Grado Cartridges and Stylus - Questions and Advice.

Joe Mac said:
Heres the question? Is it enough of a step above the Gold 2 and 8mz to make it, and then another 8mz a year later, enough of an upgrade to theoretically make me happy to put off investigating the wood bodied ones for another couple of years?
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That's a great question, let me know when you have the answer, lol. I'll be no help in saying when it's time, try the Opus3 ;)
 
Joe Mac said:
Heres the question? Is it enough of a step above the Gold 2 and 8mz to make it, and then another 8mz a year later, enough of an upgrade to theoretically make me happy to put off investigating the wood bodied ones for another couple of years?
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With your setup I’d go low output Opus3. Your phono stage was made for it. An extra $15 for a woody....
 
HiFi Guy said:
With your setup I’d go low output Opus3. Your phono stage was made for it. An extra $15 for a woody....
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That’s all the encouragement I needed! Once the 8mz has had its day I’ll go that way. I don’t know if anyone else has this issue, but with isolation I’m spinning so much that I’ll need to change a lot earlier than the usual 10 months to a year!
 
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HiFi Guy said:
Ok, you have a choice in settings with your phono stage:

MM: +6 dB gain 100 pF capacitance- most likely the right choice.

You can also try:

MC 0 dB gain 47k Ohm loading
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I thought I’d have to put the 6db gain on if I stuck with the current settings, given how much lower the output is. I’ll have a play between it and the MC and see which I prefer!
 
HiFi Guy said:
Looking at the specs on your MF, you’ll want to use the MC settings above.
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I had a quick peek at the manual there myself. Is that because the 6db setting MM is for 2.5mV and the 0db MC is for 0.8mV so it’s a closer match?

I’ll make sure to set it to that anyway when I get the cart set up. The good thing with that phono is just how easy it is to change all the settings from the front panel
 
Joe Mac said:
I had a quick peek at the manual there myself. Is that because the 6db setting MM is for 2.5mV and the 0db MC is for 0.8mV so it’s a closer match?

I’ll make sure to set it to that anyway when I get the cart set up. The good thing with that phono is just how easy it is to change all the settings from the front panel
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What it means is that for full output you’d need a cartridge with:


5 MV MM 0 dB
2.5 MV MM +6 dB

With 1mV output, neither of these settings will give adequate output.

But MC 0dB will give full output with .8mV. This works well. Just remember the Grado wants 47k ohms loading.

When I was building my system, among many other things I wanted were a phono stage that would accommodate low output Grados- not all will. And I wanted a turntable what wouldn’t hum with a Grado.

Your phono stage was on my short list.
 
HiFi Guy said:
What it means is that for full output you’d need a cartridge with:


5 MV MM 0 dB
2.5 MV MM +6 dB

With 1mV output, neither of these settings will give adequate output.

But MC 0dB will give full output with .8mV. This works well. Just remember the Grado wants 47k ohms loading.

When I was building my system, among many other things I wanted were a phono stage that would accommodate low output Grados- not all will. And I wanted a turntable what wouldn’t hum with a Grado.

Your phono stage was on my short list.
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Does the Chinook fit the bill?
 
Splunders said:
Does the Chinook fit the bill?
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Close. You can do the 5 DIP switches to get 47k ohms on MC but you’ll be at 60 dB gain. I like 50 dB gain with 1mV. You could put attenuators inline, 3 dB would work. That turns 1 mV into .5 mV. .5 mV is perfect for 60 dB gain.

Your MM setting gives you 45 dB, which will work. You’ll have to turn your volume up a bit more, that’s all.

Or just get a high output Opus.
 
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