the Grace Ruby Cantilever and the Grace Line Contact Stylus (as opposed to the Super Oval of the REAL Level II) @halcro
Your RUBY stylus is for old generation F8 cartridge, also compatible with better LEVEL II, but the diamond is ELLIPTICAL, none of the RS-8R comes with LineContact tip. I will tell you more - none of the RS-9R for F9 Ruby comes with LineContact tip. They are all nude ELLIPTICAL.
LineContact is what SoundSmith can provide, but it is not the original Grace.
Do you have your Grace Ruby refurbished by SoundSmith?
According to your philosophy....the Line Contact should be an improvement over the Super Oval....?
I’m not sure that "Super Oval" is correct translation from Japanese language, probably it is Super Elliptical or Hyper Elliptical. Probably LineContact is better, but one problem - there is no LineContact RUBY from Grace for any model.
The best from Grace was MicroRidge but only for very expensive models such as F14 and LEVEL II with BORON PIPE cantilevers.
For some reason Grace made Utility-4 and Decrete-4 styli for LEVEL II and F8 and F9 with LineContact type and Shibata type diamonds, but the cantilever is aluminum.
I also have the LEVEL II Disco with BERYLLIUM CANTILEVER and boy....am I ever glad I don’t have it with the Boron cantilever as there is not a single boron-cantilevered cartridge that I listen to or is amongst my top 10
Nice, i remember you told me about it. The DISCO version is what i need in my collection, these cartridges made for DJs and Broadcast Radio Stations. It’s so nice than Grace offered amazing sound quality even for professional needs. Actually my "F14 Excellent" was a special calibrated broadcast version for mastering studios and critical listening.
P.S. I have F14 LC-OFC with Beryllium cantilever, also NOS stylus with Beryllium cantilever for F12 cartridge (still sealed).