Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Audio-Technica launched the AT-OC9 in 1987, a year after the more affordable AT-OC7. It featured a nude elliptical stylus tip on a gold-plated beryllium cantilever and a 'reverse V' coil arrangement. Both models used the PCOCC wiring that had previously debuted on the AT-33ML/OCC but the AT-OC9's generator employed a titanium oxide-based magnet and vanadium-based yoke. The microline stylus made its debut in the AT-OC9ML, the AT-OC9ML/II arriving in 2001 sporting a more powerful samarium cobalt magnet and a gold-plated boron cantilever.

The OC9/III came in 2010, the key features this time being the line-contact stylus on a solid boron cantilever, plus the first appearance of the permendur yoke and neodymium magnet set-up. A later AT-OC9/III LTD limited edition model added a titanium body. This generator formation is still used in the AT-OC9XSH alongside the new Shibata stylus. Despite the introduction of the III, Audio-Technica continued to offer the ML/II, with some listeners preferring it. However, this new range spells the end for those older models.