Grado Cartridges and Stylus - Questions and Advice.

HiFi Guy said:
If you keep getting different readings, I’m thinking the batteries in your gauge are low.
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Good call. I'll check that out after work today.

Is there any possibility that it's just a defective stylus? I checked my alignment and azimuth again and both looked good.
 
HiFi Guy said:
I’d guess too little, but no way to be sure until you get new batteries and calibrate the gauge with the included weight.
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You could be right. The weight did seem pretty far back. Also, I'm pretty sure I lost the weight that came with it so maybe I'm way off.

This could also explain why my arch nemesis Texas Sun was skipping again last night. It's probably not riding the grooves properly.
 
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Cheesefry said:
I will admit, I fought the Grado craze on this forum for a few years now. I recently installed a Sumiko Rainier, and was pleased but not thrilled with it, even after 25-30 hrs. Came back to this thread, read all of you pouring out your love for the Grado sound. Then watched the video of @RichGrado talking about his beloved family business, everything made in Brooklyn....and well I just caved. So, I can confirm, ordering a Red 2 direct from Grado, will get you a Red 3!! Appreciate the upgrade @RichGrado, thank you!! Also can confirm that this old VG copy of ELO’s ‘Out of the Blue’ never sounded so sweet, I’m just sitting her melting over this sound...WOW!!!😲 I’ll be happy to sit here, and social distance all weekend.
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thank you for the kind words, and welcome to the family. More importantly I'm thrilled we made you happy... :giggle:
 
just gotta figure out whether to save a bit of money on a turntable that only cost me 350 with a grado red, go for gold despite it costing almost as much as the turntable, or just upgrade my table
 
HiFi Guy said:
I’d guess too little, but no way to be sure until you get new batteries and calibrate the gauge with the included weight.
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This seems like it's most likely. I moved the weight in a little bit (to a unknown tracking force) and it was much better. So I suppose it was my scale not being properly calibrated. I'll see what kind of readings I get when I get my new one.
 
Well, apparently my old scale wasn't off. New scale (calibrated with the weight) is giving me the same readings. So at ~1.65ish I'm still getting distortion. It starts to disappear around 1.77 and it's much better around 2. How heavy can I run a Grado? I've seen people say you can actually go up to 2 but that seems high to me.
 
dbarila said:
Well, apparently my old scale wasn't off. New scale (calibrated with the weight) is giving me the same readings. So at ~1.65ish I'm still getting distortion. It starts to disappear around 1.77 and it's much better around 2. How heavy can I run a Grado? I've seen people say you can actually go up to 2 but that seems high to me.
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That's kind of odd, But I'm kind of starting to wonder if something else is up.
 
dbarila said:
Well, apparently my old scale wasn't off. New scale (calibrated with the weight) is giving me the same readings. So at ~1.65ish I'm still getting distortion. It starts to disappear around 1.77 and it's much better around 2. How heavy can I run a Grado? I've seen people say you can actually go up to 2 but that seems high to me.
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Out of curiosity, did you try dialing it back to the recommended tracking force, 1.5? You may have started there so I apologize if I missed it.
 
AnthonyI said:
Out of curiosity, did you try dialing it back to the recommended tracking force, 1.5? You may have started there so I apologize if I missed it.
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I have not. I figured when it was getting better going higher I kept going that way.
 
dbarila said:
With the weight back as far as it will go, the closest I can get is 1.55. Put on Texas Sun. Lots of distortion and skipping. Moved it back to 1.74 and had less distortion and only one skip on Side A.
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You can go up higher if necessary, but 2 grams is as far as I’d go. Is the table level?
 
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