Munich 2016

Audio-Technica's "Evolutionary" New ART1000 Phono Cartridge

Michael Fremer  |  May 8, 2016

While the design of Audio-Technica's new ART1000 MC phono cartridge, which affixes the coils atop the stylus, appears revolutionary, in fact it's been done before and quite some time ago.

Neumann's DST 62, introduced in 1962 and a recent copy of that design by Tsar Audiology in Siberia (see Art Dudley's review) also placed the coils atop the stylus. See Art's story for why that is beneficial. A review, not a show report is a better venue for such a discussion.

This new one from Audio-Technica repeats the concept but with a totally new design. The video provides the details (output, price, VTF etc.).

I apologize for the less than stellar video, particularly the aim: I was so entranced by the stylus, that I didn't pay sufficient attention to where the camera was aimed. If you pause at the appropriate place you'll see it better! The photo at the top shows it clearly as well.

COMMENTS
mraudio's picture
Submitted by mraudio on Sun, 2016-05-08 10:37

A little pricey, (for me anyway) at around $6000 USD, but I bet it sounds great.

Anton D's picture
Submitted by Anton D on Mon, 2016-05-09 09:30

You have the best macro lens I have ever seen!

Eskisi's picture
Submitted by Eskisi on Tue, 2016-05-10 21:47

In the review cited above, Art Dudley says, "But, as I described in last month's column, the cantilever of an ideal phono cartridge would be as short as possible, with a fulcrum equidistant from the stylus at one end and the generator at the other: Otherwise, the generator's excursions can't really keep pace with the excursions of the stylus, the result being compressed music."

That is such rubbish and I have read him say it elsewhere also. By that reckoning, turning the volume down must be also compression. But it is not. Compression is non-linear. If 10 maps into 5, 6 into 3, 2 into 1, that is linear. But if 10 mapped into 4 in that same series, that would be compression, it is not proportinal. That type of compression is used -- and often unncessarily maligned -- in music recording to make the quitest parts louder and vice versa.

Unfortunately urban -- and audio -- myths start when "experts" write nonsense.

mobileholmes's picture
Submitted by mobileholmes on Wed, 2016-05-11 20:43

An ideal design would exactly mimic the geometry of the cutting head. I don't know the exact length of a cutting stylus from the pivot, but I'm sure it is relatively short. If the distance from pivot to stylus tip of a phono cartridge is different than that of the cutter, it means it cannot exactly retrace the arc of the cutting stylus (it would have a different "arc radius").

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