Another "Name that Grado" thread, help this noob!

[nineDnine90]

Hey all,

Can anyone help me identify this Grado cartridge? The top of the cartridge has "1279" imprinted in the plastic. Aside from that I see nothing else.

I just got my hands on a new turntable, and this stylus was broken. I am looking to buy a replacement stylus, is the 8MZ the way to go? Will it fit on this cartridge? It will be mounted to a Grace 707 tonearm. The turntable is a Connoisseur BD 103. Right now I am on a LIMITED budget. I am not entirely sure everything else works, so I am a bit hesitant to spend $100 on a stylus (not sure if it will hum, not sure if the phono inputs will sound decent on my receiver --> trying to leave $ for a pre-amp). What do you think?

One last thing: I have read you want to leave the black "goo" in the cartridge, however, it looks like the 4 contact points from the stylus to cartridge are not clean. Should I clean up these areas before getting a new cartridge? (I tried to get a photo of this, best I can do on a cell phone).

THANKS GUYS!!!

 

[Stanton681EEES]

Don't mess with the black goo it's there for a reason. the 12/79 I believe is a date code
here is a link with a date code.
http://www.gradoheadphones.ca/styli.htm

 

[marcmorin]

Hey all,

Can anyone help me identify this Grado cartridge? The top of the cartridge has "1279" imprinted in the plastic. Aside from that I see nothing else.

I just got my hands on a new turntable, and this stylus was broken. I am looking to buy a replacement stylus, is the 8MZ the way to go? Will it fit on this cartridge? It will be mounted to a Grace 707 tonearm. The turntable is a Connoisseur BD 103. Right now I am on a LIMITED budget. I am not entirely sure everything else works, so I am a bit hesitant to spend $100 on a stylus (not sure if it will hum, not sure if the phono inputs will sound decent on my receiver --> trying to leave $ for a pre-amp). What do you think?

One last thing: I have read you want to leave the black "goo" in the cartridge, however, it looks like the 4 contact points from the stylus to cartridge are not clean. Should I clean up these areas before getting a new cartridge? (I tried to get a photo of this, best I can do on a cell phone).

THANKS GUYS!!!

That is a Grado "G" The next model up would have been G-1 and G-2. Although the "1 and 2" were considered above this in performace, it shares the same body and stylus (diamond). So the only difference was the cantilever quality.
The 8MZ will fit this body just fine, and outperform the original stylus especially in the lower registers. (more and better bass). The coils should measure in the 700 ohm range, and loading is recommended 10K minimum. On my system, those bodies with the 8MZ stylus perform best loaded at 22K.

 

[beatcomber]

Nice score!