Grace Level ll

Nice! 

Ateal, Congrats on your great find. One High- End audio fellow prefers the Grace F-14/ Ruby over Level II. I personally prefer F-14/ MR Boron over my Ruby. So it all comes down to the tonearm/deck one is using.
To each his own and this is the essence in audio.  And yes, I surely would like to try Level II some day.

Enjoy your gear and music

Harold, I have it installed on my Yamaha GT2000 stock tonearm which has an effective mass of 19g when taking into account the headshell. This is not considered ideal as I think would benefit a lighter tonearm.

I was going to install on my Audiomods tonearm which is only 10g and sits on an Oracle Delphi. Unfortunately the pins on the Level II are very thin and the cardas tonearm wire pins are too loose.

Therefore I have kept the F9 Ruby fitted to the Audiomods/ Oracle.

I have to say that even though the pairing of GT2000 and Level II is not supposed to be a good match on paper, it is breaking in very well and starting to wake up and already outperforms the Grace F9 Ruby. 

As as for the top line Grace models, I think I have read that the F14 BR/MR is considered the top of the bunch with the Level II ceramic and F14 Ruby close seconds. But as you say, it all comes down to the rig one uses and personal preference.

Be careful as using a higher compliance cartridge on a heavier tonearm can wear out the suspension quicker 

Grace trademark belongs to the Shinagawa Musen Co., LTD corporation. Grace F-6 and F-7 cartridges appeared on the market in the early 60’s. The first widely popular Grace F-8 series of Moving Magnet cartridges was developed in 1966 with The Japan Broadcasting Corporation, better known as NHK. Upgraded F-9 series appeared in the mid 70’s, but wasn’t so pupular as the F-8. Then Grace released the most advanced ultra high-end F12, Level II and F14 series with the best possible cantilevers (such as Beryllium, Boron, Ruby...) and Micro Ridge diamonds. The best coil wire material appeared in the LC-OFC models only, one of them you can see on my picture. In 2009 on 60th Anniversary the company restocked replacement styli for the fans in Japan. My Grace F-14 LC-OFC comes with special Anniversary stylus from that limited edition series. Few years ago i discovered extremely rare Grace Asakura’s signature LOMC models dedicated to the founder of the company. I’ve never seen them before i bought one.

I’m posting this to show you the latest run of Grace Anniversary stylus, probably one of them. It’s black color. Here is another image of my F14 with this stylus: https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/33664711_2235633429788145_1784707409982259200_n.jpg?_n...