In some ways yes, some no. The XA is slightly clearer and more micro dynamic. The '9 was a touch cleaner and bigger with better midbass. If I had about 4db more gain I would like the XA a lot more.
Did you sell the XA? I’d be curious to know your thoughts on it once you had the Cinemag transformers to run it through.
Sounds like I should just keep my ART9. I took a chance and bought it used for $300 last year. The diamond was worn out and it was absolutely the filthiest cartridge I've ever seen in my 70 years on this planet. I sent it to Steve Leung at VAS for a complete rebuild and even he said it was the filthiest cart that he had ever seen and he's seen a lot of them. It looked like the previous owner/abuser had been wet cleaning junk lps with it and never bothered with getting the crud off. Craziest thing was that even with all the dirt and crud it still sounded decent even though the diamond and cantilever were encased in layers of gunk. Steve cleaned and rebuilt it with a new diamond for $350 so I ended up with a nearly new ART9 for a bit over $665 all in. Not a bad outcome in the end. Steve did a hell of a job on it as it was spotless when I got it back. I highly recommend his services. He just rewired/ biwired my Scout's JMW 9 tonearm and rca junction box and had it back to me in six days. I can't say enough good things about his services.
After having a couple of threaded body cartridges I don't think I would buy a cartridge that did not have a threaded body. It makes it so much easier to install.
So my ART9 has started generating a lot of static when i take the record of the 1200GR platter. It will make a lightweight cork mat stick like felt. It's mounted on the Technics headshell that came with the table. When switching to my other cartridges this mysterious static phenomenon doesn't occur at all. Zero. Lots of humidity in VA here right now too. Have multiple static mitigation measures - furutech destat, rcm, various mats etc. Have not tried on a different headshell yet as I don't have a free one. Very odd. Hope its not the end of the road for the ART.
I have a question regarding setting the proper anti-skating. Once you have the cartridge and tonearm balanced and setup properly would it make sense to use the following to verify the antiskating? 1. Once everything is set up, put on a stereo test record that simultaneously plays the same content in each channel. 2. Connect one channel of the turntable out of phase (easy to construct a test cable for t 3. If the two identical channels are being played at the same volume simultaneously, then adjusting the anti-skating until you null out the audio would indicate that both channels are being played at the same level out of phase and should verify the correct anti-skating setting since the stylus would be applying identical pressure to each side of the groove indicating that it is centered in the groove. Should this work? Thanks in advance for any remarks comments or suggestions.
One more question as there seem to be a lot of DIY members here... or maybe you could direct me to another forum... I have a question for anyone that may be able to help. I am in the midst of a second generation of a rebuild of a Dynaco PAS4 tube preamp. This NOT a PAT model or an upgraded PAS 3. This was a very limited production preamp which I think was the last tube preamp that Dynaco produced. It was way overbuilt as far as power supply and sounds fantastic. Dissappears in the system. My problem is that the 50Kohm stereo balance control (original) has developed noise and needs to be replaced. Tried cleaning it - no joy - lots of noise. It seems that there are two choices - cheap or unaffordable. So my question is this: Can I use a good quality stereo volume control (linear) and just wire one channel in reverse of the other s on o that at center positon both channels have equal settings? Would I have to add any additional components? I have read a lot of posts that say this should work fine as long as it is a linear (not logrithmic) volume control. However, no one has ever said they have actually tried it. Any help would be greatly appreciated....all comments welcome! Thanks in advance.
Interestingly, had this same issue with my OC9XML. No other cartridge exhibits this issue. Tried different headshells and made no difference. The static would discharge through the speakers and make a loud POP. For some reason changing loading from 1,000 ohms to 100 ohms alleviated the issue with the static discharging audibly. No idea why, but I tried that at the suggestion of KAB.
Well, I’m not so sure. The needle isn’t picking up stereo channels from the right and left side of the groove. I believe the stereo separation comes from vertical movement? Thus expecting a null wave when “centered in the groove” is not the correct assumption. but I do believe possible anti skate would have some effect on a OOP Null wave test. But I’m not sure why.
Curious. I've been experiencing more than usual static when removing some records from the mat (enough to hear the static crackling and the hair on my arm getting pulled but nothing audible through the speakers). I have my ART9XI loaded at 220 ohms but will try lowering it to 100 to see if it makes any difference.
Well, lowering the load resistance value will definitely help to damp the ultrasonic peak that your phono preamp may not be handling well, could be overloading on non-music related impulses at the lighter load and resulting in the loud pop sound, while they go mostly unnoticed with the heavier load, hard to say for certain. I don't see how it would affect the actual buildup of static and discharges, though the heavier load would also lower the compliance a little. Be interesting to hear his reasoning, did KAB give any explanation? Are you sure it was related to static charges, and not power being switched somewhere, like light switches or refrigerator cycling, or something like that creating a spike?
I don't think it has any impact on the static build-up, but eliminated the audible discharge though the speakers. I tested at 400 ohms and it was also fine at that load. 1,000 ohms is problematic for some reason. I've run a Benz Wood SL that has higher output without a problem, so I don't know why this cartridge would overload the preamp. And yes, it's definitely static electricity discharge. I never experienced this with another cartridge, including the AT33PTG/ii. In any event, loaded at 100, 200 or 400 ohms sound good, perhaps a little more open at 400 ohms.
I had the same issue and static pops with my OC9XSL. To resolve it I went as far as sending the cart back to AT because it seemed faulty. They tested it and said it was fine which didn't leave me feeling great. To my surprise it's gone away since the natural seasonal humidity level in my room has increased to over 60%. I have a Furutech Destat II and a RCM. They help a bit but the biggest solution to the problem was increasing the humidity. I now keep a very good hygrometer next to my turntable but I think AT carts are too sensitive to humidity. Mine is loaded at 470 with custom Ryan Sound Lab phono cards installed in my Naim 52.
Maybe it would help if the cartridge body was grounded to the headshell, with the hard surface anodizing on these carts, there is usually no electrical contact to the headshell.
I have a Rega - which lacks a proper ground and was wondering if that has something to do with it. I have plans to attach a ground wire to the spindle berring underneath the deck when the humidity drops and the problem reappears to see if that makes any difference.
Well, the Rega still has a proper ground connected to the tonearm, it just uses one of the shield/signal returns instead of a separate wire. Thorens and Lenco also used that method, at least at one time, but it's not as universal, some preamps work better with a separate ground wire. The tonearm grounding generally includes an internal wire that jumpers across the bearings, since they can't provide a low resistance path. Most tables do have a ground on the spindle bearing, but I know some don't, we were just talking about that in regard to one of the acrylic Pro-Ject models in another thread about the issue. Don't know if it would help or not, but my Micro Seiki does have a resistance path from the spindle and the platter via a ground wire on the bearing to turntable ground, and I've never had much of an issue with static. I've also been using an alumina ceramic arm wand for quite a while, which is not grounded, so my cartridge body potential is kind of floating.
Awhile back some folks were talking about static popping noise on certain cartridges. Some folks had success eliminating the static by moving the turntable power cord to a different outlet. I don't know why that would make a difference.
Ha. Now I'm going to try rearranging the 4 power cords I use amongst the 4 dedicated outlets I have to see which arrangement sounds the best. Wait, no I'm not.
I just realized that my XSL is on a TT with a ground like that. I haven't been monitoring the humidity but my table and phono stage are well grounded.
