XTZ stylus alone cost $450+ and it was top of the line stylus, you can try 8MZ for $150 or much better stylus for more. It worth it as the stylus is the most expensive part of the cartridge.
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.
Showing 8 responses by chakster
.Thanks for your input as well. From what I've read is that the XTZ cartridge has been out of production for a while. Besides, if I would You're right, for $450 you can find a good cartridge, but not the Joseph Grado Signature XTZ which is nowadays impossible to find and the cost would be at least $800+ But i saw the XTZ styli available - they are the best Grado ever made for that type of cartridges. I have Joe Grado Signature XTZ and you can seach info on audiogon about this beauty, in the 80s the price was $750 and it was a flagship model, amazing cartridge, mainly because of the XTZ stylus. So it's up to you, the cheapest styli for Grado is Black or DJ100i, so you can go lower if you want. |
@boxer12 Let me quote our member Frogman to answer your question, see below: The Grado XTZ was intended to be a more refined sounding version of the TLZ. I owned both (as well as the 8MZ) years ago. Both are fine cartridges, but while the XTZwas indeed a bit more refined sounding, it was also more polite sounding. The TLZ was noticeably more alive and dynamic sounding while sounding a bit brighter and very slightly unrefined by comparison. In my system at that time the TLZ was a better choice. Output for both was 1.5 mv vs 5 mv for the 8 series. If memory serves, the only difference between the TLZ and XTZ was a better dampened cantilever for the XTZwhich, contrary to the "rigidity at all costs" school of thought, was comprised of different sections of tube of different diameters to create the taper of the tube. Again, if memory serves, the XTZ's cantilever was made up of three different sections vs the TLZ's two. Both had excellent sound staging, fine generous bass, and very natural timbre (especially the XTZ). |
@stringreen nice, i have posted this video before, but for those who missed it https://youtu.be/L2ZpJHGYMC8 This is a tour to Grado Lab |
Great! Yep, you must be careful when you will try to pull out the old stylus assembly from the Grado. But i hope you will get the manual with new stylus and you can check the direction. They are sitting tightly, but if you will apply force in the righ direction you can pull it out manually, slowly (without that nifty tool). |
I use Onzow Zerodust after normal stylus cleaning brush. Not sure why this device is expensive now, i think i paid $25 including delivery. I always use ultrasonic Cardas LP for "clening" and sometime for burn-in process. |