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Anyone out there have a Grace cart that needs retipping? Well, there's all the usual places.....Garrotts, Soundsmith (who also supply replacement styli for grace F9's), Expert, etc and also Delta667 in Russia. These people will do a fine job but they are quite expensive. This fact may not be a hindrance to some but for those like me who can't afford 'top dollar' jobs, there is this guy in the US. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Grace-Cartridge-Stylus-Retipping-Nude-3-x-7-Elliptical-F9E-F8-F-9/183448505218 His Ebay name is 'cartridge_retipping-5' but he is also known as needlestein (real name Joseph). He repaired my Level II BR/MR and it now sings! The two photo's in his ad of the cart with the orange stylus body are actually pic's of my BR/MR after repair. Cost me $US109 incl. postage.....bargain! He is offering to rebuild F9, F8 and I assume Level II styli with new tapered aluminium cantilever and a quality highly polished nude elliptical diamond for $US125 + $US14.25 postage to Oz (approx. $Au176.95 + $Au20.18 atm). Under $Au200.....pretty damn good.? He also offers Namiki MicroLine on a boron cantilever, and Nude Shibata, Nude Line Contact, and other types such as Fritz Gyger II on an aluminum cantilever at additional cost......subject to availability. I am not affiliated in any way but would certainly like to see him get more business....we all want to see quality retippers live on, right? He does a fine job for a reasonable price and is certainly worthy of consideration for your Grace retipping needs.? Long live Grace!!?

I have aquired a Grace g-707 that has been trashed and I'm restoring it. The metal parts of the arm are in good condition, part of the anti-skating assembly was cracked, but repairable, but the headshell is completely missing. So what I want to do is 3D print a replacement headshell. Using images on the internet I can get a pretty good idea of the geometry, but for accuracy I need actual measurements. Is there a g-707 owner out there who can get a ruler, or better yet some calipers and give me the dimensions? Only need the headshell, not the arm. Here are the measurements I need (in rough order of priority): width length max depth (at the back) min depth (at the front) outside diameter of the arm mounting tube length of the arm mounting tube distance from front to start of screw holes length of screw holes width of screw holes spacing of screw holes (should be 1/2", yes?) thickness of the plastic lastly, if you can measure the angle between the arm and the headshell that would be great. You can refer to the image to see what I'm talking about. If you can't be bothered doing them all then just the length, width and depth would be a great help.

Well, my Grace Level II BR/MR arrived back from needlestein in the US last week with it's repaired tip. This repair job has been covered in other threads but basically the cart went to him with the stylus tip looking like this: Joseph (needlestein) has successfully realigned the diamond back into the correct position and epoxied it, pretty much maintaining it's original sound signature. His test report was glowing in it's effusive praise of the sound quality of this cart ("Will compete with anything", "one of the finest cartridges I have ever heard" and in his return note, "It was hard to give this one back!"). It sounded like he had done an effective repair job and I was getting very excited! In readiness for it's return and first audition, I have been listening to my Level II RC (w/rare ceramic cantilever/HE tip) for about a week after about four months now of my Grace F8C (and happy listening that was!). The expected (and already established) SQ improvement with the Level II RC was immediately noticeable with it's superior detail extraction, smoother bass, and overall refinement . After a week of the RC it was time to dive into the world of 'Micro-ridge' with the BR/MR...... this morning I accurately set it up on a genuine Technics headshell with standard 'no frills' OFC leads (atm) and am tracking it at 1.2g to start with. I run the RC at 1.25g but needlestein tested this at 1.0g. I had just previously listened to 'Forever Now' by The Psychedelic Furs with the RC so I started with a few songs off that once I set up the BR/MR. It was a bit hard to tell with the musical style this one offers and although it is well recorded, is one of my favourite albums and it did sound better, it is not what I would call an SQ favourite.....! So I followed with some that IMO are (in order): FGTH - 'Welcome To The Pleasure Dome' (sides 1 & 2) MJ - 'Thriller' (selected songs; Billie Jean, PYT's, Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Baby Be Mine, Thriller) Supertramp - 'Brother Where You Bound' (always great but now? Read on....) Donald Fagen - 'The Nightfly' (.....of course!) Yes - 90125 (a beauty!) Grace Jones - Nightclubbing (side one.....oh, the bass) Grace Jones - Inside Story (great recording normally a tad on the 'bright' side..... a test for the HF refinement) To start with, I am extremely, extremely happy with what I am hearing. The BR/MR obviously has a similar sound signature to the RC but improves in the areas of high frequency extension and detail and low end refinement and reach and it is quite noticeable. So far, I'd say the mid's are on par with the RC. One area the old F8C has it a little over the Level II RC is bass extension, albeit not quite as refined but the Level II BR/MR possesses this extension but with superb refinement....it is a joy to hear. In regard to the high's, the BR/MR is rated 5kHz higher than the RC at 35kHz and it shows but the micro-ridge profile adds a level of detail to it that is truly wonderful. Soundstage is more layered than the RC and F8C, which are both impressive in their own right and gives me access to individual instruments like never before. It's now a bit later (had some tea) so obviously I have been writing this progressively but I was up to 'Brother Where You Bound' when I began writing earlier and in answer to the question above.....it is now a revelation! Every LP up to this point was fantastic and improved in SQ but it was during this album that I was really becoming aware of this cart's capabilities. Since then, I have been truly blown away. The Nightfly, could it possibly sound better? .......yes.....and as for Yes 90125, it was absolutely stunning.....I have never heard it with so much detail and punch.....Grace Jones Nightclubbing, bass taken to another level and the slight brightness of Inside Story, smoothed out nicely......every LP has a level of detail and refinement I've never heard before. It's a truly pleasing result.? Who could have thought that a boron cantilever and a micro-ridge stylus could make so much difference to what was already a stunner in the Level II RC? I was certainly hoping for results such as these with the BR/MR and it has truly delivered. To purchase it and to have it repaired has set me back a total of $203 which is ridiculously cheap for a cart of this quality and leads me to categorically say...... this is my greatest analogue purchase ever.? Closely followed by the Level II RC, which cost me $280. I've done well with those two carts.....? Cheers......and long live Grace vintage cartridges!? PS: I will put up some pic's of it in action and a USB microscope pic of tip repair soon but here is needlesteins pic of it during 'testing'..... It's a beautiful thing.......?

Hi all Seeking your assistance please! I am about to upgrade to a low output MC cartridge (along with a MC tube phono stage). And I am confused by tonearm weight, cartridge compliance etc I have a customised Rega tt, with a Grace G840 arm. Full set up is listed below. I think I have narrowed it down to the Denon 103R, and the Denon 301 mk2. From what I have read, I may find the 301 mk2 has 'better' sound, due to its elliptical stylus. It is apparently best suited to a low mass tonearm. The 103R (conical) is more suited to high mass arm. But, my Grace G840f is a medium mass arm apparently. From what I gather, the Grace G840 will definitely be fine with the 103R, and most likely also fine with the 301 mk2, which is the direction I am leaning. The Grace G840 has effective mass of 18g, and a recommended cartridge weight of 4-19g. The price difference is negligible (the 301 is around $100 more). Can anyone offer me some guidance? My set up is as follows Rega customised TT Grace G840 Primaluna Dialogue Integrated Premium Tannoy XT8F Project Phono Box S2 (currently upgrading to a MC tube phono stage currently) SVS SB-2000 Pro Thanks very much in advance ?

For years we (I) have been under the impression that the Andante 'E' cartridge is a derivative of the Grace F9, being Grace's attempt to enter the North American market under a different brand name. Here is a pic of the Andante 'E': It doesn't really resemble the F9 but I suppose it doesn't have to if the innards are the same. Now here is a pic of the Shelter 201 MM cartridge: Tell me these two carts are not identical...... I am now confused. Some have said over the years that the Andante was made by Sumiko but they were just the Nth American distributor for this 'rebadged' F9>>Andante 'E'. Have Sumiko and Shelter or Grace and Shelter (I doubt it) ever had a relationship? Because that Shelter 201 body is identical to the Andante 'E'..... I know it is hard to find definitive info on Grace and even harder on Andante but there appears to be some connection between Grace/Andante and Shelter judging by that shared cartridge body design. Adding to this confusion, Shelter started in 1986, a few years after the the Andante 'E' finished (and after the F9 was replaced by the F14) but before Grace finished up in the early 90's. Maybe it is just a shared body design that Shelter gained and used after the finish of the Andante 'E'. I know this is probably clutching at straws but can anyone enlighten me on this situation? I'm not holding my breath!?

Item: Grace Designs M900 Dac/Amp Location: Melbourne Price: $475 or trade Item Condition: As New Reason for selling: wanting class A headamp Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: As new condition, purchased 16-Jan-2019 Love the DAC but think I prefer beefier class A sound for headphone use, so will entertain trades on Class A Headphone amp +/- $cash Will also consider trades for Dac only units +/- $cash. Original box and invoice will be included Pictures:

Item: Grace F9 + SoundSmith Ruby Elliptical stylus + Grace headshell Location: Brisbane Price: $750 sent Express Post to anywhere in Australia Item Condition: As new Reason for selling: Not in use / surplus Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: Bought a few years ago to try and never quite matched with my other gear. A very sought after cart and something of a bargain at this price seeing as the headshell alone sells for around $200. I've another F9 in a Stanley Engineering wood body with custom boron stylus and micro ridge tip I'll (probably) be hanging on to. These are amongst the best sounding carts ever made. Stylus would have 20 hours on it at most. Photos:

Item: Grace F9 - Microridge tip, boron cantilever with tie wire - Stanley Engineering Cocobolo body + generic Technics headshell Location: Brisbane Price: $700 sent Express Post Item Condition: Outstanding Reason for selling: Saving for a new phono stage Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal Extra Info: This is my favorite MM cart that I had mounted on my second turntable. Unfortunately I never use this table though it sounds absolutely fantastic. The Grace F9 has been place in a Cocobolo wood Stanley Engineering body which helps cut down on body resonances and allows firmer affixing to the headshell. The stylus has been retipped by Needlestein (aka Josef Long) in the US with a boron cantilever with tie wire and microridge tip. This cartridge shares most of what I loved about the Supex SD900 Super (shibata retip) in terms of tone with superior detail and speed. A truly wonderful cartridge up with the best LOMC's I've run. The best sounding Grace F9 I've had the pleasure of owning. Photos:

Further information: Basically brand new still and little use, purchased July 18th (took over a month to arrive from US) for $250+ AUD. Comes with everything like new. Comes with receipt/invoice for warranty etc. A very great DAC for the price by far, more info/specs: https://drop.com/buy/drop-grace-design-standard-dac-balanced Free standard AusPost postage or $12 extra for Express Postage. Any questions please ask. Photos:

Item: Grace M900 DAC AMP Location: Sydney (Castle Hill or CBD) Price: $420 Item Condition: Near New Reason for selling: NLR Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: Comes with Tax invoice starting Jan-19, with a warranty for 5 years. 4 years of warranty remaining. Comes with USB cable and Power Cable as well. Plenty of good reviews online. Photos: Advertisements without photos of the actual item will not be approved.

Item: Connoisseur BD1 TT with Grace G-840F Tonearm and new Ortofon OM-10 cartidge Location: Melbourne Price: $350 $400 $450 Item Condition: Pretty good. There are marks on the turntable however. Reason for selling: Not required, not desired Payment Method: Pickup, Postage, COD, Paypal, Mastercard, Visa. Extra Info: Good honest turntable from the early 70's - Connoisseur BD1, in perfect working condition. The highlight would be the Grace G-840F Tonearm however - which fetch some premium prices by themselves. No dust cover unfortunately. To answer your questions: 1. Will I post them item - YES, if no local buyers but you pay for packing materials + $10 2. Will I sell the tonearm separately - Maybe, but don't be surprised if this cost is similar to the entire TT. Happy to entertain options (swap tonearm for something else at cost adjustment). 3. Will I sell it without the cartridge - no. Pictures:

Item: Grace F9 Cartridge with Genuine Ruby stylus Location: Melbourne Price: $650 Item Condition: Pretty good condition with limited hours of use. The cartridge and stylus is fully tested and it sings sweet. Reason for selling: Got struck with a new project in mind and in need of cash. Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: Grace F9 cartridge with genuine Ruby stylus is collectors dream!... Serious buyers are welcome to have a look. It is advertised in ebay too (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Grace-F9-Cartridge-Grace-Ruby-Stylus-/282348162901?hash=item41bd430f55:g:XQYAAOSw4DJYk8dn). To find one with an 'original ruby stylus is like hen's teeth. Pictures:

Item: Grace F9E stylus....or just an 9E stylus body w/o cantilever Price Range: $10 (body only) to $200 (stylus in Exc cond.) Item Condition: New or Used I am after an excellent condition F9E stylus ( I know my chances are very low, just putting it out there!) or (more likely) an F9E stylus body without cantilever, tip or with stuffed either that I can use for a Garrott rebuild. Cheers...

Item: Grace F9 Ruby MM Cartridge Price Range: Depends on condition Item Condition: New or Used Extra Info: Happy to consider examples that need repair. - Chris