Info on Grado MF3

[the-real-mandak]

Hi I an looking for info on the Grado MF3 cart, not much to see in the cart database.

 

[ChairSpud]

The Grado Stylus Replacement History page on the Grado site says the MF3 uses a Blue replacement stylus. That puts the MF3 around the middle of the Grado Prestige line. Hope that helps.

 

[BrocLuno]

New Blue stylus are one of their better deals. Sound good and track as well as any Grado. I got an NOS Blue of the 'Bay for $38 plus shipping. If you need a bit of extra "black putty" to seat it at the top of the cavity, you can use a smidge of Dux-Seal from the Air Conditioning contractor supply houses. Cheap and works like a charm

 

[boreas]

I'm going to resurrect this old thread because I just picked up one of these attached to a Technics P-mount table. The stylus is trashed, of course, but the cartridge is still functional.

The little I've found about this cartridge suggests it's probably a pretty decent one. Grado thinks it's worth the Blue stylus so that's a good sign.

I've never owned a Grado before so the ins and outs are unknown to me. In removing the stylus I discovered some black crud resembling dried graphite grease. Apparently, that's pretty much what it is and it's supposed to be there. My question is whether or not I should clean the old stuff out and renew it or is the old stuff still good, assuming there's enough of it left.

Also, the cartridge is obviously intended to be used either as a P-mount, which this was, or a standard mount. I'm wondering whether there was an adapter that allowed the use of conventional headshell leads or whether it's necessary to use special leads with extra small connectors on the cartridge end.

Thanks,
John

 

[jdre]

Here's what I did with my Grado

I have a Grado MG, Grado said Green stylus, I went up one to Blue. I removed the "black crud " from the old stylus and transferred it to the new one in the same place along the top before installing it. Make sure the goo isn't on the contact points or center iron disc. The goo is like 3M Strip-calk for car body seals. It should be gummy. The new stylus should be secure, not an easy pull out. Grado supplied pin adapters with my MG to make the pins fatter, and a headshell spacer and screws. It's actually clever, instead of using the clumsy plastic holders to convert P to standard mount. Which turntable do you have with the P mount?

 

[boreas]

I have a Grado MG, Grado said Green stylus, I went up one to Blue. I removed the "black crud " from the old stylus and transferred it to the new one in the same place along the top before installing it. Make sure the goo isn't on the contact points or center iron disc. The goo is like 3M Strip-calk for car body seals. It should be gummy. The new stylus should be secure, not an easy pull out. Grado supplied pin adapters with my MG to make the pins fatter, and a headshell spacer and screws. It's actually clever, instead of using the clumsy plastic holders to convert P to standard mount. Which turntable do you have with the P mount?

Thanks for the info, especially regarding the crud. Right now there is a fair amount on the contacts. It'll have to be cleaned for sure.

Right now the cartridge is sitting in my little music box full of spare cartridges but it came my way attached to a Technics SL-B350, a pretty humble table for this cartridge.

John

 

[jdre]

It looks a lot like my SL-Q200. My cue mechanism is very slow to lower the needle (7 seconds), how long does yours take? I have to free it up. Your TT is belt drive, a better match to the Grado. My direct drive motor is picked up by the Grado.

 

[boreas]

It looks a lot like my SL-Q200. My cue mechanism is very slow to lower the needle (7 seconds), how long does yours take? I have to free it up. Your TT is belt drive, a better match to the Grado. My direct drive motor is picked up by the Grado.

The SL-B350 is similar to the SL-Q200. In fact, it was offered during the same years, 1983-84. Your table is a few steps up from mine in that it's a quartz direct drive and mine's a servo belt drive.

Mine's closer to the SL-B300 though. In fact, it's the same table with 2 additional features, repeat function and record illumination. It's something of an oddball, I think. There's not much out there about it.

Cuing on mine is okay, I guess. I didn't time it but it does take a while. I doubt it's 7 seconds though. I think I'd rather live with a few seconds extra delay in the needle drops than having it drop too fast though.

Too bad about the RF(?) from the motor vs. your Grado. This is my first Grado cartridge and, of course, I have yet to use it but these things, as good as they apparently are, seem to be pretty fussy.

John

 

[marcmorin]

The SL-B350 is similar to the SL-Q200. In fact, it was offered during the same years, 1983-84. Your table is a few steps up from mine in that it's a quartz direct drive and mine's a servo belt drive.

Mine's closer to the SL-B300 though. In fact, it's the same table with 2 additional features, repeat function and record illumination. It's something of an oddball, I think. There's not much out there about it.

Cuing on mine is okay, I guess. I didn't time it but it does take a while. I doubt it's 7 seconds though. I think I'd rather live with a few seconds extra delay in the needle drops than having it drop too fast though.

Too bad about the RF(?) from the motor vs. your Grado. This is my first Grado cartridge and, of course, I have yet to use it but these things, as good as they apparently are, seem to be pretty fussy.

John

If the table motor is un-shielded, it will pick up EMI and you'll hear the 60hz come through as a small amount of hum. The "fussy nature" of Grado carts, I can walk you through any and all of it to get you the best performance.
On stylus replacement.......the 8MZ stylus will fit that body.....it sells for $100.00 from grado labs.....it is light years ahead of the Blue stylus. For less money than the Gold stylus, it is well beyond the Gold in performance.

http://daveyw.edsstuff.org/index.htm

This is a great site to hear various combinations of Grado carts and styli, as well as other MM/MI/MC carts.

Marc

 

[boreas]

If the table motor is un-shielded, it will pick up EMI and you'll hear the 60hz come through as a small amount of hum. The "fussy nature" of Grado carts, I can walk you through any and all of it to get you the best performance.
On stylus replacement.......the 8MZ stylus will fit that body.....it sells for $100.00 from grado labs.....it is light years ahead of the Blue stylus. For less money than the Gold stylus, it is well beyond the Gold in performance.

http://daveyw.edsstuff.org/index.htm

This is a great site to hear various combinations of Grado carts and styli, as well as other MM/MI/MC carts.

Marc

Good info! Thanks, Marc.

I'm thinking that this MF3 is far more cartridge than this Technics can benefit from and needs to be reserved for a better candidate like a good T4P-using linear tracker (which I don't have) or a good standard mount (which I do).

Of course, this means I need to come up with that little adapter piece or maybe make one by cutting up a conventional universal adapter. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
John

 

[marcmorin]

Good info! Thanks, Marc.

I'm thinking that this MF3 is far more cartridge than this Technics can benefit from and needs to be reserved for a better candidate like a good T4P-using linear tracker (which I don't have) or a good standard mount (which I do).

Of course, this means I need to come up with that little adapter piece or maybe make one by cutting up a conventional universal adapter. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
John

I believe the cart shown will work with both a P-mount and standard 1/2" mount.

With the addition of the 8MZ stylus, for the money you would have in it, it takes no back seat

 

[boreas]

I believe the cart shown will work with both a P-mount and standard 1/2" mount.

Almost. The pin diameter of a T4P cartridge is considerably less than that of a standard mount, so much so that the T4P pins actually fit inside the pins on a universal adapter. That means you need either headshell leads with extra small diameter connectors on one end or an adapter of some sort.

According to jdrd, Grado did indeed supply an adapter with the MF3. It would be neat to find one or, alternatively, make one out of a universal adapter by cutting away everything but the socket portion where the cartridge actually plugs in.

With the addition of the 8MZ stylus, for the money you would have in it, it takes no back seat

Good to know. Thanks.

John

 

[ARJohn]

Almost. The pin diameter of a T4P cartridge is considerably less than that of a standard mount, so much so that the T4P pins actually fit inside the pins on a universal adapter. That means you need either headshell leads with extra small diameter connectors on one end or an adapter of some sort.

According to jdrd, Grado did indeed supply an adapter with the MF3. It would be neat to find one or, alternatively, make one out of a universal adapter by cutting away everything but the socket portion where the cartridge actually plugs in.



Good to know. Thanks.

John

I have an older XT+ Grado and it has little gold sleeves that fit over the pins to make them fatter for regular mounting . I guess Grado was trying to get on the bandwagon with P-mount at the time ?

+ 1 on the 8MZ stylus btw

 

[jdre]

Grado Adapter

Do you want a picture of the adapter? Could be arranged. I like that light on the SLB350:yes:. I think the Grado would work OK as far as noise pickup with your SLB350. I use an Audio-Technica 231LP most of the time, and does not have any noise problem on my Q200.

 

[boreas]

Do you want a picture of the adapter? Could be arranged.

Yeah, that would be great if you can swing it.

I like that light on the SLB350:yes:.

It's a pretty neat little table. I think it would benefit from a better cartridge than the one on it now, like maybe an AT92E. The AT3482P on it is brand new but not the best sonically.

I use an Audio-Technica 231LP most of the time, and does not have any noise problem on my Q200.

I think that's a pretty nice cartridge. Probably sounds pretty good.

John

 

[jdre]

Grado mounting hardware pictures

Here are the pictures of the mounting plate called a "decoupler", it seems heavy, may not be mandatory (when standard mount):

Decoupler instructions:

I went to the site marcmorin linked to:http://daveyw.edsstuff.org/index.htm. It is amazing how much difference there was between the cartridges. I listened with $20 Koss headphones and my HP laptop's sound, surprising the reproduction was that good!

 

[boreas]

Here are the pictures of the mounting plate called a "decoupler", it seems heavy, may not be mandatory (when standard mount):

Thanks! So, there's the decoupler (a spacer of sorts), the mounting screws and then there are the little gold plated "condoms" that slip over the pins on the cartridge (God, wonder where you'd find those!). I'm having trouble figuring out what the red plastic thing is though.

I went to the site marcmorin linked to:http://daveyw.edsstuff.org/index.htm. It is amazing how much difference there was between the cartridges. I listened with $20 Koss headphones and my HP laptop's sound, surprising the reproduction was that good!

I should do that. I didn't because I didn't expect to hear much out of my laptop. Maybe I'll run it through the 2215B.

John

 

[jdre]

You're welcome. The red thing is just the cap for the tube the pin covers come in. Those files are big downloads. I found a big difference on Landslide, I could pick a winner there. Also listen for less distortion on the Heart song, one cartridge was the best.

 

[marcmorin]

You're welcome. The red thing is just the cap for the tube the pin covers come in. Those files are big downloads. I found a big difference on Landslide, I could pick a winner there. Also listen for less distortion on the Heart song, one cartridge was the best.

what do you want for that decoupler?

 

[boreas]

what do you want for that decoupler?

I've emailed Grado about those adapter kits. I reckon it's a very long shot but I'll post any info I get from them.

John