paskinn
04-11-2014, 15:16
Just bought one and been nicely surprised, although I had been hearing good things about them lately. Grado are rather unfashionable in the UK, but appear to sell well in other countries. I've had several in the past, including a couple of early wooden ones. I was not too impressed, lumpy bass and a veiled treble let down a rather nice, sweet midrange. Over a period the faults got too annoying. So I stayed away for quite a few years.
The latest 'Master Statement' is the new low output version, with far less coils on the moving iron design, and an output of 0.5mv. Unusually, you need a loading of 47K . Not all step ups offer that. The cartridge sells here, via Turntable World, for about £600, with Vat, compared with $1000 in the States. Cheaper here, for once.
First thing I checked was noise..older Grados could 'hum' and drive you nuts. On my SME deck the Grado was totally silent, even when positioned over the motor. Hopefully, they have this problem sorted at last. Right from the box the sound was really fine. The old sweetness was preserved, indeed the first impression was of a kind of 'silkiness' which was rather appealing. At last, bass was sorted out, firm and quite tight, of medium weight . The top was no longer veiled, quite open and relaxing but with plenty of detail. Tracking was good, coping with complex choral pieces without strain
I'm not going to ramble on, I have owned a lot of cartridges including Vdh, Koetsu, Benz, transfiguration, Dynavector and so on. I'm not a major fanof modern moving coils, which are sometimes too etched and dry for my tastes. I find that the Grado offers a most interesting alternative. And the price seems very competitive indeed for what is on offer. If you have been put-off in the past by the Grado downsides, could be time to look again. It's definitely a player.
BTW: for those who care, the deck was an SME with 12inch arm, 14gms mass, tracking at 1.6gms, run into a Music First step up, 47K load, and then Croft riaa, onwards to a variety of power amps.
The latest 'Master Statement' is the new low output version, with far less coils on the moving iron design, and an output of 0.5mv. Unusually, you need a loading of 47K . Not all step ups offer that. The cartridge sells here, via Turntable World, for about £600, with Vat, compared with $1000 in the States. Cheaper here, for once.
First thing I checked was noise..older Grados could 'hum' and drive you nuts. On my SME deck the Grado was totally silent, even when positioned over the motor. Hopefully, they have this problem sorted at last. Right from the box the sound was really fine. The old sweetness was preserved, indeed the first impression was of a kind of 'silkiness' which was rather appealing. At last, bass was sorted out, firm and quite tight, of medium weight . The top was no longer veiled, quite open and relaxing but with plenty of detail. Tracking was good, coping with complex choral pieces without strain
I'm not going to ramble on, I have owned a lot of cartridges including Vdh, Koetsu, Benz, transfiguration, Dynavector and so on. I'm not a major fanof modern moving coils, which are sometimes too etched and dry for my tastes. I find that the Grado offers a most interesting alternative. And the price seems very competitive indeed for what is on offer. If you have been put-off in the past by the Grado downsides, could be time to look again. It's definitely a player.
BTW: for those who care, the deck was an SME with 12inch arm, 14gms mass, tracking at 1.6gms, run into a Music First step up, 47K load, and then Croft riaa, onwards to a variety of power amps.