What phono preamp are you using?

those old F-9s are still something..

@pesky_wabbit, initially I had no idea what it was. I was interested in bidding on a Denon DP-62L turntable and the cartridge wasn't mentioned in the listing. I messaged the seller who told me it was an F-9. I found out about it when I looked it up. My high bid accounted for both TT, cart, and some wiggle room. My winning bid was half the value, essentially I either got the TT or cart for free. It's one of my best eBay purchases ever. Obviously, I had no idea how old the original stylus was so I ordered the Soundsmith replacement. I bought a record through Discogs and Michael Fremer happened to be the seller. He told me that I was wise to pair it with the Soundsmith nude Ruby OCL stylus. He said he has the exact same setup. I've been extremely pleased with it. Now it's time to see what the Herron VTPH-2A will add.

The VTPH-2A is a special phono preamp.  I got mine a little over a year ago.  Good luck!

@vuch Congrats on the Herron, another outstanding phono stage. This product is no longer produced. Where did you find a new one?