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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
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Yes
fillmoor
58 posts
 

Grado doesn't go into a lot of details on the specs of their stylus tips. Ortofon specifies tip mass and also if it's nude or bonded.

The Sonota 1 was nude elliptical, the current Sonota isn't. I also heard from KAB and vinylengine forum that the 8mz stylus used to be nude but current production is not. So it would seem swapping in a current 8mz versus a gold stylus is maybe no longer much of an upgrade. 

The cartridge is also a complete system, the more expensive ones from the older models may fit Prestige body but will likely work best In the older bodies.

Some people have better retipping outfits work on the Grado cartridges, which is another alternative to stylus swapping.

needlestein
31 posts
 

Just chiming in because I recently did work on both a Grado Prestige Gold stylus and a recent issue 8MZ stylus.  Both have the same diamonds.  The 8MZ has a focus on lower mass for better tracking.  To that end, the cantilever is slightly narrower and the generator is obviously smaller because it puts out 2/3 the voltage of the Prestige Gold cartridge.  This should lead to better tracking due to lower moving mass.

In listening, the 8MZ is a tad brighter and much lower volume.  Details are plentiful and clean.  All other Grado goodies are present in full.

The Gold stylus is a bit more mellow in comparison, plenty of detail but not quite as crisp.  Also louder.  

Difficult to say which one I actually prefer, but I think I like the more laid back Gold. I did not try the styli in a Signature body to see if there would be any difference.  These were tried in a Gold2 body.

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