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Grado Stylus Upgrade

I currently am using a Grado Gold cartridge from the Prestige line. The cartridge was bought new about a year ago and has not seen heavy use. Basically, still like new. Although the Gold is not anywhere near the top of Grado's line of cartridges it is still decent with my system. I have read numerous forums and almost all Grado users recommend upgrading the standard Gold stylus to the 8MZ stylus for superior performance. That stylus goes for $150 which is more than half of what the Gold cartridge with standard stylus costs. I am not interested in a complete cartridge upgrade at this time but am curious if the 8MZ stylus upgrade is worth the expense? I guess that any users that have this cartridge and have done the stylus upgrade consider it a worthwhile upgrade.
  
jrpnde

Showing 2 responses by frogman

frogman
7,497 posts
 
pryso, I went through almost every “Signature” Grado back in the day. I suppose the 8MX could be considered an “earlier version of the 8MZ” and it did precede the 8MZ. However, as I recall there was a fairly significant uptick in overall sound quality with the release of the Z “series”. If memory serves there was an upgrade in the quality of the internal wire and magnet material as well as other “improvements” to the stylus assemblies. The 8MZ was to my ears a better sounding cartridge than the pricier MCX which was a better sounding cartridge than the 8MX. Perhaps that puts things in a useful perspective. All fine sounding cartridges with that wonderful midrange.

8M, 8MR, 10MR, 8MX, MCX, MCX II, 8MZ, MCZ, TLZ, XTZ, 8MZ v, TLZ v, XTZ v.

I owned every one (!) except for the “v” versions of the Z series. All fine sounding cartridges with that great Grado midrange. The Z’s struck me as a significant step up in sound quality; especially the XTZ.
frogman
7,497 posts
 
Hah!   Saw this post a couple of days ago with the intention of responding when I had some time, but I see that chakster did it for me ;-).    Chakster is correct, the XTZ really was a terrific cartridge.  I would only add that taking into account that it is impossible to accurately quantify the level of “improvement” from one component to another as it relates to cost, I would say that if one values smoothness and refinement and one’s sound system already satisfies in the dynamics department, then the improvement gained by going to the XTZ stylus from the TLZ stylus is about as much as going to the TLZ from the 8MZ.  Personally, after having experienced the improvements in smoothness and tonal refinement of the XTX, I could not go back to the TLZ.  Good luck.
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