Just bought a very used ART 9 The seller may even be on here. This is what I originally wanted when it went (wrong?) as it was discontinued I was sent an ART9XA. But at a very good price. Still have to install on SL1200G. Hope these pics of the ART9 will help owners judge stylus wear Now the seller estimated 1000 hours so I have taken pics of the stylus. I have binoculur medical microscope but only 40x mag available But first my little used Art XA looks like it needs a clean.... last pic off AT website ART 9 Note longer shank - I am not an expert but that looks pretty good to me.
My ART9 has about 600 hours and it looks like in the photos 2-4. Great sounding cartridge, very sweet and smooth. I love it!
looks good but can you get a view from the front of the cartridge? that will tell you if the wear is even on both sides and how close the wear marks are to the cut line.
I di dtake pics from the fronyt but didn't work out. Shape is even both sides showing little if any wear. Comments on here indacted about 1000hrs life I would reckon 2 thousand being realistic.
The XA uses the Shibata/boron from Namiki, so has their customary stylus attachment method to the boron rod with the "bird beak" of glue (they say it is too fragile for other methods). The old ART9 and the XI use the SLC/boron which is probably from Ogura, and they cut a slot in the boron rod and use the mounting plate style attachment., which is cleaner, but maybe adds more mass, not sure, it uses a rectangular diamond shank to reduce mass.
You will never be able to tell how much wear is on that stylus with your equipment, unfortunately. That type of magnification could help with seeing major damage from an accident though. The cheapest route you can even begin to see acceptable wear would be getting an old Shure SEK-2 stylus microscope. Even then, you’d likely need a brand new stylus (of the same cut) to compare it to so you’d know what to look for. The actual contact area on a stylus tip is tiny; it’s only a minuscule fraction of the tip that makes contact. Proper magnification, lighting, and orientation is the only way you’ll have a chance of seeing that part of the stylus. At 1,000 hours, practically all styli are shot. Maaaaybe a MicroLine, but I’ve personally never seen one (tracking around 2 grams) last that long, despite what manufacturers claim.
it looks like the inner groove side is worn - you cannot see the facet cut like you can on the outer groove side. possibly too much anti skate and / or not enough resolution or lighting in the photo.
The Ogura diamonds are much larger so more massy, but also arguably more securely fastened for maximum transmission of vibrations from diamond to cantilever. Also, where there is diamond, there is no boron, perhaps in the end lower mass overall than the others. It’s a true mortise and tenon type joint. I’m not sure exactly what the plate does. I assume it’s a production aid. The Namiki (and Nagaoka and Gyger) method may by just as effective but requires much smaller diamonds to work, typically only 0.3mm tall. The diamonds may fall off more easily than the Ogura type, but the Oguras often cause the cantilever to break in the course of damage so repair is potentially more costly in the event of diamond loss. Hard to say which method is better. Welcome to audio.
Yea, AT makes kind of a big deal about the diamond plate on the expensive new ART20 being from titanium to save tip mass (it's basically the same setup as the ART9XI except for that), with some implication that it is stainless steel on lessor models, but not positive on the steel, haven't seen them say that outright. Ogura could probably tell you for sure what it is. Nobody specifies tip mass anymore, maybe don't even have the capability of measuring, who knows, they just say mass is reduced without supplying any real data.
Anyone using the ART9XA with a Jolida JD9? Just wondering what settings you're using. I got a screaming deal on a slightly used (50 hrs) XA that I couldn't pass up and it'll be here this weekend. The seller's phono preamp didn't have enough gain for the XA so he bought the XI and sold me his XA. I'm a bit uneasy about the XA's low output but OTOH I'm using a ZYX Bloom 3 with 0.3 mv output with no problems whatsoever with my modded JD9. I've still got my older ART9 and love it, but I got the Bloom 3 just for a change. Great sounding cart by the way. Any significant differences between the ART9 and the XA version? I can't recall ever having a cart with the Shibata stylus profile so if anyone has any setup tips for the Shibata please share.
The new Audio-Technica flagship cartridge ready for prime time- the 60th anniversary AT-MC2022. Aluminum/titanium body one piece integrated cantilever/stylus .55mv output Produces a sharp, vibrant soundscape that lets you hear – and feel – every detail of your music Integrated stylus and 0.22 mm cantilever, formed from a single lab-grown diamond, eliminates the distortion caused by conventional bonding for pure signal transmission and fast transient response The integrated diamond cantilever is lab-grown using CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process Body constructed of titanium and aluminum with an elastomer undercover to reduce undesirable resonance Utilizes a highly efficient magnetic circuit resulting in greater magnetic flux density and output voltage High-quality terminal pins (with gold plating that’s approximately 30 times thicker than on conventional pins) reduce contact resistance Black accents on cartridge body are inspired by traditional shippo enameling (Japanese cloisonné) Threaded cartridge mounting holes allow for easy installation to a headshell or integrated tonearm Comes with specially designed walnut storage case, featuring acrylic window with laser-engraved 60th anniversary logo and serial number. In addition, the packaging uses a traditional Japanese Echizen Washi paper. Hand crafted Ion plating that achieves both high durability and a stunning mirror finish Please Note: AT-MC2022’s stylus assembly is not field-replaceable, but Audio-Technica offers a fee-based Moving Coil Exchange Program to properly service your moving coil cartridge. Cartridge & Stylus Frequency Response 20 to 50,000 Hz Channel Separation 30 dB (1 kHz) Vertical Tracking Angle 20° Vertical Tracking Force 1.6 to 2.0 g (1.8 g standard) Stylus Construction Unified line contact (integrated cantilever type) Recommended Load Impedance ≥ 100 ohms (when head amplifier connected) Coil Impedance 12 ohms (1 kHz) DC Resistance 12 ohms Coil Inductance 25 μH (1 kHz) Output Voltage 0.55 mV (1 kHz, 5 cm/sec.) Output Channel Balance 0.5 dB (1 kHz) Cantilever 0.22 mm (0.0087") square diamond Static Compliance 21 × 10-6 cm/dyne Dynamic Compliance 15 × 10-6 cm/dyne (100 Hz) Cartridge Weight 9.5 g (0.34 oz) Dimensions 17.3 mm (0.68”) × 17.7 mm (0.70”) × 26.7 mm (1.1”) (H × W × D) Accessories Included Non-magnetic screwdriver, Brush, Washer × 2 , Cartridge installation screws (M2.6) (5.0 mm (0.20”) × 2, 8.0 mm (0.31”) × 2, 10.0 mm (0.39”) × 2, 12.0 mm (0.47”) × 2), Protector, Case (wooden box), Accessory pouch Threaded Hole M2.6 × 2 Stylus Curvature Radius 2.2 × 0.12 mil
Yeah, that with black is nice indeed. However, still like the look of my old ART-1. But I guess they have more room inside the later houses of the ART7/ART9(xx).
Interesting note is that there is a big gap in the Audio Technica MC cartridge lineup at the $1k price point. The 33SA is ~$750 or so street price and the new ART9 series are $1500. AT may be reluctant to add a $1k / $1200 model to the lineup as it would pilfer sales from the ART9s. Still the 33SA and OC9 series do not seem to merit $1k status or compete with other males in this range. I do not want to call the new ART9 series over priced but they are not nearly the value the were before the XI and XA were released, maybe right priced and no longer giant killers. Too bad quite honestly.
Does seem they have created a pretty big gap now, but the XI/XA is still around $1140 from Thakker. On the other hand, the OC9XSL is $575 and the 33Sa is $550, so I guess the gap is still the same, just lower price overall. I'm curious which other cartridges under $1000 do you think outperform or sound better than the OC9XML, which is only around $415 from Thakker? There are quite a few other popular carts in that price range as we saw in the big poll early this year (The Big Moving Coil Cartridge Poll - Under $1000 ), Hana SL, Dynavector 10x5, Ortofon Quintet Black, etc, but not sure I'd prefer any of them to the OC9XML right now. With the strong USD in the last few months, there were some pretty nice under $1000 carts I added at the end of that poll thread awhile back, and some of them would definitely be in the mix for me, but I haven't heard them yet, other than the Benz Micro Glider, which I do like a lot.
I was thinking a touch higher like the Dynavector DV20X2L ($1250) and Ortofon Quintet Black ($1000), those are in the ballpark. Not to say the ATs are not good values, they are, but if looking in the $1k "range" I would stretch for the Dynavector or Ortofon. Possibly the Hana too.
I've got my new to me ART9XA mounted and pretty much dialed in. I haven't hooked up my Foz to it yet but so far I'm impressed. To my ears it sounds more refined than my ART9 with a bit better detail retrieval and tighter bass. I like it.
Yeah, since it is an air-core design, it will be more phase-correct then the iron-core models. It's coil capacity is as low as 2,5μH and that is impressive. My ART7 is "just" 7μH where any other AT MC is around 22~25μH and that brings more coloration (phase shifting) with it. So yeah, that bass should be cleaner the you used to hear. Congrats on your new ART.
Congrats! I really like the sound of the XA and would have kept it if my preamp had a touch more gain. I bet it is a great match with your Jolida, enjoy one of the best !
I’m using an AT-ART9XA with a Moon 310LP phono pre-amp. Gain is set to 46 dB. Loading is 100 Ohms. Works for me! Very low noise, I can’t hear any hiss from where I sit. I also find this cartridge presents less noise from records as well.
Just curious, did you mean to say gain is set to 66dB, or do you actually have it set to 40dB and are using the balanced outputs for 46dB? If the latter, that seems very low for the XA.
