I just picked up a very lightly used A90 the other day. I am using it with a fairly new Whest PS.30 RDT SE 2019 version phono stage and the turntable is the VPI Ares3 with a SME Series IV tone arm.
Amps are Anthem M1 mono blocks, speakers Bryston Model T signature series fully active ready but using the super duty external PX1 crossovers.
My system is very resolving, it will reveal a lot of information and what I find is the A90 is quite outstanding in the detail it pulls from the vinyl. The low end is extremely powerful with highly detailed, fast bass response. The upper range space is very open and wide. I am very impressed. The mids are silky.
What is particularly interesting is how the A90 plays based on VTF and Anti-skating settings. With a VTF setting in the heavier side of the specified range (around 2.3 gm), it has much more body with very rich detail. I played with the Anti-skating and set it in the range from zero, that is no AS up to the 2 gm area which is close to the VTF setting. With no anti skating, there is massive dynamic output, the low end is just huge. With the anti skating set to match near the VTF, up near 2 gm the upper end just comes to the forefront and the lower end thins out.
I found setting the Anti skating in the middle, right around 1 gm, I got a very nice balance of open sound stage and imaging with a lot of dynamic lower end power. I did play with the VTA too, I found that had little influence on the performance, so I set it up with a very parallel tone arm position as SME suggests. The VTF and Anti-skating play a huge roll in how the A90 plays; you can pretty much dial it in to the type of sound you prefer. This cartridge is extremely versatile.
Amps are Anthem M1 mono blocks, speakers Bryston Model T signature series fully active ready but using the super duty external PX1 crossovers.
My system is very resolving, it will reveal a lot of information and what I find is the A90 is quite outstanding in the detail it pulls from the vinyl. The low end is extremely powerful with highly detailed, fast bass response. The upper range space is very open and wide. I am very impressed. The mids are silky.
What is particularly interesting is how the A90 plays based on VTF and Anti-skating settings. With a VTF setting in the heavier side of the specified range (around 2.3 gm), it has much more body with very rich detail. I played with the Anti-skating and set it in the range from zero, that is no AS up to the 2 gm area which is close to the VTF setting. With no anti skating, there is massive dynamic output, the low end is just huge. With the anti skating set to match near the VTF, up near 2 gm the upper end just comes to the forefront and the lower end thins out.
I found setting the Anti skating in the middle, right around 1 gm, I got a very nice balance of open sound stage and imaging with a lot of dynamic lower end power. I did play with the VTA too, I found that had little influence on the performance, so I set it up with a very parallel tone arm position as SME suggests. The VTF and Anti-skating play a huge roll in how the A90 plays; you can pretty much dial it in to the type of sound you prefer. This cartridge is extremely versatile.