Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

wmeugene said:
I know I've inquired before, but I'm upgrading my cartridge from a 2m Red. I have a uturn orbit, into a Vincent PHO 700. My upgrade options and prices seem to be:

2m Blue stylus - $145 shipped from Europe.

AT vm95ml - $170 shipped from Amazon

Grado Gold 3 - $260 shipped from Grado

I mostly listen to Rock/Soul/Blues/Jazz/Hip-hop/"world." Favorite group is the Grateful Dead, so something that will work well for live music is appreciated.

I get that the Grado is probably the best long-term choice, but is it $120 better? FWIW, I'm hoping to upgrade turntables after this next cartridge (so approximately Christmas 2021).
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The improvement in sounds from the blue to Gold2 was easily worth that for me and the Gold3 is meant to be a step up again. The ability to stylus swap to the much better again 8mz for $150 when you need a new one makes it an even more compelling option. If you see some of the people here running Grado Prestige models on much higher end gear it shows their ability to make the step up too if you get a new table.
 
wmeugene said:
I know I've inquired before, but I'm upgrading my cartridge from a 2m Red. I have a uturn orbit, into a Vincent PHO 700. My upgrade options and prices seem to be:

2m Blue stylus - $145 shipped from Europe.

AT vm95ml - $170 shipped from Amazon

Grado Gold 3 - $260 shipped from Grado

I mostly listen to Rock/Soul/Blues/Jazz/Hip-hop/"world." Favorite group is the Grateful Dead, so something that will work well for live music is appreciated.

I get that the Grado is probably the best long-term choice, but is it $120 better? FWIW, I'm hoping to upgrade turntables after this next cartridge (so approximately Christmas 2021).
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I have the VM95 on my PLX and it's a really nice cart, the price is a bonus. But, I would still give the nod to the Grado, if you're upgrading the TT the Grado can definitely move forward with the table, you may not want to carry the VM to the next table. I've never had an Ortofon, so I'll leave that commentary to someone else 😉
 
kvetcha said:
Grados are very popular around here, so I imagine that will be the most-suggested option if you can swing it. Though, and perhaps I’m mistaken, I thought I remembered the U-Turn having hum issues with Grado carts.

Between the Blue and the AT, I’d say get the Blue.
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As @Joe Mac said no Grado hum on the U-Turns. They (the U-turns) are notoriously noisy with powered speakers which is funny considering how much their advertising shows them paired up with powered speakers.
 
Joe Mac said:
I don’t think so. They sell u-turns with factory fitted Grado prestige black carts!
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folsom_lives said:
As @Joe Mac said no Grado hum on the U-Turns. They (the U-turns) are notoriously noisy with powered speakers which is funny considering how much their advertising shows them paired up with powered speakers.
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Ah, I thought I recalled reading some complaints about hum with the factory Grado Blue. U-Turn basically stated it was 'within spec.'
 
Thanks for the input so far. I was wavering between the Grado and the 2m Blue. Just trying to figure out the price difference issue, $120 would buy some nice wishlist records.

But it seems that the consensus so far is that the difference is noteworthy enough for the price difference. I appreciate the point made by @Joe Mac and @AnthonyI that I can move the Grado with me when I upgrade. I'll be looking in the $750-1500 range, so the Grado gold seems like a good cart to move over. I'll likely keep the uturn as my office turntable, and can put the blue on it at that point as long as I keep the red cart. That seems like a solid move.
 
wmeugene said:
Thanks for the input so far. I was wavering between the Grado and the 2m Blue. Just trying to figure out the price difference issue, $120 would buy some nice wishlist records.

But it seems that the consensus so far is that the difference is noteworthy enough for the price difference. I appreciate the point made by @Joe Mac and @AnthonyI that I can move the Grado with me when I upgrade. I'll be looking in the $750-1500 range, so the Grado gold seems like a good cart to move over. I'll likely keep the uturn as my office turntable, and can put the blue on it at that point as long as I keep the red cart. That seems like a solid move.
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I suppose the difference in price is the fact that you are buying an entire cartridge, not just the stylus. You’d be paying a fair bit more if you were buying the entire Ortofon cartridge too and not just the blue stylus to swap on. Once the Grado is on the 8mz stylus is $150 a pop too so kinda comparable price wise and, in my opinion, much better.
 
wmeugene said:
Thanks for the input so far. I was wavering between the Grado and the 2m Blue. Just trying to figure out the price difference issue, $120 would buy some nice wishlist records.

But it seems that the consensus so far is that the difference is noteworthy enough for the price difference. I appreciate the point made by @Joe Mac and @AnthonyI that I can move the Grado with me when I upgrade. I'll be looking in the $750-1500 range, so the Grado gold seems like a good cart to move over. I'll likely keep the uturn as my office turntable, and can put the blue on it at that point as long as I keep the red cart. That seems like a solid move.
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If you are planning on keeping the U-Turn as a second table, then you might as well get the Grado and carefully set aside the 2M for later!
 
Joe Mac said:
I suppose the difference in price is the fact that you are buying an entire cartridge, not just the stylus. You’d be paying a fair bit more if you were buying the entire Ortofon cartridge too and not just the blue stylus to swap on. Once the Grado is on the 8mz stylus is $150 a pop too so kinda comparable price wise and, in my opinion, much better.
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The big thing with Ortofon in the States is that they are way overpriced here in comparison to Europe. The Bronze (horrid thing that it is) is $440 here but can be ordered from Germany for under $300 delivered.
 
HiFi Guy said:
The big thing with Ortofon in the States is that they are way overpriced here in comparison to Europe. The Bronze (horrid thing that it is) is $440 here but can be ordered from Germany for under $300 delivered.
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Yeah I suppose that’s just manufacturing location. I think when ordering from UK/Germany that you can get decent deals because the VAT we pay will be deducted.

It’s similar with Grado here to be honest. My 8mz, which is $150 over there, ended up being nearer €200 here. I could have got another blue stylus for €130. That said it is well worth it!
 
note that we dont all hate ortofon.. they are perfectly fine for more... "audiophile" genres like jazz and classical, not my cup of tea when i prefer things like dance, punk, rap, and pop, where i find my grado works pretty well, but if you are more into higher end more mid and treble heavy stuff they are useful.. though if you are in audiophile mode those are entry level compared to something as intense as an ortofon black or a dynavex MC cartridge
 
duke86fan said:
note that we dont all hate ortofon.. they are perfectly fine for more... "audiophile" genres like jazz and classical, not my cup of tea when i prefer things like dance, punk, rap, and pop, where i find my grado works pretty well, but if you are more into higher end more mid and treble heavy stuff they are useful.. though if you are in audiophile mode those are entry level compared to something as intense as an ortofon black or a dynavex MC cartridge
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You may well say that BUT my gold 2 + 8mz pulls every bit as much detail as the 2m blue whilst sounding like music. You’re also ignoring the fact that Grado don’t just stop with the Prestige range, they have much more expensive options too.
 
Joe Mac said:
You may well say that BUT my gold 2 + 8mz pulls every bit as much detail as the 2m blue whilst sounding like music. You’re also ignoring the fact that Grado don’t just stop with the Prestige range, they have much more expensive options too.
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but a lot of people dont like grado as well and audiophiles (especially the fremer crowd) might probably kill you for this
 
Joe Mac said:
You may well say that BUT my gold 2 + 8mz pulls every bit as much detail as the 2m blue whilst sounding like music. You’re also ignoring the fact that Grado don’t just stop with the Prestige range, they have much more expensive options too.
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@duke86fan I’m sure “Dynavex” is meant to be “Dynavector”. Lovely things. I’ve owned two of them. I can’t get excited about them when the price has literally doubled over the years.
 
HiFi Guy said:
@duke86fan I’m sure “Dynavex” is meant to be “Dynavector”. Lovely things. I’ve owned two of them. I can’t get excited about them when the price has literally doubled over the years.
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again.. thats why i said audiophiles who would actually use a moving coil

btw i was thinking specifically more about european buyers than US buyers.. grado or other companies from the US would probably be much better than ortofon in the US.. but like for the price range in mainland europe ortofon is probably best bet (in the UK from what i hear goldring is the best option because regas are just like 20 dollar cartridges slightly modified)
 
duke86fan said:
but a lot of people dont like grado as well and audiophiles (especially the fremer crowd) might probably kill you for this
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This is true. People have different priorities and I am much more focused on music and tone than pure detail, to be honest I’d be all over DSD and hi res streaming otherwise. Audiophile is a relative term and I don’t think that you could say that I am not heading in that direction given the type of gear I’ve been adding to my system over the last couple of years. Finally I don’t trust anyone who is part of “a crowd” I trust people who tell me what they like and what the stuff they’ve heard does to achieve that.
 
Joe Mac said:
This is true. People have different priorities and I am much more focused on music and tone than pure detail
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personally i understand the appeal of tone but im more interested in the texture and the sound signatures emotive capabilities.. i like the bass on grados for that reason
 
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