NOS Grace F9E question

@chakster — I’ve no doubt you have truly great cartridges, and if I heard them I’d agree enthusiastically and turn dark green with envy.
You softened your language, but you still give us "true winners", as if a mere "winner" is a "false winner".
Does denigrating my F9E make your F14BE sound better? Or you feel better?

Nothing wrong with your F-9e @bimasta, as i said it's a good cartridge, but in my opinion there could be only 3 winners like in sport (№1, №2, №3). Since the Grace stopped making cartridges more than 27 years ago we can recall the best models. 

Shinagawa Musen made so many cartridges under Grace brand that are clearly better than F9 series (and i already explained why). I hope you understand my point now. 

Someone could say "Ohh, Grace F8 is a winner" but it's not true, because after F8 they made F9, F12, F14, Asakura's and LEVEL II with many technical improvement for each new series. 

P.S. my favorite in F9 series was F-9F (Discrete-4)  



  

Raul, Neither you nor I can score points with Chakster.  But I am going to try to find one of his preferred Grace cartridges just to see for myself.  Have you heard either of those two that he likes so much?

Chak, Please read what Raul wrote about the possible benefits of re-tipping, if in the process one also upgrades the stylus shape or the cantilever material.  You have devalued elliptical styli per se, yourself.  So why wouldn't it be potentially beneficial to replace an elliptical with a line contact or some other more "modern" shape, in the process of re-tipping?  

So I just went on eBay to see if there were any Grace Level II or F14 cartridges for sale there.  Chak, are you selling the F14 "new needle" (only) on eBay?  Someone in Russia is. There's a Level II for sale from within the US; it looks awful, and the dude wants more than $1000 for it!

@lewm

So why wouldn’t it be potentially beneficial to replace an elliptical with a line contact or some other more "modern" shape, in the process of re-tipping?

I want to hear and judge only original cartridges in perfect condition (from any manufacturer), if i need a better stylus or cantilever for my Gace MM i will do my best to find the original (NOS) with the best stylus/cantilever. I’ve had bad experience with refurbished mm cartridges, never again!

I do considering myself as a collector of genuine carts only, i will never buy any refurbished cartridge or any re-tipped cartridge when it comes to vintage carts of any type (MM or MC).

I often see how people are lying about condition of the cartridges they are selling on ebay, offering refurbished carts with aftermarket parts (completely different cantilevers or glued styli of the different shape and different mass) as the original. Someone even sold me refurbished carts as the original and never mentioned that they are refurbished. I just don’t want this experience anymore in my life. Re-tippers work or suspension repair does not looks nice under microscope compared to the original factory made genuine products. This is not for me.

In my opinion retipping/refurbishing service of some mega rare MM only make sense if there is no chance to find the original stylus replacement.

Refurbished vintage cartridge does not have any collectors value and the sound of such hybrid has nothing to do with the original sound. Some people see it as an upgrade, but i don’t see it like that. I believe that top quality vintage MM cartridges are superior to anything new and i am using only genuine carts so far. I would pay more for a NOS (sealed in the box) original than for refurbished cart from VdH or any other reputable master.

P.S. remember jp jones story about his Technics top of the line cartridge, the end of the story was pretty sad when someone tried to "refresh" the suspension of that rare cart. No one can guarantee the result of that job. This is not for me, never ever in my life i will send some rare working cartridge for some "fine tuning" or retip or whatever" to anyone.