Has anyone upgraded from an AudioTechnica ART9?

have the art 9, think its great, but have tried to upstage it with more expensive MC carts, but have not done so.

pretty hard to beat it unless you step up the 1000, but even then, it does not blow away the art 9.

forget LOMC carts from some of the holly grail brands (no names) the art 9 is considerably better, better tracking, better detail, more musical, better imaging....

have not heard the Miyajima MC cart so do not know what it sounds like.

all I was trying to say was I was in overdrive, hard pressed on the search for the best LP playback nirvana, thinking I would find it the more I spent....just was not the case.....

and if you really want to throw a wrench into your LP playback/cart evaluations, don't do what I did and compare the LP to to high speed tape.

Doing so will change your perspective on many LOMC carts.

But if you want to walk down that path, put on the Acoustic sounds Reiner/CSO Pines on LP. then play the same tape available from Acoustic Sounds (you will need a high speed half track deck to play it). Holly cow, so many carts do not get it right.....and many add things not on the tape....

And don't forget the LP came from the tape, not the other way around.

If you can afford the ART1000, buy it, if not buy the ART 9, and you'll be 85% of the way there.

Can't tell you how many kilo bucks I flushed chasing LP nirvana.

happy listening.



 

I did a poor job of explaining.... when you are considering spending 8k to 15k or more on a LOMC cart, buying a tape deck and one tape should not be much of an issue. and even if you only have that one tape, you now have a tool for a true A-B comparison against the LP and any cart you wish to try be it MC or MM.

And I would tend to agree with your comment that most MM carts sound closer to the tape than MC carts.

the other point worth making when evaluating an MM or MC cart is the need before hand to make sure the combined system (cart, and phono stage) is (measures flat) with a known  input. YOu can use a NAB broadcast test disc for this or likely others as well.