Grace 707 Tonearm - What to do with it

Sansui77

Khosaku Kikuchi's Grandson
Hi All,

My father received this Connoisseur BD1 TT that is fitted with a Grace 707 tonearm and F8 stylus. Unfortunately the stylus has seen better days. The caviar is bent and only output is on the right channel which could be the caviar or wiring which i will test. The Grace 707 arm seems to be in nice condition, bearing very good etc.

This is not the actual table but is identical to the one he has.

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What to do???

*Remove the Grace tonearm and buy another table to fit it with. What table do you recommend?
*Just replace the stylus, with what?
*Replace the cartridge & stylus, with what?


Appreciate your response.
 
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I can't see tossing a tonearm and turntable deck for a bad stylus. That is like throwing out a lamp because the lightbulb has burnt out. If the turntable is bad, there are others the 707 can be mounted on. Back in the day, they were mounted on Linn Sondeks and other armless 'tables. I had mine on a finicky Walker CJ-55 (trust me, don't buy one) and then a Denon DP-1500 which luckily came with arm board pre-drilled for it.

I'd get a nice cartridge for the arm and be done with it, provided the turntable portion is working fine. It's a low mass arm--I guess those work well with high-compliance cartridges. I always ran mine with a Shure V15 Type V, until Shure quit making replacement styli for it--great combination.
 
I still have a 707 on a Denon armless table.

Not too good with moving coils (the tail wags the dog).

Great with high end moving magnet carts though.
 
Worst cartridge purchase I ever made was a 2M Black (for numerous reasons). To add insult to injury, it did not fit this arm, and I had to wait a bit to use it on a new turntable. Sure you can mount it, but you can't align it properly since you can't rotate it within the headshell. So, don't bother with any of the 2Ms...they are too wide to fit and align.
 
What classic cart / stylus would you recommend? Shure M95ED or something newer?

Trying to keep the budget to under $100
 
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Something's a bit fishy about this question. ;)

You really need to ask about getting rid of the arm because one side is out?
 
Something's a bit fishy about this question. ;)

You really need to ask about getting rid of the arm because one side is out?

I was never going to get rid of the arm, maybe the table.

Well i didn't know the value of the arm or the table but since the arm is the best thing about this setup. What i also was wondering is what other tables do users with the Grace G707 fit them to?
 
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Keep it... that arm can turn a mediocre TT into a good TT. I had an ok 70s Taya DP-500 with that arm and a excel MC cart. Was lightyears ahead of the stock one, well, until my little nephew got ahold of it. Can we say "Bend it like Beckham"?
 
nothing worse than bent caviar I'm telling ya!!!!

As for the cartridge.......call Soundsmith and see if it can (likely) be fixed good as (or better than) new. Keep the table and arm in testament to your Dad's good taste.

My Dad was given this table for free from an op shop like the goodwill shops of America. This particular shops management could sell electrical equipment without it been electically tested so it was either in the bin or my dad taking it.... unreal

I will fix it up and get it all working again. One really frustrating thing about this table is the size of the platter, LP's overhang making the on/off switch a bit hard to operate.
 
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I was never going to get rid of the arm, maybe the table.

Well i didn't know the value of the arm or the table but since the arm is the best thing about this setup. What i also was wondering is what other tables do users with the Grace G707 fit them to?

I was commenting as much on your typo (auto-correct?) as anything. Don't change it! I love it! :)

The 707 is a great arm. I used one for 20+ years on a Rega or 2.
 
I believe the Garret Brothers are still in business in Australia and they could retip the Grace F8 stylus, doubt it can be done for $100AU or less. The F8 and Grace 707 are an excellent combination and I wouldn't replace either one. If you can't afford the retip I'd suggest you resell the table/tonearm/cartridge to someone who could afford to do so and would appreciate these vintage items.
 
Yeah - you could do a lot worse than the Connoisseur. An interesting table from a fascinating maker. There aren't many tables that you can legitimately repair with rubber bands. There is a certain cachet that comes from surprising you friends with the quality of sound coming from your hair shirt el cheapo. That's a lovely set up.
 
Thanks all for your comments.

It's in very good hands. I will repair - restore it and give it back to my dad to enjoy.

I will upload final pictures when i complete the resto.
 
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The Grace G707 was often installed on the Kenwood KD500, I have that combination with a Grace F8-L10' and F8-C, great synergy. You can try eBay for a replacement stylus if wanting to go original, but it's hard to tell wear without specialized equipment. I was lucky enough to get two NOS, the other looks worn out so hasn't been put into use.

Nice thing about the Grace, the other stylus in the F8 line are interchangeable so you could step up to the higher tier stylus. Your dad will be tickled you got his table back up and running, whether for him or yourself.
 
I like the KD 500 very much, but if you want to hand some thing down to your children, the Connoisseur has a better chance of being up and running decades from now than any electronic table. Of course the KD 500 could be recapped, and maybe recapped again, and then might be going strong - but replacing rubber bands and O rings is a lot simpler.
To my mind, the archival quality of vinyl over all the wannabe formats fits nicely with a respect for completely mechanical turntables.
 
I like the KD 500 very much, but if you want to hand some thing down to your children, the Connoisseur has a better chance of being up and running decades from now than any electronic table. Of course the KD 500 could be recapped, and maybe recapped again, and then might be going strong - but replacing rubber bands and O rings is a lot simpler.
To my mind, the archival quality of vinyl over all the wannabe formats fits nicely with a respect for completely mechanical turntables.
That's why you need 5 tables, like Thorens, AR, Mitsubishi, etc etc

Oximoron - too many turntables
 
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