Audio-Technica ART 7


Good day A,goners :)

I was in love with the AT OC9 III sound until I damaged it accidentally !!!!!!!!!! The needle broke off completely of the cartridge. I am looking for a replacement. 

I am wanting to stay with Audio-Technica, and looking into ART 9 and ART 7. I read the threads here and some other forums in regards to the ART 9 cart. Most likely will go for the ART 9. However, I am curious about the ART 7.

How many of you here are /were ACTUALLY using ART 7? With what phono stage and gain setting? What are the strength and limitation if you are using / used the ART 7?

I will be using it on a Project RMP 9 table with the 9cc Project arm, Simaudio Moon 310Lp phono, XLR cables (6dB additional gain) to BAT pre-amp.  

Thanks a lot for your inputs :)
Subho


 
128x128confuse_upgraditis
Good thread and very educational.  Well done folks. I've played in the "Gray Market" casino a few times over the years and it appears I've been lucky.   

Mick, if you've read the thread you know I own an ART7 too. I'm running it into a Manley Steelhead set to 65db gain via an MC input and 400 ohm load. Maybe you ought to try reducing the MC gain setting on your Rhea and try setting the load to 47K. With the SUT you can't achieve a 47K load because the SUT inevitably affects the load seen by the cartridge in inverse proportion to the square of the turns ratio. On the other hand I am having some issues with the sound of my ART7, so maybe you are doing the right thing and I am not.

Hi, I have been using Audio Technica AT-ART7 for three years now with three different set-ups. If the question is still current, I can report about my experience - which is very good - and describe the set-ups and what I think is to be considered when trying to match ;-)
Hi, I too have ART-7, it is indeed very good, however, the very low output can be problematic, I'm a keen DIY'er and have built my own MC preamp based around the Linear Tech LT1028/LT1115 op amps which most high end HIFI companies use or should use.

If you're interested: when designing an MC pre amp for extreme low output, power supply noise rejection becomes more apparent, thats the issue I had and have since rectified this problem with lots of head scratching and testing with different ways.

On the MC pre amp I have 100ohm loading for the ART-7 with 60db of gain, it is low but all this means is you have to turn the volume up on the amplifier. I'm happy to live with that.

Let me know if you need more info...
At this point in time, I have now run the ART7 into two different phono stages. One is the Manley steelhead, which I mentioned previously on this thread. The other is the phonolinepreamp marketed by Raul and his friend in Mexico. With both of these devices I have plenty of gain and pretty much zero electronic noise. I know the noise is never actually zero, so don’t bother to remind me, thanks. My main point is that with any really good high and phono stage that produces adequate gain of at least 65 DB or maybe 60 DB is sufficient, there should be no issue with running this cartridge.