Needlestein nailed it with his Grace F9 review. My limited experience with these is that it is hard to get a good OEM stylus ( I have been using a E stylus a friend loaned me) -so I bought a Soundsmith Saphire CL . Will order a second one on Monday (Have 2 9L bodies and one F-9 body). We never had a dealer that pushed Grace carts in my area -this is my first experience with them and pretty amazed. Really appreciate Peter Leiderman's efforts - these carts are well worth reviving.
Your Favourite MM carts/styli
- Thread starter chaz
- Start date
jcolletteiii
Active Member
Broken ruby cantilever assy. disassembled.
I have a broken E stylus that I need to dissect out as well. Currently experimenting with Pioneer PN-800 Jico Shibata that sounds as good in the F-9 as the SS $199 stylus I have.
This is not a Jico you can buy from the export site - had to Whiterabbit it. The geometry is different - shorter cantilever and on the F-9 body the rake angle is around 95-96 degrees, but it sounds very good.
I have a broken E stylus that I need to dissect out as well. Currently experimenting with Pioneer PN-800 Jico Shibata that sounds as good in the F-9 as the SS $199 stylus I have.
This is not a Jico you can buy from the export site - had to Whiterabbit it. The geometry is different - shorter cantilever and on the F-9 body the rake angle is around 95-96 degrees, but it sounds very good.
ripblade
Super Member
Pretty sure it's low inductance MM, a popular type at the time as quad was making it's rise. And AFAIK, the F9 bodies are not differentiated by stylus type....only serialized.
marcmorin
RIP 1953-2020
It does have the "MI" linearity about it, but I do believe it is MM
ripblade
Super Member
My Red Ed is MM. It has a socket for a magnet just above the cantilever, but no magnet in it. I suppose it was a dual purpose design.
FWIW, the Nagaoka C-51 is listed as MM in the VEDB.
https://www.vinylengine.com/cartrid...chi=&stid=&masslo=&masshi=¬es=&prlo=&prhi=
beat_truck
Addicted Member
One of my favorites that I keep going back to is the Pickering V15. They just sound "right" to me. Punchy, detailed, and just plain fun. I use the EVG 604-D7T, a .7 conical at 3 grams, EVG 604-DET, a .3x.7 elliptical at or near 3 grams, and Pfanstiehl 604-D3 3 mil for 78 duty. I also have the EVG D71EE copy, but I'm not that impressed with it. It has lower output, and slightly rolled off highs. I also have a Pfanstiehl 604-D7C that will likely be used when I retrofit a V15 into my little RCA 45 RPM changer since they both need to track at around 4g anyways. And lastly I have a Pfanstiehl 604-DEC that I basically only use for junk records. The stereo imaging has never sounded quite right with it otherwise it's ok.
I also like the lowly AT CN5625AL. It does nothing wonderfully, but does absolutely nothing wrong, especially for the cost.
I also like the lowly AT CN5625AL. It does nothing wonderfully, but does absolutely nothing wrong, especially for the cost.
Or even smaller and lighter than the element for a moving iron cartridge. Isn't that the reason Stanton gave for using a moving magnet design in the 881, that the Samarium Cobalt rare earth magnet was so strong that they could make a moving magnet cartridge with lower effective moving mass than the moving iron design?
It also brings to mind the question of how low is low enough when it comes to moving mass. The M97xE makes no claims about fancy magnet types, yet its effective moving mass is 0.4 mg, lower than the .55 to .7 mg effective moving mass claimed for the various Grace F9 models.
Well, I don't know anything about cartridge design other than what the manufacturer tells me, but why would there need to be a fixed magnet in the body if there's already a magnet wiggling around at the end of the cantilever?
Does moving iron have its own sonic signature to you? I have to admit that the MM Stanton 500, the MI Stanton 681, and the MM Stanton 981 all sounded more alike to each other to my ears than comparing them to anything from another manufacturer, regardless of design type.
jcolletteiii
Active Member
Yep. A tiny, fairly strong one on the back of what I think is a permalloy tube. The cantilever is epoxied into that tube, and the magnet attaches with its own magnetic force to the back end. It's interesting that this design is substantially different than the other F-9 styli assemblies: The ruby has no tie wire at all. Its only point of contact is with the elastomer suspension that the very base of the cantilever is pressed up against (maybe assisted with some sort of fixative?). I am pretty certain that the rest of the F-9 styli have a tie wire in addition to the elastomer, and that the tie wire was probably terminated in the drop of green goop on the back end of the F-9 stylus assemblies. I'd like to disassemble a stylus, but the one i have has a nice clean break that would be easy to graft - so I'm nit sure I want to sacrifice that one or not...
ripblade
Super Member
Yeah I'm not sure about an MI signature either. My 681 with Jico EEE sounds nothing like my Grado Blue, and my even lower inductance Pickering XLZ7500/ w VvL stylus sounds more like a Shure than anything, in terms of warmth and smooth presentation. Years ago I had a Decca London Gold, which again was nothing like anything else, MM, MI or MC.
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ripblade
Super Member
Well, I thought the advantage to MI, at least as far as flat treble response was concerned, was low inductance, yet the Pickering XLZ beats them all in that dept. Honestly, the warm treble of the Pickering was quite a surprise....not a disappointing one...just not what I expected.
No. The Garrott and the Grace seem to be different bodies with different size holes for the stylus. Though you had me pretty excited there for a moment until I tried to fit the Garrott stylus in the Grace.
I can post one here. Are you thinking the Garrott could fit something else? Or something fitting on the Garrott body? I do have a cheap F9 stylus that I purchased off the bay I use as my dirty records. It is not round but instead has the diamond shaped shaft. I am not sure what it was originally for. It is a narrower shaft than the Garrott's
jgscisum
Active Member
I would have to say my Acutex collection sounds better than all others I have tried. VPI III w/Well tempered arm and M312 STR brick, Well Tempered table with M312 LPM STR, Oracle Delphi III with Acutex 412 LPM STR, They better my Grado, Ortofon OM20, AT12S, AT125LC, AT120, etc. They just do it for me. No explanation but smooth, detailed and very accurate bass!
