In all my years of owning turntables, about 31 so far, I have always heard about Grado cartridges. I always heard about the magic they created in such inexpensive cartridges. Through the years I have purchased several Grados but always failed to hear the magic. As a local audio store was going out of business I bought a Grado Red at what must have been the stores cost. Installed it and once again was disappointed. The cartridge lacked resolution and I did not think it was tracking well. Back to the Ortofon OM20.

Yesterday I was listening to some vinyl and I realized how tired I was of the OM20 sound. I thought about installing my old Sumiko Blue Point 2 but I knew the stylus had a bit of wear. I have been thinking a lot about a low output MC cartridge after reading the thread started by BRANDONH. Out of boredom and time on my hands I decided to try the Grado one more time. I had never used it since installing the Michell TechnoWeight and was curious if it would work any better with the tweak.

I removed my tonearm from the table to remove the 2mm spacer. The Grado does not need the spacer since it is not as tall as the OM20. Since I had the arm in hand I installed the cartridge. I find this a much easier process when the arm is off the turntable. After loosely mounting the cartridge I reinstalled the arm. Pulling out my trusty GeoDisc I set overhang and offset. Using the Shure stylus gauge I set the tracking force to 1 1/2 grams. It was time to spin a disc and hear if there was magic. It sounded terrible, where were the high frequencies, what have I done? I checked the back of my phono preamp and sure enough while plugging in the turntable cables I had switched the preamp to MC instead of the moving magnet setting appropriate for the Grado.

Now with everything set properly I lowered the stylus into the groove. My initial response was what the hell? Where did all this solid imaging come from? The Red gave greater depth to the soundstage than the OM20 but not as good as a MC. Wonderful midrange and all I heard about the Grado reproducing female vocalists is now true. Bass is rendered tighter and better defined. The warmth of the cartridge is welcome with my very neutral speakers. No sounds of mistracking with any discs I have played so far including some Telarc's with very good bass. So this is what a Grado cartridge should sound like. I understand their popularity.

The midrange is very accurate and the portrayal of the individual sounds of instruments is great. In complex musical passages it is easier to hear what instruments are being played because there is less congestion to the sound. This may be due to good tracking, good midrange reproduction or a combination of both. All of this for a list price of $110.

I must attribute my amazement to the quality of sound in part to the Michell TechnoWeight. The lowered counterweight has improved the tracking of the cartridge. This is the first time I have heard the cartridge since installing this tweak. I had no idea Grado cartridges could have so much detail, resolutiong and imaging. Did I like the cartridge with the stock Rega counterweight? No I did not. I was planning on using it for a trade in on a Benz cartridge. Of course now I will be listening to the Grado for awhile and hearing what all it can do. Now the question is do I want a low output MC or one of the wooden bodied Grado's?