Grace Level ll

Thanks Chakster. It is still in Japan but will be with me in a couple of weeks. Do you know what color each stylus was. I know that Red is Ruby cantilever, Orange is Boron, Green is Aluminum, Brown is Beryllium or Ceramic????

Just picked up a used Grace II RC but I think it maybe the Beryllium cantilever version as the plastic stylus holder is translucent brown.

It will be interesting to see how it compares to my Grace F9 Ruby.

EDIT: I now think the Green/Yellow is Ceramic, the Blue is Aluminum and the Nude is Sapphire.

Can anyone else confirm.

I just received the Grace II and the stylus has RC marked underneath so I guess it is ceramic. No other markings anywhere. 

Diamond looks in exceptional condition. 

Very keen to mount on the Audiomods tonearm but the cartridge connector pins are very thin and my cardas tonearm wire connectors just slip off. I don't want to squish them to fit as this will ruin them. 

Will have to install on the GT2000 once I receive my new headshell. 

Not sure how to add pics so here is a link to the one I bought. 

http://www.hifido.co.jp/KWGRACE/G2--/P/A1/J/0-60/S0/M1/C17-13433-73081-00/

I thought it may not be ceramic for those same reasons but it has RC marked on the stylus and under the microscope the cantilever does not look beryllium and is greyish in color. 

It it sounds amazing even though the cantilever probably needs a little bit of running in as it's probably not been used for some time. 

Here's a link to some photos. After some breaking in it is sounding sensational. 

https://imgur.com/gallery/b69xk

Harold, I have it installed on my Yamaha GT2000 stock tonearm which has an effective mass of 19g when taking into account the headshell. This is not considered ideal as I think would benefit a lighter tonearm.

I was going to install on my Audiomods tonearm which is only 10g and sits on an Oracle Delphi. Unfortunately the pins on the Level II are very thin and the cardas tonearm wire pins are too loose.

Therefore I have kept the F9 Ruby fitted to the Audiomods/ Oracle.

I have to say that even though the pairing of GT2000 and Level II is not supposed to be a good match on paper, it is breaking in very well and starting to wake up and already outperforms the Grace F9 Ruby. 

As as for the top line Grace models, I think I have read that the F14 BR/MR is considered the top of the bunch with the Level II ceramic and F14 Ruby close seconds. But as you say, it all comes down to the rig one uses and personal preference.