Decided to try a SPU cartridge

@kennyc 

IMHO you should be using an SPU in your main system. I am also in my 60's and have only just joined the SPU party having been down numerous other roads before. The beauty of the Royal GM II or the Royal N is that they use the Ortofon Replicant Stylus, which is a modern profile able to retrieve the maximum from the grooves, so you get the joy of what the so called 'old MC technology' brings along with the detail of a modern cartridge.

One question for those more knowledgeable about stylus profiles, I have heard the Ortofon Replicant Profile is the same as the Fritz Geiger, is this correct?

@dover 

Also, just to reiterate, if you want to play with SUT's, you can use them with the MM input on your Grail phono.

The GrailSB is a "current" phono stage.  Not sure if the MM inputs are "voltage" based which would allow a SUT.  My Grail is still boxed along with the rest of my gear. Awaiting funds for interconnects and speakers to complete my analog+digital audio chain.  Wife not to thrilled to see my audio spending resulting in boxes.  I have to change flooring (duct tape fix not good) so incentive to wait till done.

@alan60 and @racedoc

Thanks for your input.  I like the ViV arm since it's sonically different than other arms in a positive way.  It's very comforting that the ViV will work well with SPUs and other carts.   I was on the trail of a dedicated SPU tonearm - Groovemaster II vs a Bokrand modified Ortofon RMG309 (or RMG309i).  

I have a VPI Avenger that can accommodate 3 arms.  Besides the SPU, I was planning have to get at least another tonearm likely the Kuzma4point to accommodate my other low output non-SPU MC carts .  Although the ViV can accommodate all carts, I'll likely get both the ViV and the 4point - removable headshells for quick change (after the cart was previously set-up) seem very appealing. 

I just picked up 2 more used Ortofon GM SPUs - the E GM GOLD and the Classic GM E MkII.   The Gold's sonics reportedly falls between the Meister Silver and Synergy.  The Classic E will give me a taste of the early SPU sound.  So I'm pretty much done with sampling Ortofon SPUs with the exception of the Wood.  

I also picked up a used FR7-fz cart from Japan auction with a broken cantilever.  Happy I got it at a relatively low cost as I'll upgrade the cantilever+stylus anyways.

If I go SUT, the consensus is that silver is best  - unfortunately it's a significant jump in price vs copper.

@kennyc 

We will need an update once you get it all in place.

Will do. May be awhile though,  I have to change flooring and awaiting funds to complete audio chain as mentioned in my earlier post.

@kennyc what turntable are you going to put the SPU on? Is it a VPI?

Sounds like you’ve kinda gone off the deep end picking up the various flavors of SPU. 😉 Plus that FR7... Should be fun experimenting with them all.

Also, I’m a little fuzzy what arm you were thinking of. The Schick? Please do follow up here for those of us (like me) who are still on the fence about picking up an SPU.

Markus