Grado MC+

calman46

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I have a Pioneer PL50 TT with a beige Grado MC+ cartridge. Is this a mono MM cartridge ? The cartridge was on the TT when bought at a fleamarket some 10+ years ago . I would think this MC + is from the PL50 era .Grado makes a Prestige MC+ now but its marked M+ on the cartridge body ,mine is marked MC+. It might be a MCE+1/s from '83-'84 but the AK thread is gone now . So its mostly a MM and maybe 50pf loading ?
 
I have a Pioneer PL50 TT with a beige Grado MC+ cartridge. Is this a mono MM cartridge ? The cartridge was on the TT when bought at a fleamarket some 10+ years ago . I would think this MC + is from the PL50 era .Grado makes a Prestige MC+ now but its marked M+ on the cartridge body ,mine is marked MC+. It might be a MCE+1/s from '83-'84 but the AK thread is gone now . So its mostly a MM and maybe 50pf loading ?
No I have one of those myself and resident Grado Expert Mr
marcmorin
told me it's not a mono cartridge. I had bought mine thinking it was. It's a good sounding cartridge worthy of a good stylus.
 
Last edited:
I think it may have been sold with a stylus suitable for mono records (I'm guessing a larger conical), but it has the standard stereo four pins, and can be used with other Grado stereo styli. It occurs to me that the inductance of the coils may be different than other Grados, but that could be checked.
 
Well this is confusing. Grado made the M+ and MC+ a while back, and practically everyone who has one seems to agree that they are stereo cartridges. And the current Grado Ms, which Grado calls mono, appear to have 4 pins, just like regular stereo cartridges and like the earlier versions. My brown M+ certainly has two channels, but it also underwhelmed me - whether because it has lousy stereo separation since it is a 4 pin mono or because Grados sometimes don't do it for me, I don't know.
 
I have a Pioneer PL50 TT with a beige Grado MC+ cartridge. Is this a mono MM cartridge ? The cartridge was on the TT when bought at a fleamarket some 10+ years ago . I would think this MC + is from the PL50 era .Grado makes a Prestige MC+ now but its marked M+ on the cartridge body ,mine is marked MC+. It might be a MCE+1/s from '83-'84 but the AK thread is gone now . So its mostly a MM and maybe 50pf loading ?
it's a stereo moving iron cart. one small step up from the entry model which would have been called MT+ or MTE+. the current production prestige line is black in color, and would be mono and listed as ME for elliptical, or MC for conical
 
The needle doctor guy seem to young maybe he was confused with the newer Prestige line. Anyway its the voice or imaging is not that great .
 
The Mono Grados, available previously, were the M+ models; MC stylus @1.0mil, and an ME stylus @1.0 X 0.5 elliptical.

They were stereo carts with the coils orientated such that the vertical component on the record was cancelled out.

jD
 
What was confusing (to me ) was MC+ is on the front of the cartridge . So its a stereo cartridge setup so for mono . I also have a Sure Dynetic M3D that's is setup for single output ,there are jumpers on the pins . The owners manual for it is at vinyl engine .
 
What was confusing (to me ) was MC+ is on the front of the cartridge . So its a stereo cartridge setup so for mono . I also have a Sure Dynetic M3D that's is setup for single output ,there are jumpers on the pins . The owners manual for it is at vinyl engine .
No, it's a stereo moving iron cart. That's from Marcmorin and he knows his grados...................
 
Last edited:
If the vertical component is cancel out doesn't that leave just the lateral ? which would be mono . I'm just trying to understand this .
 
Mono records are cut laterally, and do not respond to vertical modulations. This is why certain turntables that were perfectly acceptable in mono were dreadfully rumbly in stereo, since the bearings had significant up and down vibration.
There does seem to be a lot of confusion about the Grado nomeclature since at least some of these M named cartridges are actually mono, whereas others are stereo cartridges with big styli suitable for mono records, but usable with stereo. The coils must be set up differently, but I would have assumed someone would have noted this before in the thread.
 
Back
Top Bottom