If you can feel a noticeable difference in cracking effort, enough so that it bothers you, then something is wrong for sure. I'm not familiar with the 2nd stage you're working on, but it sounds like it's similar to one of the older G250s, a barrel poppet design, with a single adjustment at the orifice, and a user adjustment at the other end. I'm also assuming you are starting with the user knob turned all the way out, and you said you used an inline tool to get them on the edge of free flow. So assuming all that is true, the most likely scenario IMO is the lever height, check to make sure they are the same. Just take the diaphragm off and look closely at them from side view, you can use a straight edge and a small ruler to measure the height. Check to make sure the diaphragms are identical. If those things check out, look for any nicks or problems in the orifice edge. Those have to be nice and clean to seal easily against the seat. While you're at it, look closely at the seats for any imperfections.
Then if all that is good, switch the springs and see what that does. On the older G250s et al, I've had good luck improving the tune-ability by replacing the aging springs that are installed when I get them.
Hope this helps.
