If I knew how to do an online database, I would, but I don't.It's in an MS Access file at the moment.
depending on the date of manufacture. There was a G model, which was above (a touch) the GF-1, and below (a touch) of the G1+ and G2+. If the manu date is from the 90s or later it is a prestige body of Black through Red. The original G body would be 700 ohms and be the longer body with two mounting ears, the prestige body is shorter (starting with the M series) and the mounting is a little triangular. X, Z, Prestige should measure 470 ohm range.
I'm a guitar player. Grados give the most accurate guitar sound (to my ears of course).
The easy way to check bias (antiskate) is to set the tracking force as low as you can to where the stylus just wants to set down. put a smooth sheet of plastic on the platter and set the stylus down in the run-out groove distance and watch how fast the arm wants to swing to the outside. Compare that speed with a zero floated arm and antiskate set.......should give you a "relative" number. Not that the numbers on an antiskate dial really mean anything. But it will give you an idea of how much outward force is set on the arm.
No arm mismatch at all, unless the Technics arm, an Akito, an RB300 and an SME are all mismatches
I don't dislike Grados, in fact for folky, Buchanany type stuff they're fine, but for hard driving rock and for full on classical they lose because of their balance. Exciting, bright and lean are usually products of flat frequency response or slightly lifted treble, much as in the current Ortofon 2m series. I agree some ATs can verge towards the bright, but the AT95 and the 440, which I've just put on my new toy, seem pretty neutral in my Harbeth system.
Anyway, digression over.
I love the sound I'm getting from my Gold cart, UNTIL the final 2-3 minutes of an album side. Then I get sad...
Are you sure the masters were the same? It rarely is for digital vs vinyl, which tends (unhelpfully) to invalidate most tests.
As an engineer, I don't agree that it always means that.
In fact, my experience, as someone with a database of approximately 250 tonearm/cartridge resonance combinations, is that Grado cartridges invariably have the largest resonance of any cartridge brand, which is why I'm not surprised they have problems with mistracking. Of the four Grado cartridges I've got resonance peak measurements for, all of them are above the average resonance, and three are by far the worst (17dB, 17dB and 21dB. That's terrible, and all three were more than twice as bad as the average. That's why they track terribly on un-damped tonearms on less-than-perfect records. Now, as you know, an average has to be made up of high and low samples, but the Grado cartridges stand out in my database as the only brand which is consistently bad, and worse than average (the ideal resonance is zero, for the best tracking).
One of those measured was a current-model Grado measured within the last year, while the others were measured in the 1980's, but they seem to still have the same problem of a very undamped cantilever. Perhaps it may produce exciting sound to some ears, but it also causes problems with tracking and.less-than-perfect fidelity, as the cantilever isn't being controlled properly by what's on the record.