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Opinions on a Grace F8c for a freshy

Hello all!
 

Freshy to all all this so bare with me please!

So i am purchasing a PD441 and potentially a seac WE 308SX (in a another post i have going) to get me up and running. 

 

I was wondering what opinions were on the Grace overall as a cartridge. I have been offered an excellent condition one (by the looks of it) for pretty much nothing. 

 

Are they worth getting in 2025?

My listening habits tend to range from instrumentals to ambient.

 

Thank youo!

 

chridabs
chridabs OP
22 posts
 

@newbee 

Its so hard to tell from watching youtube videos etc as its a compressed file to start with and of course my setup wont be anything like what the person is using. 

 

But reading stuff on the net suggests its a decent cartridge. 

This one comes on a headshell so thats a bonus for me as i have already spent more than I initially wanted to hahah

How much did you pay for you replacement MC? What was it?

 

 

lewm
13,777 posts
 

Buy an F8 or F9 cheap and then send it to Sound Smith for their Ruby upgrade.  The resulting cartridge will outperform many low to medium priced LOMC cartridges, which of course is a matter of my opinion.  But my opinion is based on owning an SS upgraded F9Ruby and also owning several LOMC cartridges.

chridabs OP
22 posts
 

@lewm 

 

Is that an expensive venture???

 

 

viridian's avatar
viridian
5,328 posts
 

If you buy an F9 there is no need to send it to Soundsmith, they have replacement styli ready to ship, starting at $149. I recently bought the nude elliptical but have not tried it yet.

https://www.sound-smith.com/parts/grace-f9-replacement-stylus

wrm57
1,092 posts
 

I think SS offers 3 levels of Grace replacement styli, but I don’t know if they fit the F8.  Even the middle model beat the unused stock stylus on the NIB F9 I bought some years back. These SS styli are a true gift. I use the top OCL on my F14 and it’s excellent.

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