Product description:-AT OC-9 low output MC cartridge
-0.4mV @ 5cm/s
-elliptical stylus
-silver-plated body, plastic shell
-price: discontinued, NOS available in the USA

This is a strange cartridge. Born in 1985 or so as a $400
cartridge, it got rave reviews in the British magazine (eliciting
phrases like "only Linn's Troika is better!!!") and subsequently
rocketeered on that particular island to $800!!!
Discontinued in 1995, new-old-stock can be found for
$270 or so.

The OC-9 is a nervous cartridge. I tried one in a Linn
Axis/Akito system, and its sound was consistent in its
inconsistency. Detailed, yes. But hardly ever musical,
and often thin and uninvolving.

Moving over to the Rega RB-300 on a GyroDec brought many
improvements, but still the OC-9 did not perform as the
star the magazines want you believe it is. Or maybe Ken
Kessler was right, stating that the OC-9 "felt wholly
at home in an SME V".

Now who uses a $400 cartridge with a $2500+ arm???

Technically the OC-9 is a solid and sound design, assembly
quality is high, channel imbalance was inexistent. Tracking and
end-of-side behaviour are adequate, but inferior to
e.g. the Ortofon MC-25FL.

It gets 4 stars. Think of it as a 4-, whereas I'd give
the MC-25FL a 4+.


I'm still keeping my retired OC-9, and will have it
re-built by cartridge wizard Jan Allaerts...

I do use the ATOC9 with my SME V + Sota Star Sapphire combination. I used a Koetsu Rosewood before but the SME tends to exaggerate the bass which makes the combination sounds muddy. The ATOC9, on the other hand stresses more on the midrange and high which matches the SME and Sota. I've also put the ATOC9 into my friend's Linn LP12 + Alphason and Basis Debut + Triplanar IV combination and the results are ok. Don't be biased against the price of cartridges. The higher price you pay is only a matter of personal preference. The ATOC9 tracks marvellously on the Telarc Omnidisc tracking test going beyond 35 seconds before distortion. However, the channel separation is poor when tested with my Ortofon test disk. It never reaches 25db!