Just picked up a Grace F9E Cartridge - Any Fans?

Just picked one of these beauties (from what google tells me) up yesterday and mounted it. Spinning a Blue Note Lee Morgan LP right now. So far, very very impressive. Best $20 I spent!

I have it mounted on a RB250 with Cardas Incognito Wire and Stainless stub and weight on a Thorens TD 166 MKII. Compliance should be a perfect match.

I found that soundsmith offers either retipping or a complete upgrade. Has anyone here used the replacement stylii from them? I see their stylus "apparatus" is much different looking that what I have.

Mine looks like this:

Soundsmith's and some others look like this:



Any difference in these models?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer an opinion or more information on my new toy. Interested in thoughts, praise....issues....basically any information you might have on this.

 

The Grace F9E has been around for a good while. Back in the 1980's I had a Rega Planar 3, Linn LVX arm with the F9E. Mine was similar to the one in the bottom photo. A very nice cartridge. I remember it cost a hell of a lot more than $20 back in the day! Sounds like you got a bargain.

 

I've long been a fan of the Grace F9E. I purchased the top of the line ruby stylus assembly about a year back from Soundsmith, to replace an aging 'green" stylus assembly. Cost me about $500 IIRC. The Soundsmith stylus does look pug ugly though.

Great MM cartridges.

 

Thanks for the replies. I am hoping this is a final MM upgrade for me. The current stylus is in fantastic condition as I had the opportunity to check it under a scope at my local shop. It's really extremely nice for a few spins thus far. It was a bit of an issue to get the weight right on my arm - the weight is barely on the stub at all....no real way to lighten it up I can think of. but it's holding steady.

 

Do you think that upgrade was worth the dough? I imagine it would have to be stellar to feel like you are getting real value. Can you describe your thoughts on the 500 clams vs value? Luckily I can wait a while before I upgrade it since the stylus is nearly perfect as is.....but you know how compelling upgraditis can be!

 

Big fan. I had one on my Thorens TD-147 Jubilee for a decade. Still have it, the one in your second pic with the round thumb grips. Wonderful midrange. The Thorens is in a second system and I have since gone through Grado and AT carts on that rig but still miss the Grace. There's a lot of love for this one on other sites as you might know. The Soundsmiths are a bit of a chore to look at but I've contemplated that upgrade as well.

 

I had one many years ago. Very nice cartridge. I'd use it as it is for as long as you like. When it's time for replacement, you can find better sounding MC cartridges or equal but different sounding MM types. Do a search here for it and you'll see plenty of old posts and threads with pretty much the same feedback.
-Bill

 

Seems it's got a real strong fan base. Hoping it continues to exceed my expectations.

 

I had the F9D - got it in 1976 if memory serves. It got lots of play and I liked it a lot but I doubt my pioneer pl12d and the downstream amplification did it justice. Long gone but for some reason I still have the mounting piece that doubles as a wide hole 45 adaptor.

 

Just purchased one myself to rotate with other MM's on my second system consisting of my modified Thorens TD160B, Origin Live Onyx. Paid a heck of a lot more for it than $20 - $150 to be precise - sending it off to Soundsmith for the Ruby OCL retip vs. the "pug ugly" for that very reason. Total outlay will be around $600 but when you look at the price of cart's, I felt it was very reasoanble. Heck, I probably spend more than that on coffee every year.

 

Congratulations! I had a Grace F9L from about 77 to 97. It was on a Micro seiko DD40. That was a great combo. I wish I had never let that setup get away.
chuck

 

Very timely post.

I have a friend who is considering selling his, and I've got first dibs!

 

I have always wanted one.

 

An F9E was always on my list. I had Signets at the time (AM50S & a TK7E) and by the time I was getting around to it, I moved into MCs like most people. That's why I jumped on the F9E at $150 though the cantilever was snapped off. Still a cart that's 30 years old would probably need the re-tip anyway so it wasn't a big deal and it's nice to have Soundsmith around to get it up and running.
I kept the Signets and am on the hunt for a variety of what is deemed the best of the best vintage MMs to rotate in and out on the second table. Should prove an interesting and fun ride.

 

Had one on a Rega Planar 2 in the early 1980s. Loved it.

 

Running F9E on AUDIOMODS SeriesV Tonearm on a modified AR "The Turntable". "adamdube" was kind enough to point me at Sound-Smith for replacement styli so Im very grateful for that. Its always been solid performer...

 

I did in fact buy my friends' F-9 & also purchased the Sound-Smith styli. It's working very well on my Gyro SE/Rega RB600.

I plan to buy another Sound-Smith replacement styli soon for a spare.

 

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

 

I bought the $199 elliptical/aluminum cantilever. It's their least expensive offering. It sounds very nice, I can only imagine how much nicer the Ruby sounds!

When I buy another, I plan to get the next model up.
I wanted to make sure that I liked the cartridge before putting too much money into it!

BTW- The Kenwood N49 stylus will fit the Grace F-9, but it is a conical & lacks the sophistication of the Sound-Smith Stylus. It also has a different shaped shank, but will fit. It will let you know if a F-9 is still working or not, in case you're buying a used one with a broken stylus like I did!

 

Grace F9E is miles better than the 97.....IMHO of course

 

I look at it this way.... Your gonna spend some$$ to upgrade either way right.... The grace is a much better starting point than the 97. I had a sas on a 91ed. Great tracker.... Grace also great.....97's mids are a little dry.... The 91's mids are better than the 97 stock..... And the sas was dry on the 91ed

Some claim the Grace is in the top 5 moving magnets...... Better value to fix up this cart over the shure .