I found the Statement reference more muted less alive than the Opus 3, it is like a totally different cart. The retip ones have a far better top end the slightly clangy nature of the treble is gone after retip and more fine detail. You are right though right out the box they are very good indeed.
Joseph told me he picked one up used on the cheap off ebay with the intention of retipping it with something better. He said he was so impressed that he left it stock.
They are stunning, retipped they are worthwhile better again, but he is right they are very very good stock, lovely actually.
I have only worked with the low output Opus so far and the Prestige are all high output so that alone could be the magic.
Yes, it could. What are you using for additional gain?
My DNM I can use high output MC at 47k
What is the coil resistance on the high output?
I'm guessing the bonded tip and the glue...
Naaa... not the paint.... and not the glue...Paint?
Chris
I cant help wondering is he is using the wrong loading on the low output as not all preamps can do 47k on MC. In this case the high would be better for sure.I posed the question to Joseph seeking his opinion on whether he would advise getting one over the other. He replied back that he owns one of each, both with 50 hours use, and said, "The audiophile in me wants to say the low, but the truly honest person I am says the high." He then went on to say that, if I like, he'll send me both to audition in my home, decide on which one I would choose, then I can send them back. I love that guy!
Anyway, I'm going to try to set it up as a blind listening test to eliminate any preconceived notions. Gotta figure out how to trick myself into not knowing somehow since the volume will be quite different from one to the other. Maybe I'll have the Mrs. turn the volume up from 0 on the amp without me looking at how high it is on the dial... I'll set the phono stage for low output gain for the entire test.
I shall report back with my findings.
I assume he knows what he's doing with the loading. I remember the Grado website (4ourears) saying 10k-47k loading. I find that 20k-22k for low output Grados sounds best to my old, somewhat damaged ears. I can also vary gain and loading independently on my phono stage, not a one size fits all MM and MC type arrangement.
Yes that is dc resistance, checking as often with Grado what is on the white piece of paper spec sheets is not even close to what it actually is.
Grado is so low inductance it mostly does nor matter but it does, can you hear it? Probably not but the low output will be slightly better question is is the low output ideal for what you are testing it on? The no brainer is go high as it is so low anyway, that said my low even works on normal MM just better on MC as output is quite higher anyway and it is stunning so part of me is thinking why experiment when this works.
Grado definitely took a step in the wrong direction when they lowered the resistance in their high output cartridges to the 450-500 ohms range. Raising it back up for the Prestige2 and Prestige3 series is why they sound much better now IMO.
