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Does Grado have an adapter for their P-mounts to 1/2 inch or universal?

mech986

mech986

Lunatic Member
And do they have adapter for the P-mount pins to accept normal lead wires?

Thinking about adapting some P-Mount Grado to regular arms. Probably would use just a friction fit unless there is a good way to bond the adapter to the Grado body and have it aligned well.
 
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boreas said:
No, not a Grado adapter but you need an adapter. The same adapter that works on any P-mount cartridge works on a Grado.

John
Click to expand...

Yes and no, some Grado P mount cartridges came with an adapter some didn't, was indicated on the packaging. You can get a standard P mount adapter but must file down the top of the Grado cartridge a little to get it to fit properly in the adapter.
 
As the others said, it doesn’t need to be a Grado adaptor – any p-mount adaptor will do a similar job, and they can be picked up cheaply at most cartridge specialists, such as lpgear.com http://www.lpgear.com/product/T4PADAP.html - that also includes the screw to hold the cartridge in the adaptor (all p-mount cartridges plug in, and are then held very securely by a screw at the rear).

If you have a tonearm which uses the Ortofon/IEC/universal headshell (originally based on Ortofon’s plug in cartridges), the best solution if you can find one at a good price, is the excellent Technics SH-90S, which is a universal plug-in headshell for p-mount cartridges http://www.vinylengine.com/library/technics/sh-90s.shtml . They are rare, but occasionally can be found for sale on eBay, or on some Japanese websites which sell used equipment, but they sometimes go for crazy prices. The SH-90S has facilities to adjust overhang (alignment) built into the headshell.
 
If you want the Grado part, look for used older series with a "Universal P-Mount" sticker on the box flap. I bought my XF-3E+ that way long ago.
 
sfrost said:
You can get a standard P mount adapter but must file down the top of the Grado cartridge a little to get it to fit properly in the adapter.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I never realized that. I just tried 2 different adapters on an FC+ I have here and neither would fit. Filing the top of the cartridge down by maybe a millimeter would do it though.

John
 
sfrost said:
Yes and no, some Grado P mount cartridges came with an adapter some didn't, was indicated on the packaging. You can get a standard P mount adapter but must file down the top of the Grado cartridge a little to get it to fit properly in the adapter.
Click to expand...


:yes:

Yet another reason I hate Grado.
 
Not just any p-mount adapter will work. One dimension not in the p-mount standards is the cartridge height from the plug upwards. The Grados are tall for p-mount cartridges, and most manufacturer's adapters are not made for that tall of a cartridge. I'll have to experiment once I get home, but I recall one adapter being a better fit for the Grado cartridges than the others. Perhaps the Shure adapter, or perhaps the Ortofon, I cannot recall.

Grado never made a traditional p-mount adapter. Their older "universal" cartridges came with ears that attached to the top of the cartridge, and a modern Grado p-mount doesn't have the slots for the ears to fit into. And yes, there was also the issue of fitting the wires onto the smaller-than-standard pins on the cartridge as well.
 
SA-708 said:
Grado never made a traditional p-mount adapter. Their older "universal" cartridges came with ears that attached to the top of the cartridge, and a modern Grado p-mount doesn't have the slots for the ears to fit into. And yes, there was also the issue of fitting the wires onto the smaller-than-standard pins on the cartridge as well.
Click to expand...

I have one of each and never tried either one of them in an adapter until today.

The "eared " P-mounts came with a mounting kit that included sleeves to fit over the P-mount size pins to fatten them up for conventional headshell wires. They also came with a metal plate that was supposed to be interposed between the cartridge body and the headshell. This produced only three points of contact between headshell and was supposed to effectively isolate the cartridge from the headshell and arm.

I never had any of that stuff but I did modify a standard P-mount adapter to use in a 1/2" headshell. But, like I said, I've never used the cartridge.

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John
 
SA-708 said:
Not just any p-mount adapter will work. One dimension not in the p-mount standards is the cartridge height from the plug upwards. The Grados are tall for p-mount cartridges, and most manufacturer's adapters are not made for that tall of a cartridge. I'll have to experiment once I get home, but I recall one adapter being a better fit for the Grado cartridges than the others. Perhaps the Shure adapter, or perhaps the Ortofon, I cannot recall.

Grado never made a traditional p-mount adapter. Their older "universal" cartridges came with ears that attached to the top of the cartridge, and a modern Grado p-mount doesn't have the slots for the ears to fit into. And yes, there was also the issue of fitting the wires onto the smaller-than-standard pins on the cartridge as well.
Click to expand...
I know they need to be filed for the Otofon adapters. I haven't tried a Shure adapter.
 
I just asked Grado help and received this reply:

"Hi David

we no longer have the adapter, the mold gave out many years ago.

Thanks":

Or - thanks for nuthin'.....
 
Here's the same cartridge in another Shure adapter, this one with Realistic branding.
 

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