I always clean mine when I get them, so I’m not worried about that part, to be honest. The AT cleaner is quite easy to use. My cartridge is only at about 50hrs though, so will see how it does over time.
In the UK they are within about 10-15% of each other: the ART 9 is £995 the Rega £1049 and the Linn £1150.
At some point I’ll try all of them of my Thorens TD125 with a Jelco 750 arm as the detachable headshell makes this a lot easier. I’m not a big fan of changing cartridges on arms too often.
Good point on the output of the AT. My SuperLine is the standard one.
In the US, ART9 can be had for 990$USD via authorised dealer.
Rega Apheta II is 1895$USD. Ania is 795$ closer in price to the ART9.
Krystal runs comparable to the Apheta II at 1900USD, IIRC.
Can you borrow an E Superline and try after you settled on a loading value?
ART7 was the one I was looking at due to its low output voltage. Usually lower output carts sound better on my Superline which also a standard version.
Or Linn Green paper! 
Coming back to this after a while, I’ve since tried the ART-7 which I much preferred over the ART-9 as it seems to have a lot more soul. But I also enjoyed the far cheaper OC9 III.
So which did you go for?
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