Grado cartridges ??????

[Floyddroid]

What's the view of the cognisenti with regards to Grado cartridges? I fancy one for my SL1500.:)

[DSJR]

I told you already ;)

Smooth, gentle in the treble on all but the Black, which is livelier, inclined to wobble on ripply records if arm mass is a bit too high. If you do get one for the 1500, get the lightweight but rigid modern techie shell and some decent wires for it.

Why not try a Rega Carbon, or at least the related AT91 instead for twenty to twenty five notes. You may just have a pleasant surprise as I did. Track at 1.75g and play around with bias. I'm still using mine with little inclination to change it for the other vintage cartridges I have in abundance :lol:

[JJack]

I have a VPI, and they hum on every VPI I've heard them on, so they are a non-starter for me.

Oh, wait, I do have a mono M+ that I use from time to time on my Technics. Eh.

Enough people rave about the Gold, however, that someone in that price range should at least investigate that model

[Floyddroid]

Yes sir, indeed you did. I had forgotten. A lot of single malt has been consumed since then. I will as a result of your learned advice stear well clear.

[sq225917]

Prone to humming over metal platters, a tricky one to balance with arm mass and they love to skip out of torture tracks. Not a place I would visit again.

[Barry]

The Grado FTE+1 was an absolute 'belter' for the money. Suggest it joins Marco's list of underrated cartridges.

[walpurgis]

The Grado FTE+1 was an absolute 'belter' for the money. Suggest it joins Marco's list of underrated cartridges.

I'll second that. Good cartridge!

[DSJR]

All their cheapest models are by far the most fun :) I also remember the FCE+ being good as well - and all for under £15 at the time i think :)

This whole hum thing is important I feel. Rega cartridges (Bias series, Elys and Exact) are deliberately under-shielded since Roy argued most strongly that fully shielding the generator reduced output and adversely affected sonics. I'm not an engineer and can't argue this case for or against, but many Rega turntables fitted with their own made cartridges had hum issues, the hum field from nearby transformers adding alarmingly to the existing field from the then mains powered motors. Grado's may well be like this too, although the F1+ works fine, quietly and tidily in my Lab 80 mk2 with no stability issues ;)

Malt whisky? What a great idea Steve :lol: - hic.................

[Spur07]

My old rega P3 with rega elys hummed like a very excited bumble bee

[MartinT]

Energetic, exciting and a little coarse. Not the best trackers around, but decent. Watch that hum if the deck has a mains driven motor. That's for a Prestige Gold, the lesser models are probably a step down.

[synsei]

All their cheapest models are by far the most fun :) I also remember the FCE+ being good as well - and all for under £15 at the time i think :)

I think I paid the princely sum of £13.99 for my FCE+ and you may well have been the chap who sold it to me all those years ago Dave. It was a nice sounding cartridge, but after being forced to listen to three months output from Nortax Taxi's on it, I replaced it with a Glanz MFG 11T which was a little more expensive at 18 quid (IIRC) but it was an exceptional performer for the money :)

I don't remember where I bought the Glanz from, did you stock them at Listen Inn Dave? :scratch:

[wee tam]

grado gold , for what you can pick them up for , are very much worth invetigating imho

[freefallrob]

I actually preferred the Black over the Gold, it was far less finicky in set up, sounded less 'edgy' wobbled less and tracked better! Worked well in a RB250 and Techy SL1210mk2 standard arm. Inner groove tracking wasn't the best.

[DSJR]

I think I paid the princely sum of £13.99 for my FCE+ and you may well have been the chap who sold it to me all those years ago Dave. It was a nice sounding cartridge, but after being forced to listen to three months output from Nortax Taxi's on it, I replaced it with a Glanz MFG 11T which was a little more expensive at 18 quid (IIRC) but it was an exceptional performer for the money :)

I don't remember where I bought the Glanz from, did you stock them at Listen Inn Dave? :scratch:

My times at Listen Inn were 1998 - 2004, with a two year spell on the road in those times which I try hard to forget for various reasons. When Glanz were around (their cheapest £15 model was another fun-nail :lol:), I was at KJ W1 in their first incarnation.....

Some of these cartridges only sold once they had good reviews, and of you didn't meet the agenda of the reviewers at the time, you'd had it I think.

I have to say that my thirty five year old Grado F1+ (which wasn't liked by Colloms et al in the relevant 'Choice book) is as stable as anything and sounds fine to me. The current models are definitely different and in the US, they've been tweaked into +1 versions, with shorter cantilevers and lower inductance bodies I think...

[synsei]

Ah, I thought you worked there earlier than that :doh: My experience with Listen Inn was from the early eighties so you are well off the hook :lol: I liked the FCE+ a lot but the breakthrough from the taxi firms radio antenna next door was just too much to bear. Sometimes it could be hilarious, for example I might hear a call for a taxi to Armitage Crescent as the Martian Deathray scythed its way across Horsham Common during Jeff Wayne's WotW's, but mostly it was just annoying.

[DSJR]

UUUUUULLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

or summat like that :lol: