Opinions on a Grace F8c for a freshy

It is true of any and every MM cartridge I’ve ever seen; you can replace the stylus assembly yourself without factory or any professional assistance. It’s true of many high output MI cartridges like Nagaoka and B&O, also.

chridabs, The other guys correctly point out that you need not buy the most expensive replacement stylus assembly for the Grace.  I did, however. Mine has the sapphire cantilever and their precision line contact stylus.  I think I paid $350. No doubt it is more expensive these days.  To minimize your cost, you could buy one of their lesser replacement assemblies.  The other factor in cost is how much you pay for the basic cartridge. F8s are generally cheaper than F9s, and so far as I know the difference is in the stylus assembly, not in the body.  So F8 + one of the SS stylus assemblies = total cost.

Buy an F8 or F9 cheap and then send it to Sound Smith for their Ruby upgrade.  The resulting cartridge will outperform many low to medium priced LOMC cartridges, which of course is a matter of my opinion.  But my opinion is based on owning an SS upgraded F9Ruby and also owning several LOMC cartridges.