Grado Cartridges and Stylus - Questions and Advice.

dbarila said:
Heres a video of what's I'm getting. Skipping a d his voice sounds distorted.



Tracking force is reading 1.68
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Don't own a Grado so I don't want to weigh in too much here but I wouldn't use that Demon Days album for anything demo wise, I still hear distortion on this album with my MicroLine stylus. I do not get the hype over that cut at all! I do think the side C "locked groove" is a good torture test for tracking, but plenty of elliptical styli properly aligned can't track it. IMO it's an overdriven cut that's not worth too much in the way of system setup. Obviously a better alignment will result in better tracking but if you're seeking for 100% clean playback it's just not going to come off of that LP.
 
zombie.modernist said:
Don't own a Grado so I don't want to weigh in too much here but I wouldn't use that Demon Days album for anything demo wise, I still hear distortion on this album with my MicroLine stylus. I do not get the hype over that cut at all! I do think the side C "locked groove" is a good torture test for tracking, but plenty of elliptical styli properly aligned can't track it. IMO it's an overdriven cut that's not worth too much in the way of system setup. Obviously a better alignment will result in better tracking but if you're seeking for 100% clean playback it's just not going to come off of that LP.
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Why locked groove in quotation marks? There was an actual locked groove on the early pressings. I have one of each, one is a repeating locked groove the other plays through fine.
 
kvetcha said:
That actually played through fine on my Ortofon but locked on my MoFi. It’s just cut too hot.
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Didnt play on either my ort red or blue or the Grado and didnt play on the tt of the table of the person who PIFed it to me. The repress I bought plays perfectly. Its definitely a locked grove on the copy i have.
 
Joe Mac said:
Why locked groove in quotation marks? There was an actual locked groove on the early pressings. I have one of each, one is a repeating locked groove the other plays through fine.
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Agree with @kvetcha since across the 4 copies they sent me, some of my carts track it and others do not, I don’t think it’s a properly “locked groove”. Of course you shouldn’t need a top tracking cart to clear a passage of a song, and there was some pressing to pressing variance. Either way more evidence that this cut is borked.
 
Joe Mac said:
Didnt play on either my ort red or blue or the Grado and didnt play on the tt of the table of the person who PIFed it to me. The repress I bought plays perfectly. Its definitely a locked grove on the copy i have.
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My Bronze only tracked it at the top of its recommended VTF, but I agree with @zombie.modernist that there was likely some variance. Either way, the record was way overdriven.
 
It's funny because the reason I even had Demon Days out was to see if I got the locked groove in All Alone. That played fine.

But I agree those kind of things can differ from cart to cart. I sent a member my Breaking Atoms and the 7" played fine for me but had the locked groove for them. Same turntable just a different cartridge.
 
dbarila said:
It's funny because the reason I even had Demon Days out was to see if I got the locked groove in All Alone. That played fine.

But I agree those kind of things can differ from cart to cart. I sent a member my Breaking Atoms and the 7" played fine for me but had the locked groove for them. Same turntable just a different cartridge.
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I might try this as a torture test for my new cart this week.
 
kvetcha said:
hey, that’s what Rumours, Lincoln Mayorga and Fresh Aire III are for.
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I’m digging Sublime right now. Saturday night was Duran Duran, Tears For Fears and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Gold3 is beyond impressive. It doesn’t have to be “hi fi” approved to sound good.

Albums I’ve heard way too many times due to my stereo store days:

Fleetwood Mac Rumours
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms
Pink Floyd DSOTM
Tracy Champman ST
Eagles- Hotel California

All are in my collection, but are almost never played.
 
HiFi Guy said:
I’m digging Sublime right now. Saturday night was Duran Duran, Tears For Fears and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Gold3 is beyond impressive. It doesn’t have to be “hi fi” approved to sound good.

Albums I’ve heard way too many times due to my stereo store days:

Fleetwood Mac Rumours
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms
Pink Floyd DSOTM
Tracy Champman ST
Eagles- Hotel California

All are in my collection, but are almost never played.
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Meanwhile, here I am, listening to The Books. 😬
 
This is one of those weird twin things. No lie, my brother texted me yesterday to ask if I've ever installed a cartridge in a turntable before because he just got a replacement and was having trouble. Was able to sound like an expert thanks to the advice from everyone!
 
dbarila said:
It's funny because the reason I even had Demon Days out was to see if I got the locked groove in All Alone. That played fine.

But I agree those kind of things can differ from cart to cart. I sent a member my Breaking Atoms and the 7" played fine for me but had the locked groove for them. Same turntable just a different cartridge.
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Update: The SoundSmith also fails to track it. My 2M Bronze must have been a real miracle worker.
 
kvetcha said:
Update: The SoundSmith also fails to track it. My 2M Bronze must have been a real miracle worker.
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Here’s the question though- which would you prefer to listen to? That’s what matters.

I’ve seen people choose cartridges by tracking ability. That’s like eating tofu because it’s good for you.
 
HiFi Guy said:
Here’s the question though- which would you prefer to listen to? That’s what matters.

I’ve seen people choose cartridges by tracking ability. That’s like eating tofu because it’s good for you.
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I mean, I'm not saying the 2M was a better cartridge. Just noting that only one cart of three I've owned was able to track that particular part of Demon Days, which does point to it being a serious pressing/mastering issue and not just a matter of folks' equipment being improperly calibrated, as was implied by VMP.
 
kvetcha said:
I mean, I'm not saying the 2M was a better cartridge. Just noting that only one cart of three I've owned was able to track that particular part of Demon Days, which does point to it being a serious pressing/mastering issue and not just a matter of folks' equipment being improperly calibrated, as was implied by VMP.
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It was definitely a pressing issue and in my opinion I don't think it was consistent through the run. That being said, I was able to track it with a Grado Black, Grado Gold and Ultratracker without issue. I am surprised that the SoundSmith failed getting through that stretch though.
 
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