If you're on the hunt for a new high-end cartridge to fit on to your high-end record player, then we have good news: Audio-Technica has just launched a new flagship reference-level AT-ART1000X moving coil cartridge.
Audio-Technica has over 60 years of experience in making turntables and turntable-related components, and the new AT-ART1000X is billed as the brand's "most advanced cartridge to date".
Manufactured in Japan, the AT-ART1000X is the next-generation model following on from the previous flagship, the AT-ART1000 (which was launched at 2016's High End Munich). With eight years of development since then, the new cartridge aims to take the brand's "pursuit of sonic excellence to new heights, with a more refined direct power system for improved efficiency and enhanced bass reproduction."
The new MC cartridge continues to use a direct power system whereby the dual coils are placed directly above the stylus tip, which Audo-Technica claims picks up the finer details in music and delivers "unsurpassed" greater transient response. What's new is the coils – they are now rectangular rather than round, and that allows for more of their surface area to be positioned in the magnetic field. Audio-Technica says this results in more efficient and improved output voltage and greater low frequency range for "rich, powerful, and supremely accurate bass" to be delivered.
Each non-magnetic coil is constructed of PCOCC (Pure Copper by Ohno Continuous Casting) wire that is 20µm in diameter and hand-wound "exactly eight times" by skilled experts in Japan to create the newly developed rectangular shape. Each coil is able to generate 0.22mV of output voltage at 3.5 ohms, and they are placed in a tiny 0.5mm gap in the magnetic circuit.
As before, the AT-ART1000X has a solid boron cantilever with a titanium base and rigid aluminium housing – all to ensure the stylus is able to precisely and consistently read information from the record groove and to disperse any resonance that might affect sound quality. There is a special coating to protect the magnetic circuit from corrosion, ensuring that the cartridge continues to work and deliver the best performance throughout its lifetime.
And you'd certainly hope the new reference cartridge does last a lifetime, as such skill, manufacturing and sonic ambitions come with a high-end price tag. The Audio-Technica AT-ART1000X is available from today, retailing at a cool £4700 / €5500 / $5499. We'd love to see the equally impressive turntable that it's matched with.
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