NOS Grace F9E question

@lewm

Chakster, please tell us what phono stage, amplifier, and speakers you are using to make your unequivocal judgements.

i’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say again that I don’t think one can pick out all the greatest cartridges simply by noting the elements of their construction. If one could, this hobby would be less vexing and more boring. The F9 and the Ruby are two examples of cartridges that have no right to sound as good as they do, given the materials of which they are made.

You’d better buy F-14 LC-OFC with BR/MR stylus or the LEVEL II LC-OFC in the same configuration, then we can talk about Grace cartridges, seriously. Right now i see that you have never tried the best Grace cartridges yet and you only can repead that you like the Ruby or SoundSmith refurbished one. There was a RUBY version of LEVEL II cartridge and i have it too. As i said i’m collecting different Grace cartridges and styli.

How can you tell anything about Grace if you may never owned any models that are placed much higher in the catalog of Grace (higher than F-9 of any kind) ? You never told me that you have tried any of them. Those upgraded Grace models supposed to be more expensive and much better cartridges. They are all from the 80’s (not from the 70’s). In fact they are better, no questions for me (owned all of them, included some unknown models). I don’t know anyone who would like to get back to the F-9 after trying F-14 or LEVEL II. Worth to try, really.

You asking about my gear again? OK:

-Gold Note PH-10 phono stage
-JLTi phono stage with optional load resistors of whatever value for MM
-First Watt B1 preamp
-First Watt F2J power amp (for crossover less speakers)
-Zu Audio Druid mk5* full range crossoverlesss peakers with high pass filter for super tweetrer (*in fact oficially upgraded mk4 with the latest drivers and tweeters, parts supplied by zu audio).

P.S. The situation with Grace reminds me a situation with those Glanz cartridges (long time carts of the month in MM thread), people can’t judge the potential of Glanz until they will try MFG-61 which is another level of performance compared to all lower models from the same brand. Same about Grace latest models in comparison to the lower models. This is where the true winners are! 

 Dear Chakster, my only point was that you cannot prove empirically by describing its elements that one cartridge is better than another. What I am saying is that the proof of the pudding is in the listening. We both know many examples of surprisingly good sounding cartridges that don’t look that good on paper. For all I know, you are absolutely correct that your later Grace cartridges are superior to the F9 and the ruby. I don’t have any basis to contradict your opinion on that. So we all have to listen to those rare cartridges that you seem to be able to find. By the same token, have you heard a Grace Ruby with SS OCL retip? I didn’t think so, but  I would never claim it is superior to Grace cartridges that I have never heard. Only that it is very good in its own right. 

@lewm some people on this forum believes that changind a short leadwires in the headshell makes hude difference in sound quality (certainly not me).

I believe that LC-OFC version of the coils and pins makes more different, but diamond shape and cantilever materials are even more important. Also i’m sure that Grace engineers knew how to upgrade their popular cartridges to another level. Most of my favorite MM cartridges from the 80s are better than carts from the same manufacturers made earlier in the 70s.

I have no reason to use new SoundSmith styli for Grace or to send any Grace to SoundSmith for refurbishing, because i have perfect original samples of Grace (some NOS etc) and i don't use F9 series anymore.  

So, at the present moment, which Grace cartridge do you think is the very best one to own?  If I am going after a rare Grace, I may as well pursue their best.  Thanks.