New Grado Black2

I like the AT sound, but Grado just wins out for me. I think my green sounds great on my Technics 1200. It did sound a bit better on my old HK table though.
 
For 15 grand, one should receive several nudes. :D
And a free cartridge and stylus. :D

Other than the one already posted, no. But from what people are saying about the stylus, there's only so much one can do with a 'standard' elliptical.
That is the sole reason I haven't tried another Grado. Trackability directly relates to both stylus profile and effective tip mass. An elliptical can't track many of the records I own (the profile is physically too "fat" to fit the tight grooves), and too much tip mass means the stylus/cantilever/suspension can't overcome its own inertia and accelerate fast enough to track a groove properly. I have always liked the Grado sound, but to listen to it mistrack through a lot of my vinyl and destroy it? No thanks. I'd be all over a Grado if they would join this century and make some sort of line contact stylus (and not some vaguely-named "twin tip" that is never illustrated on their site), and start using low-mass cantilever materials worthy of a high-quality diamond. And I would gladly pay for it--make that cart, Grado, and take my money! ;)
 
And a free cartridge and stylus. :D


An elliptical can't track many of the records I own (the profile is physically too "fat" to fit the tight grooves), ;)

a side radius of 0.0002" will read any wiggle cut into the vinyl. The original Shibata offered a side radius of 0.0003" and it had no problem reading 40K wiggles.
 
I'll be eager to see some reviews! Will the styli be redesigned or just the bodies? Will older bodies accept the new styli? Vice-versa? Exciting news either way...

I love the Grado sound, but I don't love the Prestige series 1. To me, they are sort of bland and dull compared to most of their previous offerings. Not to mention, QC ain't been so hot... I've kinda gotten the impression that Grado had let phono cartridges fall by the wayside a bit, and they were putting most of their R&D and resources into headphones, headphone amps, and those dreaded earbuds. Makes sense, I guess. Since the late 80s, the market hasn't been at all sufficient to sustain a company of that size primarily manufacturing phono cartridges. But, it would appear that Grado is feeling the stirrings of the vinyl resurgence... The introduction of its new megabuck wood-bodied audiophile cartridges is a good sign. If that high-end "tech" is really trickling down to their lower end offerings as they claim it to be, this might be a really good thing.

Hopefully, they will yield an improved product, and keep a reasonable price tag!
 
I'm also excited to hear others' impressions of the new Grado carts. Honestly, I've never heard anything from the newer Prestige series, but I really like the sound from the few I have from the mid 70's to the early 80's. :lurk:
 
I'll be eager to see some reviews! Will the styli be redesigned or just the bodies? Will older bodies accept the new styli? Vice-versa? Exciting news either way...

I love the Grado sound, but I don't love the Prestige series 1. To me, they are sort of bland and dull compared to most of their previous offerings. Not to mention, QC ain't been so hot...
I don't recall hearing about quality control issues with Grado. What sorts of problems did you have with them?

Grado claims that "Each individual cartridge manufactured by Grado is hand assembled and tested for frequency response, channel output, channel balance, phase linearity, inductance and resistance." If true, it would seem hard to get a bad cartridge from Grado, though one dealer told me he preferred the sample-to-sample consistency of the Green over the Black, so he only stocked the Green.
 
My first problem occurred about 4 years ago with an 8MZ that had a badly cut stone that was installed in a rotated position on the cantilever. Under magnification, I could see where there were actually shavings that had once been part of my record grooves building up behind the tip. It never should've made it to my doorstep, but hey, accidents happen. ...As long as it's an isolated incident.

About two years later I bought a Red1. The Red should have tested as one of the top 10% performing Blues, right? Well, it sounded more distorted and sibilant than the well-worn Black1 that it replaced. Regardless of setup, it would never clean up. Once again, the tip looked to be somewhat poorly cut and mounted at a funny angle. How could this have ever passed the "test" which earned it those red dots? If this is a top testing stylus, I'd hate to hear the lower percentile...

I do know how to set up a Grado, btw. In fact, I've had great luck with older styli, and I've even self re-tipped my F1+ with decent results. Right now, I'm using an older Z something or other, and it is an excellent tracker. I'd just decided to never again buy a new Grado stylus. However, with them refreshing their whole product line, I am hopeful that they will put a little more emphasis on QC.
 
Well I couldn't help myself and just ordered a Blue2. I'm not the best cartridge-reviewer, but I'll try to let you guys know what I think (and I can post some photos).

I currently have a Red1 on my Technics SL-Q3, so I will be comparing it with that.
 
I had some Amazon credit left over from a return I made. I couldn't resist and ordered the Black2. I've been wanting my first Grado cart for awhile, and this seemed like perfect timing.

Isn't it funny that we don't treat "credit" like real money. At least I don't. That's why I typically ask to be refunded in cash if I return something...but in this instance I had lost my debit card and was waiting for my new one, and therefore was worried that there would be an issue with the refund.

Similar thing with credit cards....it's always much easier to use a credit card then a debit card :)

Thanks for the heads up!
 
Well I couldn't help myself and just ordered a Blue2. I'm not the best cartridge-reviewer, but I'll try to let you guys know what I think (and I can post some photos).

I currently have a Red1 on my Technics SL-Q3, so I will be comparing it with that.

Why did you select the Blue? I realized it is $50 more, and cancelled my order (more like postponed it). I surely want to hear your review.

I have a friend that works at an audio shop and he said all they would ever sell is the Blacks and maybe a Gold once in awhile. I've read postings of folks saying there isn't a big difference between the Black and the green, red, blue, etc. But then there are people that contradict that.

Obviously I need to test for myself...but its expensive to do this. I'd like your thoughts before I decide between the Black2 or Blue2. I don't want to spend more then $125. I do think I will go for the Black2 to at least get my first taste of Grado. I can also upgrade to the 8MZ later if I like the cartridge.

I'm running a Pioneer PL-510a, B&W 683s2 speakers, a Denon AVR1300 receiver, and a home-made preamp using the stock A310 module board off Ebay. I think I might need to play around with a better preamp before I notice a difference between a Grado Black2 and Blue2.

McDeltaT
 
Have series 2 styli been released yet? If so, you might want to check prices.

At least with the Prestige Series 1, the bodies were internally the same for Black, Green, Blue and Red. There was not a difference/improvement until you sprang for the gold-clad Silver/Gold models. However, there was a definite increase in the price of the body (in addition to the price of the stylus) as you went up the chain. I don't know if this will still be the case with Series 2, but if it is, you would almost be better off buying a complete Black2 cartridge, then upgrade just the stylus later. That way, you can compare the original to the upgrade and have a spare stylus to boot, for not too terribly much more than buying a complete Blue2 or Red2.
 
Have series 2 styli been released yet? If so, you might want to check prices.

Amazon has the Black2 ($75), Blue2 ($125), and Gold2 ($260). I will call Grado to see if they are interchangeable like the previous series. I'll report back. I'll go that route if so...plus it allows me to save some money upfront with the option of upgrading in the future.
 
Why did you select the Blue? I realized it is $50 more, and cancelled my order (more like postponed it). I surely want to hear your review.
McDeltaT

I went with the Blue just because I have the Red1 and figured the Blue2 would be similar. To be honest, I've tried both the Green1 and Red1 and didn't notice much difference between them, other than a possible increase in bass with the Red. Both were very warm. The Red1 I have is so warm that some recordings sound a bit muffled (but better recordings sound excellent, especially with classical).
 
OK, by now surely someone here has received a Grado2 model and installed it yes? Let's hear some comparos, or info on differences, etc. Anyone? Anyone?
 
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