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Advise on Grado cartridge match...

jbjsr

jbjsr

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Recently got a Thorens TD-318 table to restore and put in my home office system. My plan was to put on a Denon DL160 or possibly Empire 3000 ME/X or maybe Shure V15iii cart. Was leaning slightly toward the Denon.

Then just for kicks I left the Grado on that came on the table for check out. Then I started to like the sound... The cartridge / stylus are in nice condition and the alignment / setup very good. This is my first experience with Grado. The face of cartridge is black and has Grado on the lower face with G above that with silver side panels. Stylus housing is black The original owner thought is was from the Prestige series and either the Black or Silver version.

Began to research on AK and read the posts on the excellent 8MZ stylus upgrade. Is the Prestige cart compatible with the 8MZ and has anyone used that on a Thorens or suspension table with good results?
 
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can't answer to the question of the table/arm. The 8MZ will plug right in. The silver stylus would have had two silver dots on it, the black will not. The "Silver" body metal is gold in color. Black through Red body is chrome(ish)
 
Your description sounds like my Signature 8, a very good cartridge that matches well with your Thorens. It is also valuable.
My Sig 8 also has "JG" black print on the silver bottom of the cartridge. Hand made and supplied with it's actual frequency response trace, my cartridge has a serial number hand scratched on the top of the body (obscured by the headshell).
Grado supplied these cartridges with a triangular black metallic decoupling plate to be placed between the headshell and the cartridge. They highly recommended this decoupler for the best performance.
IMG_4363_zpscb77a9b8.jpg

IMG_4362_zps4dee5fcf.jpg
 
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heyraz said:
Your description sounds like my Signature 8, a very good cartridge that matches well with your Thorens. It is also valuable.
My Sig 8 also has "JG" black print on the silver bottom of the cartridge. Hand made and supplied with a frequency response trace, my cartridge has a serial number hand scratched on the top of the body.
Grado supplied these cartridges with a black metallic decoupling plate to be placed between the headshell and the cartridge. They highly recommended this decoupler for the best playback
Click to expand...

There is no "G" on the front of your siggie, with Grado written below it. It has JG. the metal can is not bright, but more like pewter in color.
 
I think mine is the basic Prestige Black cart. Thanks for the info!
 
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My sig 8 still has it's original stylus.
I was going to replace the stylus years ago but instead opted to put the money into a new cartridge, a Grado Reference Sonata1. Shortly after, I bought a Grado Statement Sonata1 which is what I listen to now.
I'll give the Sig 8 to one of my kids when they get into vinyl.
 
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