NOS Grace F9E question


A friend of mine gave me a Grace F9E to try on my 1200G.  He thinks it may be a good fit.  It appears to be brand new and never used.  It has a plastic protector that covers practically the entire cartridge.  I cannot get it off as it is on there very tight.  Is there any special way to get it of and not damage the cartridge?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
tzh21y

Dear chakster, I own both; JVC-X1, mk1 as well mk2 . Both

have solid beryllium cantilever + shibata stylus. If titanium

cantilevers are available  than as separate styli. There are also

aluminum kinds available for both X-1,mk 1 and mk 2.

Dear @lewm : Ceramic is even more resonant and very bad for cantilevers. Other than in cartridges some manufacturers used in headshells and tonearms and all sounds really bad. Ceramic is not for the analog rig, at least not in the condition the manufacturers used it.

@jollytinker here you can read on all the F9 line:

https://www.vinylengine.com/library/grace/f9.shtml 

and the F8 line has 5mv.

R.

The cartridge sounds very nice. It is not as detailed as the Lyra but it does other things that take me back to another era. It looks like it has never been used before.
If you're comparing an MM to an MC, the one thing I always notice is that MCs typically emphasize the attack of a musical note.  Whereas, the best MMs and MIs tend to get the "meat" and the trailing edge of notes, perhaps better. (Please don't attack me for this gross generalization.  I am sure there are exceptions.)
@nandric

Dear chakster, I own both; JVC-X1, mk1 as well mk2 . Both

have solid beryllium cantilever + shibata stylus. If titanium

cantilevers are available than as separate styli. There are also

aluminum kinds available for both X-1,mk 1 and mk 2.


What’s the point? You don’t have the model i am talking about, this model is X-1IIE and it comes with Titanium Cantilever (tapered pipe), the stylus replacement part is orange. The models you’re talking about are all have Beryllium Cantilevers (solid rod) and they are completely different (with clear stylus replacement part). I hope you can see them all on my pictures above.

The rest of what you’re talking about are made by JICO, because JVC/Victor never ever made those top models with aluminum cantilevers. JICO made modern replacement for them, they are also orange in color, but does not have tention wire, they are not even SAS and very bad quality compared to the original Beryllium or Titanium.

P.S. X-1, X1II, X-1IIe cartridges killing the Grace F9 series with ease, they are superior and belongs to the best MM ever (they are also much lower in compliance which is no problem to use on any modern tonearm).