Ebay seller was not interested, especially since a couple of months had gone by.. Since I was on a budget I ended up using the built in preamp on the turntable I had at the time. While trying to figure out what I had bought I did learn some pretty neat facts about the transformer, like only 1,000 were ever made. Since I had no interest in MC at the time the step up transformer was put in a closet and forgotten about...
     
  2. Ric-Tic

    Ric-Tic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    Hello and welcome to the forum! There's a quite long thread about the ART-9 where the ART-7 is mentionend. If I remember correctly someone posted links in the ART-9 thread to other forums where the 7 and 9 is compared. Good luck with your upgrade.

    Edit: Link to the ART-9 thread Audio Technica ART9 MC Cartridge- The Real Deal?
     
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  3. 5-String

    5-String μηδὲν ἄγαν

    Location:
    Sunshine State
    The Art-7 has very low output, 0.12 mV, so you need to make sure that your phono stage has enough gain to run it.
     
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  4. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    Just some quick calculations. A typical low budget receiver or integrated amp has a line input sensitivity of .200 mV and a higher end integrated can go as high as 1V.
    Calculating the optimal gain we use NdB=20 logV1/V2, where V1 is the input sensitivity and V2 is the signal output of the device.
    So for these values respectively you need the following gain:
    NdB=20 log(200/.12)=20 log(166.67) = 64.44 dB or
    NdB=20 log(1000/.12) = 20 log(8333.33) = 78.42 dB.

    This is indeed a lot of gain that most MC phono stages can't attain.
    The step rations I've found are the following:
    34 dB Step up 3-Ω
    26 dB Step up 20-Ω
    23 dB Step up 40-Ω

    Something like the Schiit Mani as the following Gain settings in dB: 30, 42, 48, 59.
    The values should be additive since dBs are logs. With this phono stage you could get the the 200mV input sensitivity with the 3 ohm and 30dB settings. For the 1V, 20 ohm and the 42dB setting. For a higher priced MM phono stage like a Lounge Audio LRC MkIII at 40dB, you could use the 40 ohm setting for 200 mV, but would be a little underpowered at 1V.

    It looks like you could get something to work with that SUT. Not sure what deck you have so I'm going to speculate it's the LP120 with 36dB of gain, others have similar gain. A Fluance RT81 has 35dB. With either of these you could use the 20 ohm setting for an amp with 200 mV input sensitivity. Again, you don't have enough pre-amp for optimal gain with a 1V input sensitivity.
     
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  5. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    There is reference to the ART7 by the Audiotechnica engineers who designed it and the ART9 that the ART7 is more voiced and suitable to classical music and the ART9 is more suitable for jazz and rock, etc.
    As others have noted it has much lower output than typical LOMCs. A SUT would probably be the best way to go.
     
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  6. blakep

    blakep Senior Member

    To answer your question we really need a bit more info about what equipment you are going to be using the ART 7 with beyond the step up transformer you have.

    Although I'm certainly no expert on transfomers and will defer to those with more knowledge, the one you have certainly appears to be of high quality and should be a very good match with the ART 7 on the 3 ohm tap providing 34 dB of gain providing it is matched with a high quality MM phono preamp providing 36-40 dB of gain.

    There are really two questions:

    1) what MM preamp will you be mating the ART 7 and SUT to and
    2) what table and specifically what arm will you be mating the ART 7 to?

    The ART 7 should be able to offer up excellent performance providing you have the right amplification in front of it and it is mounted to a sympathetic tonearm.

    So a bit more info on the rest of your system would be helpful.
     
    patient_ot likes this.
  7. Ripblade

    Ripblade Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Six
    I have a Denon DL-S1 which is also 'air core' like the ART7, and agree that these types are better suited to acoustic music as they seem to have a more natural presence that is less aggressive than the ferrous core type. Seeing as the OP already has the SUT that would presumably be an ideal match, the question is whether the rest of the deck and needed phono pre are up to snuff. Unless they are, a more suitable choice for a first timer to explore the virtues of LOMC would be something along the lines of an AT-F7, where the cost savings could be put towards a decent phono pre.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2019
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  8. Tehvoodoo

    Tehvoodoo New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Earth
    Apologies for the months long delay delay.. everybody's response helped me out. I ended up with the ART-7.
     
  9. Tehvoodoo

    Tehvoodoo New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Earth
    I emailed Audio Technica and a couple of months later they responded.. They recommended using the 20 ohm input on the AT-1000T with the ART7.
     
    5-String likes this.
  10. Tehvoodoo

    Tehvoodoo New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Earth
    About a month after first posting this I ended up buying an Elekit TU-8500 pre amp with NOS 7316 tubes and hybrid opamp that I put together. Power amp is an Elekit TU-8600 with all possible upgrades offered by Victor from Vkmusic. Turntable is a restored Technics 110 with an Audiocraft AC-300mkII tonearm with interchangeable pipes like the S pipe, and the 10mm and 6mm straight pipes, along with 3 light, medium and heavy counter weights.

    I ended up using the 10mm straight pipe, with the medium counter weight and fluid damping set to medium for the Art7. Im using the 20 ohm input as advised by Audio Technica for the At-1000t step up and im using the MM input stage on my phono..

    sounds absolutely wonderful!
     
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  11. daytona600

    daytona600 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    never seen a review before on a ART7

    A quick word about the Audio Technica ART7 cartridge before we close this piece. I believe it retails for just under £1,000 and in my opinion that is an absolute bargain. Ultimately, however good your turntable and arm may be, their job is to provide the best possible platform for that tiny diamond stylus to trace the grooves in the record. The ART7 is a wonderful music making device and will certainly be on my short list when the time comes to renew my own cartridge.
    Vertere Acoustics MG-1 MkII | The Ear
     
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