Retip or try new


Have been neglecting my analog rig lately due to things various things in life. Just noticed that my 15+ yr old Akiva doesn't sound smooth as it used to - treble becomes harsher, etc. Instead of sending it in for retip / rebuild (never done that before), should I look at something new mid-level? Names come to mind are Hana ML, ART 9xa/xi. Genre is mostly classical (all kinds). Any suggestions? 

gxleetw

Showing 2 responses by blisshifi

Even if the cartridge can be retipped, given its age, consider that it may need work on its suspension, etc. I don’t have experience with your cartridge, but it looks like it sold for $3K new about 30 years ago, which is a handsome price for a cartridge then. If you do get it looked at, make sure you go to someone who can overhaul the cartridge completely rather than just look at the cantilever and stylus. 
 

I’m not confident a Hana ML would outperform it. I do like the Audio Technica ART9 series a lot and would recommend it over any other cartridge $1500 or less. I have compared it and preferred the ART9 over more expensive cartridges in the $5K range like the Dynavector XV-1S and Koetsu Rosewood and preferred the tonality of the ART9XI. Unless you have a top-notch phono stage that provides a serious amount of gain with low noise, I highly recommend the XI over the XA. It takes a lot to get lifelike presence with the lower output XA in my experience.
 

The ART9s are generally just a bit on the warm side, but they have excellent detail retrieval and separation and sound quite good with classical. I use one of the newer ART20 on a Pure Fidelity turntable I have on display in my shop, and that has a bit less warmth (more linear) and is more resolving than how I remember the presentation of the ART9 to be. That might be more fitting for classical, but it’s definitely a more costly cartridge unless you find it on the used market. 
 

 

@gxleetw So you have the Xono. I owned this unit for a while years ago. IF you have not used this stage at its highest gain level, you should know that it may be noisy. When I tried, I found there to be an audible rush with some low output cartridges. You may be better off with a setting that delivers less gain and with a cart that has a bit more output voltage.