Dear Lloydc: IMHO you have a " so so " tonearm and a " so so " phono stage when you have a top rated Grado cartridge that is a great performer and a one that deserve the very best you can get on tonearm/phono stage if you want that the cartridge show you how good is in reality and that today IMHO it can't do it even if you change the TT.
The cartridge/tonearm IMHO is one product not two independent products, a cartridge must be mounted with a matching tonearm not with any tonearm but with the best match for it.
In the other side the phono stage is very critical link in the analog audio chain because is inside this " box " where the cartridge signal must pass to be processed not only to increment its output but to mate the inverse RIAA eq ncesary for a even frequency response, is in this phono stage where the cartridge signal " suffer " in true and where that signal is degraded maybe the most.
The Thorens 850 is a very " decent " TT and for the moment could makes a very good job.
Try to find a removable headshhel tonearm design and a phono stage that can handle ( with out setp up transformers. ) the 0.5mv of your Grado.
Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.
The cartridge/tonearm IMHO is one product not two independent products, a cartridge must be mounted with a matching tonearm not with any tonearm but with the best match for it.
In the other side the phono stage is very critical link in the analog audio chain because is inside this " box " where the cartridge signal must pass to be processed not only to increment its output but to mate the inverse RIAA eq ncesary for a even frequency response, is in this phono stage where the cartridge signal " suffer " in true and where that signal is degraded maybe the most.
The Thorens 850 is a very " decent " TT and for the moment could makes a very good job.
Try to find a removable headshhel tonearm design and a phono stage that can handle ( with out setp up transformers. ) the 0.5mv of your Grado.
Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.