2. analog
  3. 161872-153738

Newbie Issues: Grace F9 with Micro Seiki DD-40

Hey all - total newbie here. I’ve only been researching phono setups for a few months. I ran into some serious playback issues after trying to replace my cart. Wondering if anyone can tell me what is causing it?

A friend actually gave me a DD-40 with original MA 505 tonearm (14 g effective mass) and stock headshell. So I have been thrown into this (awesome) world of hifi in an effort to live up to this amazing gift. The DD-40 came with a Stanton 681eee cart and I immediately replaced the broken stylus with an LP Gear replica as a placeholder before upgrading. To my ears it sounds really really good after calibrating it properly (I am an entry level digital audiophile but this is my first analog experience). 

Because my setup is MM for now I have fixated on the Grace F9 series as my first cart upgrade. I bought a used F-9 L on ebay from someone with great reviews and an easy return policy. The problem is the playback is absolutely horrid:

- distorted muffled sound
- incessant skipping
- needle gets stuck between tracks

I have recalibrated and readjusted many many times including starting from scratch and calibrating the entire TT and tonearm setup. Every time it still sounds the same. While doing the same steps but going back to the Stanton cart works just fine. I even replaced headshell wires and have nice cables (Kimber Kable and Van den Hul) and a Furman power conditioner. It’s running through the phono input of a Pioneer SX 838. 

When I increase the tracking force beyond the recommended range for the Grace the skipping issue gets a bit better but not really. And the sound always remains distorted and muffled - that never improves.

Visibly the cart, cantilever and stylus look totally fine meaning not bent or broken. But again I’m just a newbie and have not put anything under a magnifying glass.  

So all that said, with the issues I described above, what do you all think is the problem?

1) Worn out needle?
2) Bad / bent cantilever?
3) Busted cart?
4) Bad newbie calibration?
5) Cartridge / tonearm mismatch?
6) Something else?

Any help would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

YL
hauie88

Showing 7 responses by chakster

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Clean your stylus first with a brush. Dust around the stylus tip is most common problem for any cartridges.

You can look at the stylus and cantilever, maybe?
How people can comment on something they can’t see ?

I have big collection of Grace cartridges and never had any issue with any sample.

Tracking force for most of the Grace is 1.5g

Do you know how to adjust tonearm for different cartridges ?
Are you sure your tonearm adjusted properly?
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@hauie88 I like Stanton cartridges too, in my opinion the Stanton SC-100 WOS is much better than Grace F9 (and many other top cartridges). Stanton has a brush in front of the stylus (same on Pickering) which is good for high compliance cartridges.

This is my ex Grace F9L (Luminal Trace stylus), look at yours and compare.

In my opinion top model Stanton & Pickering cartridges are much better than Grace F9. If your cartridge is defective you’d better return it for full refund and then you could find yourself top Stanton 981 or top Pickering 5000 model.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@hauie88

My advice:

Open paypal dispute and return your cartridge for full refund including return shipping. Add pictures to paypal dispute, so the seller can see the stylus is still there. Something wrong with your cartridge or stylus. Return it and forget about it, you will get full refund from paypal anyway. 
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
If refund is accepted that’s fine, buy yourself much better cartridge like Stanton SC-100 WoS, this model is amazing. Or 50% cheaper Pickering XSV/4000. Another killer MM is Pioneer PC-1000 mk2 (similar sound to top Stanton, Pickering). They are all better than Grace F9.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@hauie88 If you need assistance PM me, some people on ebay have no idea what they are selling and they are too lazy to check a cartridge before they ship it. Other people don’t know how to use internet search. Actually I’ve seen so many NOS Stanton and Pickering cartridges on ebay from American sellers, so it’s not a problem at all to find one. I even bought mine from California on ebay.

Regarding Grace I would recommend F14 or LEVEL II models, those are so much better than older F9. But they are more expensive than Stanton and Pickering to models. Here is mine with original Ruby EXP cantilever and LC-OFC generator (the best from Grace). The Ruby EXP. was the latest generation of Grace Ruby LEVEL II.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
The OP needs to keep in mind just one thing:

PayPal buyers protection and full refund on anything will wipe away all the problems with bad sellers, no loss for the buyer.

This is another fresh image on one of my LEVEL II Ruby EXP just to tease, a used market is full of treasures, not only crap from idiots. 

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
How about in the $500 range? Just has to be MM.

Stanton 881s mkII or 981 ... and Pickering XSV/3000 or XSV/4000 is the best you can buy withing $350-750. All modern cartridge at this price are joke compared to those killer MM, most of the modern carts does not have even a nude diamond (bonded instead), stylus profile on most of the modern carts is elliptical max, not line contact type. Stanton/Pickering products from the 70s-80s have strong reputation, you will find tons of feedback online. Stereohedron mkII stylus tip is one of the best ever made.

@chakster that is truly a beautiful cart. All your suggestions sound amazing but they also seem to be quite rare so I’ll just have to be patient to see when they come up. Have you had any experience buying from Reverb?

When you pay with PayPal invoice the source doesn’t matter, you’re protected anyway. The seller who can guarantee that it will be as described is what you need, someone who can adjust and check your cartridge before it will be shipped. Also it must be someone with a proper sound system, because people with mediocre sound system raving about average or awful cartridges pretending to be experts without any experience with top quality MM/MI/MC.


More to discover