Spin Doctor

I think of Audio-Technica as the maker of some of the best high-value cartridges out there. From the ubiquitous AT3600L, which can be had for a little more than a Big Mac meal at McDonald's, to the popular OC9 moving coil series, A-T's cartridges have long been easy-to-recommend options that deliver great sound mounted on just about any turntable.

But occasionally, Audio-Technica likes to show off its technological chops by launching a cartridge that breaks new ground. Last year, they celebrated their 60th anniversary by stunning everyone with the AT-MC2022, which uses an outrageous integrated stylus and cantilever fashioned from a single piece of lab-grown diamond. In 2016, they flexed their capabilities with the AT-ART1000, which completely reconfigured how the elements of a moving coil cartridge are arranged, with spectacular results.

Now, eight years after the AT-ART1000 was launched, A-T has introduced the AT-ART1000x, which incorporates several small but important improvements (footnote 1).

The original ART1000 was the final project from retiring Audio-Technica cartridge designer Mitsuo Miyata, fulfilling a decades-long dream to implement what he calls a Direct Power System, which moves the cartridge's coils forward to a spot near the front of the cantilever, directly over the stylus. The result is more direct mechanical coupling between the stylus and the coils, with less interference from cantilever flexing and resonance.

Over decades, a handful of cartridges has worked in a similar way, including the Decca-Londons and the 1960s-era DST 62 from Georg Neumann. The DST 62 has a strong cult following, especially among Japanese audiophiles. There have been a couple of DST 62 recreations: the Japanese Lumière, which is hard to track down, and the Tzar DST, which is imported to the United States by Robyatt Audio. The Tzar hails from one of the last places I would expect to find a company making exotic cartridges: Siberia. Art Dudley reviewed the Tzar and discussed the Lumière in Listening #157 and Listening #200 (footnote 2).

The ART1000 and ART1000x may have a more direct inspiration. In the early 1980s, the Japan Victor Company (JVC) made a cartridge called the MC-1, which had the coils mounted on top of the cantilever but set back a few millimeters rather than directly over the stylus. In an interview, Miyata-san said that he first started to think about this approach in the early 1980s; I wonder if he was inspired by the MC-1.

After Miyata retired, his title, Audio-Technica Chief Cartridge Designer, passed to Yosuke Koizumi, who developed the improvements in the ART1000x. The most noticeable change is that the exposed round coils of the ART1000 have been replaced by rectangular coils, which Koizumi says makes the generator more efficient, boosting the cartridge's output by 10%, to 0.22mV. Also improving the efficiency is a narrower gap in the magnet structure, down from 0.6mm to 0.5mm—which means that precise alignment of the coils in the gap is even more critical. Other refinements include threaded mounting holes for easier installation and a special coating on the magnetic structure to protect it from corrosion. Which begs the question: Was corrosion a problem with the original ART1000? Was this because users were ignoring the stern instructions to avoid fluids when cleaning the stylus?

For the most part, the specifications for the new cartridge are identical to those of the old, including the line contact stylus and boron cantilever, but I did spot a couple of differences buried in the specs. The vertical tracking angle has dropped from 21° to a closer-to-ideal 19°; this is tied in with a change in dynamic compliance, to 9×10^–6cm/dyne @100Hz, down from the older ART1000's 12×10^–6cm/dyne. This should make the cartridge a better match with higher-mass arms. Note that these specs use the Japanese method of measuring compliance at 100Hz and cannot be compared directly with the compliance specs of cartridges measured at 10Hz. In my Brinkmann 10.5 tonearm, with a combined effective mass of about 24gm, the combination worked flawlessly.

Even with all these improvements, the price of the ART1000x has risen only modestly, from $4999 for the ART1000 to $5499 for the new ART1000x.

Designer Koizumi says that the combined sonic effect of these changes is a slightly warmer, fuller-bodied sound, with a lower noisefloor due to the ART1000x's higher output. I didn't have an ART1000 on hand to make a direct comparison, and I have never installed one for a customer, so I was only able to evaluate the ART1000x on its own and compare it against rivals.

Installing the ART1000x is straightforward, although with the stylus tucked up under the magnet assembly the coils fit into, it can be harder to see the stylus and cantilever. Each cartridge comes with a hand-written spec for tracking force, which varies from sample to sample. Lowering the stylus onto my alignment protractor, I noticed that the cantilever has quite a bit of give to it, so the correct stylus pressure is critical to getting the coils positioned accurately in the magnetic gap. The review sample was specified to track at 2.5gm, which I set precisely using my Riverstone Audio gauge.

In my cartridge-setup experience, incorrect stylus pressure (VTF) is a common problem. Getting it right seems especially important with this cartridge.

I primarily used the ART1000x with the CH Precision P1 phono preamp, and after experimenting between the current- and voltage-drive inputs, I settled on current drive for its exceptional quiet, which allowed the ART1000x's transparency to shine through. With its coil impedance of 3.5 ohms, the ART1000x is a good match for current drive phono preamps.

Because of the unique coil placement, cleaning the ART1000x's stylus is fraught with danger. You need to remove dust and debris without touching or nudging the tiny coils out of position, and that requires a steady hand. Audio-Technica provides a short-haired brush with the ART1000x, with detailed instructions on how to use it, and admonishes the user not to employ any alternative method. These instructions are repeated in seven languages on a separate bright yellow sheet inside the box, so I guess they really mean it. I found the brush worked well—which is good, because the ART1000x seemed to collect more fluff from the grooves than most other cartridges do.

From the first note, it was immediately clear that the ART1000x is very special. I put on Hampton Hawes's I'm All Smiles (Contemporary S7631) just to break the cartridge in but ended up sitting down and listening to all of side 2. Unlike many of the more famous Contemporary recordings, this one was recorded live at an L.A. venue called Mitchell's Studio Club, and it was not engineered by the legendary Roy DuNann but by Reice Hamel. Still, it's a superb-sounding record, with Red Mitchell's famous walking bass sounding clearer than ever on "The Shadow of Your Smile." Mitchell's piano had the perfect amount of attack and bite, with no hint of brightness or harshness. Donald Bailey's cymbals were impressively clear and distinct, the rich tonal color of each cymbal painted brightly.

After I gave the cartridge a few hours for break-in, I played a German ATR Mastercut reissue of the Harmonia Mundi recording of Gregorio Paniagua's La Folia (ATR 013 LP). This unique piece combines ancient and modern instruments in a set of modern variations on a baroque-style dance. Musically, it goes pretty much everywhere, from straight-up baroque to Indian ragas and electric guitars to revving car engines. The recording by Jean-François Pontefract places this unique combination of sounds and instruments in an unfailingly natural sounding space, with a deep, focused soundstage of exceptional clarity. When unexpected sounds like the firing of a gun popped up, the effect was startling, with stunning jump factor.

I love Ryuichi Sakamoto's film scores, so it was hard to pass up Music for Film (Silva Screen Records SILLP1524), a two-LP set of orchestral film-score settings. On "The Sheltering Sky," the strings were lush and rich, with fine dynamic shading and nuance. This LP sounds like it was cut from a digital file, but there was plenty of subtlety and color. As with all the records I played, I was impressed by how silent record surfaces seemed. When I lowered the stylus into the lead-in groove, I could barely hear the difference after it hit the vinyl.

The ART1000x is an astonishing cartridge, a tour de force, but it comes with a caveat. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like to think too much about cartridge care and feeding, it may not be an ideal choice. I found that the stylus needed frequent cleaning, and you need to take real care when performing that task. It's also unlikely that the third-party cartridge rebuilders would take this on, so you will need to use the factory-rebuild service, which costs about two-thirds as much as a new cartridge. At the press launch, I asked Koizumi-san whether A-T had experienced higher than usual customer damage with the ART1000. He said no, but it's something to consider.

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Footnote 1: Audio-Technica U.S. Inc., 1221 Commerce Dr. Stow, OH 44224. Tel: (330) 686-2600. Web: Audio-Technica.com.

Footnote 2: Michael Fremer also auditioned the Tzar DST.