Grado Cartridge ID on SME 3009 S2 Improved

[Winters]

Hello dear AKers,

a fellow dropped in a Luxman PD-131 turntable with SME 3009 S2 tonearm and this strange vintage Grado cartridge for me to setup and clean the potentiometers.

I can't find any info on this Grado cartridge. The body looks like the Prestige series but seems older and is blue in color. Seems like a higher-end cartridge (doubt anyone would put a run of the mill cart on this combo).



Any ideas?

Best regards,
Piotr

 

[beatcomber]

I can't offer any specifics, but I do know that Grado produced some special cartridges just for the European market, and these special models had blue bodies.

You should be able to replace the stylus with a Prestige Series or 8MZ stylus.

 

[beatcomber]

I found some info from Grado expert, @marcmorin (who is currently dealing with health issues, and may not be able to chime in right now):

"If the coil cover is chrome, it's mid level. If the coil cover is gold it's equiv to the silver/gold level."

The XG mentioned in the linked thread was one of the blue-body import models.

 

[Winters]

Well, the coil cover is chrome. But this cartridge doesn't sound like a regular run of the mill Grado. It sounds absolutely GREAT.

 

[Nashou66]

I have a Grado "G" but its brown not blue and it also sounds great! It has the silver dot stylus carrier .

What color "dots" does your stylus carrier have?

Nashou

 

[cafe latte]

Hello dear AKers,

a fellow dropped in a Luxman PD-131 turntable with SME 3009 S2 tonearm and this strange vintage Grado cartridge for me to setup and clean the potentiometers.

I can't find any info on this Grado cartridge. The body looks like the Prestige series but seems older and is blue in color. Seems like a higher-end cartridge (doubt anyone would put a run of the mill cart on this combo).

View attachment 1796451

Any ideas?

Best regards,
Piotr

Measure the coils, I have the same I think and can confirm with coils, if the same it sounds lovely. Need to check tomorrow but 800 ohms I think.
Chris

 

[Winters]

Measure the coils, I have the same I think and can confirm with coils, if the same it sounds lovely. Need to check tomorrow but 800 ohms I think.
Chris

Yes, they are around 800 ohms each.
The dots on the stylus guard are the same color as the catridge body.

 

[cafe latte]

Yes, they are around 800 ohms each.
The dots on the stylus guard are the same color as the catridge body.

Excellent, this version was before they went down to 460 ohms. The new Grado are around 660 ohms from memory so they are closer to the old models. IMO the old one you have sounds better than the new Grado blue and gold 2 (I have not heard the 3 yet)
Get a Grado blue 2 stylus if yours is missing or damaged, the gold 2 is no different from what I can determine, it looks the same tip under the microscope and cantilver seems the same apart the gold as bitumen on the cantilever, the blue does not, bot worth the extra money they charge IMO.
Chris