Grado Labs Prestige Black2 phono cartridge coming to me for review. List price, $75.00.

I installed the new Grado Green on my Technics direct drive yesterday, replacing a much pricier old Shure. The Grado installed effortlessly on my SME Series3 tone arm. I've had absolutely no hum.
This cartridge sounds great - the mid-range is the sweet spot but everything is clear and well-separated. It tracks beautifully.
One of the best bargains I've encountered in this expensive hobby - highly recommended.

 

Update on my previous post - I have been running the P2 Black on a SL1200G for several days & am pleasantly surprised at how musical and listenable it is for such a bargain price ($75=£53 on my card statement!). This is the lowest priced cartridge I own by a considerable margin.

Bass is full and deep, not quite as dynamic or defined as other MM carts I use but the midrange is excellent & makes music extremely pleasant and enjoyable. As for treble response, it sounds smooth & sweet with no sign of the recessed volume I was anticipating (as often mentioned with the Prestige 1 series). Maybe the fact that I use an active OB system with ribbon tweeters suits this style of cartridge well.

Although imaging is excellent, soundstaging is somewhat flatter than I am used to but with such a well balanced & enjoyable frequency response, it's a cartridge I could listen to for hours on end without fatigue. To my ears, comparing with low-mid priced MM cartridges it's more engaging than any Nagaoka I have heard & with similarities to the Goldring 1000 range but a more musical & detailed midrange. It also tracks extremely well and tames rather harsh or thin sounding albums.

I will still use an Audio Note 1Q3 for critical listening but music through this cartridge has a lot going for it - I next visit the US in the summer & intend to purchase an additional 8MZ stylus, wanting to explore the Grado range further.

In summary, this cart sounds very 'analogue' (in a good way) so please take that as a recommendation.

(by the way, no hum whatsoever at any point on an LP or at any volume)

 

I would research the 8MZ stylus before you buy one. Previously I understood the 8MZ was a "nude" mount diamond and kind of a "insider secret" for the quality and price. Recently they raised the price and I don't know for sure what they were before but I bought one recently and I can confirm the new ones are definitely "bonded". I have an older "gold" cartridge and I was disappointed that the 8MZ was not much different than a "green" stylus. I don't think for the current price and quantity that the 8MZ is a good upgrade path.

 

Agreed! I have an older 8MZ that I purchased about 5 years ago, and it is a definite upgrade from the Gold stylus that came with my Gold cartridge. I've not personally looked at a new 8MZ under a microscope but I've read others here, and on VE, have said the latest iteration is not a nude diamond and that it is bonded.

 

Thanks levimax & Mitsuman, I appreciate that.
Any other Grado stylus recommendations for this cart?

 

With the quality of the arm bearings on your 1200G, I'm not sure if it would help or not but on my vintage Mitsubishi DP-EC1 direct drive, with a medium-mass S-shaped tonearm the longhorn mod helped out with tracking and resonance. You can google Grado Longhorn Mod and find lots of info. It's easy to do if you have a little patience and the right hobby shop metal files, and can help with some of the "Grado Bounce" that some experience. The other thing I've found over the years with the Prestige line is they run better with anti-skate set to "0" and track best for me at 1.65-1.67 grams of VTF. They are also very sensitive to VTA so make sure it's not running "tail up" or "tail down." Tail up tends to make them a bit brighter and tail down tends to make them have less "sizzle" on the top end.

 

I've been running it very slightly tail up but as treble may have now broken in (at least 50 hours by this eve) I have reset VTA as flat. I'm extremely impressed with tracking at the recommended 1.5g & haven't felt the need to try anything else either.

I don't see any need for damping or experienced the rumoured Grado bounce yet - in fact earlier this evening I played a pretty warped old copy of Kansas Song For America (loud) and there was absolutely no pumping through my bass drivers (2x 18", 4x 15"!). I suspect the latest Magnesium tonearm is a little different to the older models.

 

I recently assembled a vintage system for a buddy and I got a Grado Prestige Black2 from The Needle Doctor (a local store for me) for $79.

$79...$75...you say po-tay-to...I say po-tah-to.

The rest of the system consisted of a pair of AR3a speakers which I refinished but didn't touch their crossovers, a very sweet Yamaha CR-1040 receiver, and a Pioneer PL-518 direct drive semi-automatic turntable. The cartridge broke in surprisingly quickly for the stereo to sound quite good. It seemed to track well at 1.75 grams and alignment was a piece of cake. I experienced a hiccup when I had to use my Dremel to remove a lip from the tip of the Pioneer's headshell. It kept the cartridge from traveling the full length of headshell's slots. I remember having to do this in the old days and is an easy mod to do.

I enjoyed a very rich sound with this system. In fact, from the bass through the highs, it had a well balanced tone. The cartridge was a great purchase. Recommended.

 

Grado , SPU & London Decca very good reasons these have been in production for decades
negative comments online are never from long term owners as they take time & the correct matching equipment but can be magical in the right set up

 

I received a new Grado Blue today. I am not sure if it is what I may settle for, but handily outperforms the AT120e and is more lively vs the boring MP-110 that does not perform anything wrong- just is not exciting. The Grado Blue fails on my test record with some distortion on loud tracks at a high frequency. Also did not track well on the test record, but performs without issues on standard records. It is a good value at $125 at least on my system.

 

I had the Grado Blue tracking perform not so well on a test record, but I have no issues on standard vinyl recordings.

 

No hum from my Grado Blue on my DD TT.

 

I briefly owned a new MP-110. It tracks very well and passes all tracks on my test record. I sold it due to it was a little dull sounding & uneventful on my TT. My new Grado Blue sounds more lively, but I think I need to move up in the $200-300 cartridge territory.

 

Grados can track a gnat in a snowstorm on my AR's arm, retrofitted with jeweled bearings.

 

Compliance ?

 

Relatively high. It tends to mate best with medium to low mass tonearms.

 

Check out a DL-110. Great cart, I'm on my 2nd one. Very musical, big soundstage, good tracker.

 

Arm bearing quality is key to making a Grado track well. They tend to put a lot of stress on the bearings, which is why the Longhorn Mod was developed. I don't run my Gold1/8MZ combo much anymore, but I do love the house sound. Most people either love it or hate it, there isn't much in between.

 

Is the review scheduled anytime soon? I'm interested in one of these for my Technics SL-BD22.

 

@toddfan, just buy it. It's cheap enough and sounds really good for the money. It would match up your Technics very well.

Plus for $75 you'll realize you didn't buy a new cartridge. You bought all new LPs. This cartridge is more than good enough to give you that joyful experience.

 

Yes, very soon.

 

I got a new Red2 to replace a Red1 recently. Had no complaints on the 1; I'd wild guess 300 hours on the stylus on clean, excellent condition records and everything sounded fine. But I had the itch after getting a Green2 for my other table.

Changes? A bit smoother seeming, though not earth shaking. A bit more detail; that "did I hear that before? " phenomenon.

The most noticeable change was voices (and lead instruments) coming closer. I have some furniture interference in between the speakers that is non-negotiably there and there was sometimes a slight frustration with voices getting kinda trapped in the maze, so to speak. The 2 has brought things out of that maze and made things more tangible without getting "up front". It seems just like Baby Bear's porridge, chair and bed now.

Again, I think the 1 had plenty of life left, but the upgrade was well worth it to these aging ears.

 

Well, here it is. My review:

If you’re on a tight budget, you can’t go wrong with the Grado Labs Prestige Black2. I’ve had the pleasure of living with the Grado for a little while, putting maybe 70 hours on it. I enjoyed some beautifully rich lows, nice mids, and some enjoyable highs.


A tale of woe for me turned into a great opportunity and a learning experience.


My VPI Scout was due for its annual checkup. I guess I should say overdue, since the last checkup was by the late Brooks Berdan, who originally sold me the turntable. And Brooks has been gone almost seven years. So I took my VPI in to Audio Element, a store owned by Brian Berdan, Brook’s son. Brian checked out my table, lubed it, and gave this newbie the bad news - cartridges need to be replaced every 3-5 years. A further check, and then an audio check confirmed it - my Shelter 501’s best days were behind it. With a new one going for about $1300, it was time to review my options.


A few days later, over tacos with our host Steve Hoffman, Steve suggested that I review the Grado Prestige Black2 that he had just received. My initial reaction was “Really?! A $75 cartridge in comparison to a $1,000 cartridge. You’ve got to be kidding”. But then, it *was* a Grado, and my experience with them had been great so far, most recently hearing their $12,000 Epoch cartridge in Steve’s system. That cartridge was incredible. Obviously, this one wouldn’t sound as good, but how good would it sound? I was intrigued. Besides, being a moving magnet cartridge, it would allow me to use the phono preamp in my Audio Note (UK) Oto Phono SE Signature integrated amp without needing a step-up transformer. (You can find the story of my road to Audio Note nirvana at Week of Audio Note UK Heaven! )


OK, so now I needed it installed and setup correctly. Elsewhere in the Hoffman forums, you’ll see that Steve only trusts a few people to correctly setup a cartridge - one of them being Brian Berdan. Great news.


And even though they were busy, Audio Element’s Sean Williams set up the cartridge right way, with Brian assisting. Audio Element sells this cartridge, and Brian warned that this cartridge might have difficulty in the VPI because of the tonearm mount style, and tweaked the tracking force up from 1.5 to 1.55 to guard against tracking error from that setup. We listened to it using a Norah Jones album. I have the same album at home. Much warmer. It sounded very different. I left feeling confident that I was getting the best setup possible.


Just a side note about Audio Element. Brian has set up a great store with great equipment. No surprise. But I thought that the “Turntable Bar” that he has installed is really cool. With a flip of a switch, you can listen to different turntables on the same system - PERFECT for A/B comparisons when choosing a turntable/cartridge. I’m grateful to Gort Gary, who sent me to the master, Brooks Berdan. I pay it forward by sending YOU to his son Brian, a chip off the old block.


Arriving home, out came my Musical Surroundings Phonomena II from the chain, and I excitedly plugged my Scout directly into the Phono In of my Audio Note (UK). This marked the first time I could use the built-in Phono preamp in my Oto, since my Shelter 501’s output wasn’t sufficient without a step-up transformer. To avoid “dinging” the Grado review with criticisms that were caused by a virgin phono pre- , I set about to ensure break-in, plattering (is that a word?) disk after disk, but trying not to judge the cartridge until I was ready to review it. But my plan was to do my main review with my Phonomena II in the chain, since that was really my baseline.


Throughout the next 70 hours of break-in play, I couldn’t help but notice a beautiful, lush warm tone emanating from my speakers, very different from the more neutral sound I had heard from my system prior to that. How much was due to the change in cartridge, and how much from the Oto phono pre-, I couldn’t yet say. And early on during the break-in, I was struck by the smoothness and the lovely highs coming from my Archives of Jazz, Vol. 2, Yusuf Lateef album on AJ Records. While enjoying my listening, I did find that there seemed to be less detail than I was used to hearing. And overall, I was less captivated by the sound (less liveliness?) than previously. Now I don’t have very good aural memory, let alone a good memory weeks later of a cartridge that was on its last legs anyway, so I was feeling a bit challenged in doing an evaluation. Maybe that’s a good thing, as its unfair to compare the Grado Black2 to my Shelter. But I still felt amazed at how good this $75 cartridge sounded.


I always try to involve my son when I do listening tests. We usually agree, and he has much better aural memory than I do. And frankly, better ears. He sometimes helps me nail things that I just can’t put my finger on.


So when my son recently came over, I put on our usual first reference album, the 45 RPM Analogue Productions version of Coltrane’s Blue Train, mastered by Steve Hoffman. I thought it a bit too warm, but my son reacted more negatively, thinking it sounded like there was a blanket over it.


Over the next day or two, I realized that some things just had a great rich warmth, while others too much so.


But now it was time for the baseline test - through my Phonomena II. I initially had some issues with my mix and match cheap interconnects (bad thing, I know), and had to swap them out for an equally bad “set”. So, I’m aware that this could impact the sound.


My first test was putting back on that Blue Train that so disappointed. Much, but not all of the warm was gone. No more blanket! My conclusion is that the combination of the Oto phono-pre and the the Grado Black2 may just not be right for everything. Certainly I had many hours of great enjoyment with both, so this doesn’t always apply. Fascinating. And with that excess warmth gone, I could hear more clearly a very nice sound, but with less detail and less smoothness than I was used to with my “more than 10 times more expensive” Shelter. Impressive!


Further listening bore that out, listening to classical, blues, jazz, Motown and others. Not as smooth, lively or detailed, but still very nice. And at that price - wow! Except for the relatively recent 45 rpm Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. It just seemed to missing something. But today, I popped on Dreamin’ by Bobby Blue Bland. Very exciting, lively, nice sound - I even had to stop writing for a while.


Bottom line: One great cartridge at this price. I truly have enjoyed it, and the different sound it gave my system. Without hesitation, I would recommend it for some truly pleasing sound in this price range. And while I absolutely loved the Grado Labs Epoch that at $12,000 gives you amazing sound that’s hard to beat, at $75 the Black2 gives you sound that’s hard to believe.

 

Very informative review, and enjoyable read. Thank you marka.

 

Wonderful review, but I have to say, respectfully, that I have never had anyone tell me that ‘cartridges should be replaced every 3-5 years’. That can’t be right.
I mean, styli, sure, every 2 years or so, but not carts.