| Search AudioEnz | |
| Articles | |
|
Current
reviews |
|
| News | |
| Community | |
| Buying | |
| About AudioEnz | |
About AudioEnz |
All the prestige for less
Grado hits Gold
by Michael Jones
February 2002
Grado Gold phono cartridge. $289
There
are not many pieces of hi-fi you can buy for $289. And until I heard this
Grado I wouldn't have thought that a phono cartridge this inexpensive
would sound so good.
Recently reintroduced to New Zealand is the Prestige range of Grado cartridges. Grado's introductory range, the Prestige models start at $129.95 for the Green. The Gold is the most expensive in this range of six models. Grado also make several phono cartridges in their Reference and Statement ranges, which are available to order.
The Grado Gold uses "a four piece OTL cantilever technology, ultra-high purity long crystal (UHPLC) oxygen free copper wire in the coils and Grado's specially designed elliptical diamond mounted on a brass bushing," say Grado.
The Gold model is selected from the Silver production run and meet higher test specifications. Approximately 5% of the production run meet these standards and become Gold models.
The Gold, like many Grado cartridges, has a high output (5mV in this case) and wants to see the standard 47k load at the phono input. The Grado Gold tracks at 1.5g.
The Grado Prestige Gold replaced my old Audio Technica OC9 at the sharp end of a Rega RB300 tonearm, mounted on a classic old Thorens TD150 mk2 turntable. Mounting and aligning the cartridge was easy, helped by the straight sides of the Grado. The only hassle was that the cartridge tags were labelled with "hot" and "ground" instead of the normal colour codes.
Reviewing a cartridge is always a difficult task, given the tremendous interactions between cartridge, tonearm, turntable and phono stage. It's a tough job, but I was pleased to do it.
And pleased is the right word to use. From the first record
I was mightily impressed by the performance of the Grado Prestige Gold.
Dvorak's Piano Trio (Suk Trio) on the Supraphon label is a LP that
often screeches at me. With the Gold, I could tell that my pressing was
not the most tonally pure, but through the Grado Gold this wasn't allowed
to interfere with the music
When it was released in 1985, Kate Bush's Hounds of Love gained a reputation as a vinyl record that was difficult to reproduce. Not with the Gold! This record, full of rhythmically complex percussion, Fairlight synthesiser and strings was reproduced in an exciting but tonally smooth manner.
There was no slowing of the rhythmic structure, the strings had no shriek to them and Ms Bush's voice came across very well.
Staying in the 1980s, I listened to Suzanne Vega's Solitude Standing, a classic album from 1987. Again, voice came across well, with no added sibilance and a high degree of articulation. Acoustic guitars were reproduced with the sounds of both the steel strings and the guitar body.
Many cheap cartridges (and other components, for that matter) can overemphasis the leading edges on guitars and string instruments, making for a fatiguing sound. The Grado Gold does not do this. Instead it has plenty of life, while keeping these leading edges in proportion.
Conclusion
The Grado Prestige Gold is definitely a "best buy" in the cartridge
stakes. It's cheap enough to be an impulse purchase, yet musical enough
to satisfy. Very highly recommended!
Want to comment on this review? Click here for Feedback