AT-OC9XMLvs AT-OC9XSH

What exactly are AT cartridges known for. then?

bpoletti, I think that business about the ART7 being best for one kind of music and the ART9 best for another kind of music all started with something that came from AT originally in one of their ad blurbs.  After that, individual users ran with it, most of whom owned only one of the two and so were not in position to compare in their home systems.  I use my ART7 to reproduce all sorts of musical genres, and it's uniformly excellent.  I am sure there are several end users who would say the same about the ART9.  The only spec or stat to grab onto in choosing between them is signal voltage output.  The very low output of the ART7 suggests it might have a lower moving mass, which cannot be a bad thing.  On the other hand, if you don't have enough gain in your system to complement the ART7, the ART9 was once the darling of this forum.

I guess I am a bad person for daring to mention the Nagaoka. I did so only because it occurred to me that the US prices are close to the same. Meantime I did introduce the ART7 to this discussion. If the output is too low, one might search for an NOS ART9.

Viridian, that $500-$600 price is doable if you buy from Japan, and that’s about what I paid for mine a year ago in Tokyo. I was assuming that most would buy in the US where I think the price is more like $ 900, within shouting distance of the ART7 from LP Gear. And anyway, the OP is interested in a new LOMC, apparently not in a high output MI. 

If the phono stage has sufficient gain, I would dare say the ART7 even at $1090 is a good bargain, if one is looking for a LOMC cartridge. And it's likely to outperform the OC9 variants. The price is about the same as that of a Nagaoka MP500 (high output moving iron). I happen to have one of each up and running right now in my "upstairs" system, which means I like both although I would say the MP500 is a bit "fuller"  or richer sounding, and the ART7 perhaps more detailed. These differences are nothing to write home about; they are both excellent.

When you guys recommend ART9, which one are you talking about, the original ART9, the 9Xi, or the 9Xa?  Because if it is the original ART9, assuming one can still find it NOS, then let me put in a plug for the ART7, the low output (0.12mV) version.  Although it probably would be as hard or harder to find an NOS ART7 as to find an ART9. The ART9Xa is the low output counterpart to the 9Xi and therefore replaced the ART7. I do note that AT nearly doubled the retail prices of the 9Xa and 9Xi, compared to the original prices of the ART9 and ART7.  I bet the new models are not twice as good as their respective forebears,