[juniperlater]

I have a Grado Reference Platinum that the stylus is getting kind of old. Should I do a soundsmith retip, send it back to Grado to retip or upgrade?

If you say upgrade, to what cartridge? It must be MM or MI.

 

[wuwhere]

How do you know that you need a new stylus?

 

[juniperlater]

It started to sound all wrong and so I looked at it with a microscope. It is definitely warn down.

 

[wuwhere]

If you like their sound then re-tip. Or get a high output moving coil like a Sumiko Blue Point.

 

[wuwhere]

The Blue Point has a 2.5mV output while the Grado Reference Platinum has a 4.5mV output.

 

[juniperlater]

Has anyone heard of the Grado Trade-up program? I think it might not exist anymore.

 

[fzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by juniperlater /img/forum/go_quote.gif Has anyone heard of the Grado Trade-up program? I think it might not exist anymore.

if you like the grado, you will not like the blue point.

grado still has a trade-in program. you buy a new one for a discount when you send yours back.

if you want to change to a slightly different sound, look at the wood body clearaudio moving magnets like the aurum beta s and the virtuoso wood. they are a similar sound, but more detailed and dynamic, a little less clored, and are sielded, so will not intriduce any hum issues into your phono syste.

i work for a retailer who sells all of the above and have no vested interest in your buying one vs. the other. i do have lots of experience with lp setups though.

hope that helps

 

[juniperlater]

Good tips. Thank you. I had thought about the Clearaudio, but not many people use them that I know.

 

[memepool]

Wouldn't have thought you'd like Clearaudio if you like Grado as they have a fairly idiosyncratic sound. As far as MI upgrades are concerned check out The Soundsmith or at the budget end hunt down an old Pickering X-15 or Stanton 681EEE from ebay for that classic '70s American sound.