Will Grace F9 Cart work with Rega RB250 tonearm?

I've got the SS OCL stylus on my Grace Ruby, and I agree with Dave Garretson. It's a winner. I do believe the compliance may be a tad lower than that of my stock Grace Ruby. (Yes, I've got two Grace Rubys, enough for my remaining lifetime, if I also use about 10 other cartridges I own.)

I have three Grace F9Es that Peter has retipped for me. I
have used them with excellent results on the RB250, RB300
and the RB600 arms on various tables throughout the years.
Along with many other arms and tables.

Most recently the cartridge was mounted on my fully tricked
out Rega P25 (RB600 arm). It was a fantastic combination.
I have since replaced it with an Audio Technica AT150MLX and
do like it better, but the F9E remains one of my favorite MM
cartridges.

IMHO, it should work and sound great.

Dear Sc0ttc00ter: There are 9 Grace F-9 models that differ mainly in the stylus shape but almost all shares 12cu on compliance, so IMHO you will have no trouble with your tonearm in that regards.

Btw, the Grace F-9 is very good performer , I own 2-3 original different models ( including the Ruby one. ) but I never heard the SS after market retip.

I think that Dgarretson in the MM/MI thread posted he own the SS stylus assembly and he like it.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

I haven't heard the F9 (in any version) so take this FWIW...

First and foremost, ask Soundsmith what the compliance will be on an F9 with their OCL Ruby cantilever. That's crucial information.

I believe some stock F9s were highly compliant cartridges (like 25 X 10-6 cm/dyne) and as such were optimized for low mass tonearms (like a Grace, lol). The OL1 is about double the effective mass of a Grace, not terribly high so it shouldn't be terrible, but not optimal.

Putting a cartridge on a *much* higher mass arm than it was designed for will (in theory) stress the cartridge suspension and cause it to age faster than it would on a more suitable arm. The cantilever might be driven to its limits of travel by high amplitude groove modulations, in which case you'd hear distorted or clipped dynamic peaks.

All the above is theory and again, the OL1 is not *that* high in mass. It's also possible the Soundsmith retip may result in lower compliance, which would help. I've no experience with the F9 and defer to those who've heard this combination for real world impressions.