Trying vinyl, need some help!

Thanks Chakster, yes I had seen that before. What a great story of a family business producing headphones and cartridges that compete with the likes of sennheiser.

I upgraded my old Grado masters series to a new reference master 2. Grado are amazing. The cart assists in isolation and is utterly transparent. It sounds better than cds and even hd playback imo. The Grado sonata is a solid place to start. they are an American company located in Brooklyn and make everything there. They invented the stereo cartridge in the 40’s? 30’s? and still hold the patent to this day. I believe they will also take certain of their carts back when you are ready to upgrade and will offer a discount on the new piece. No I don’t work for them just very enthused.

Your sp-4 is fine. I’m sure sounds great in your system. And good for you having to know how to replace the caps and take on the soldering with the resistors. It will probably take me a month of reading and YouTube videos before I took on such a task. Really anxious to hear how your project comes out and what phono cartridge you go with. I love a good mystery!

Correction, Grado holds the patent on the stereo moving coil cart. 

donvito1You said your budget was under $600. The last time I looked the Grado Master was $1000!

The Grado masters is a grand however the sonata is $600ish.