Buy Grado Prestige Silver1 Standard (.5 Inch) Mount Turntable CartridgeGrado Prestige Silver1 Standard (.5 Inch) Mount Turntable Cartridge Product Description:
- The Silver and Gold models use a four piece OTL cantilever technology, ultra-high purity long crystal (UHPLC) oxygen free copper wire in the coils and Grado's specially designed elliptical diamond mounted on a brass bushing. The Gold model is selected from the Silver production run and meet higher test specifications. Approximately 5% of the production run meet these standards and become Gold models.
Product Description
The Silver and Gold models use a four piece OTL cantilever technology, ultra-high purity long crystal (UHPLC) oxygen free copper wire in the coils and Grado's specially designed elliptical diamond mounted on a brass bushing. The Gold model is selected from the Silver production run and meet higher test specifications. Approximately 5% of the production run meet these standards and become Gold models.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
A very high rung on the ladder to audio heaven.
By ricohman
I have been a Grado fan since a turntable I bought a few years ago had a 1980's version of the current Grado Blue. When I found a deal on Amazon that I could not pass up, I ordered a Grado Silver. I think it was on sale because buyers go for the least expensive black or the most, the gold. But the gold and silver models are identical, with gold simply being the best of silver q.a. wise. Since my old Grado was made, the generator design was improved, and the silver is also blessed with a better stylus, both the diamond and the cantilever. The sound is, in my opinion, absolutely superb: the famous Grado midrange, excellent, taught bass, well-detailed highs without listening fatigue. Plus, Grados are handmade in Brooklyn, by a traditional and caring company. Shipping was unbelievably fast, as well.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.Tremendous value; excellent performance
By bobatious
First of all, potential buyers from this seller should know that this is the current production, "Prestige Silver 1" model, not new-old-stock of the older "Prestige Silver". This is not obvious in the item posting - I contacted the seller to verify, and now doubly confirm this. This fact makes the selling price a superb deal to begin with. Now for the product itself.My turntable is an Origin Live suspended table with upgraded rega arm, similar to their current OL2 model, used with a Entec/Lehmann Black Cube phono preamp. The tracking force (1.5 g) was obtained on this rega-like arm with the "normal" counterweight very near its minimum space from the arm pivot, by the way.This cartridge was purchased to replace the 3x-more-expensive Dynavector 10x5, which my cat had destroyed by jumping on the dust cover (- really, but I digress).Initial listening after careful setup was tremendous - dead silent, lovely mid-range, smooth highs and dynamic but not overblown bass. Sounds of percussion instruments jumped out tangibly with superb tone. In other words, this is a very nice sounding sample of the Grado cartridge "legacy", and with the right tonearm and pre-amp it can work wonders. Extremely musical results made me just listen and stop analyzing.Only the very most picky folks will find it lacking in any way; for me, it seems to diminish slightly the dynamic impact I am used to with the Dynavector. Not definite as not tested A vs B directly; also the Dynavector costs 3x more. In summary, at this price, this cartridge is a superb deal and cannot be faulted.Re "hum": some have complained about hum with Grados: there is absolutely zero audible hum in my system with this cartridge at any time or place. I have payed close attention to grounding - always essential for no AC noise in any system but especially for phono playback. There is also no AC power of any kind, anywhere within my turntable - it uses a DC motor an only DC is provided to it via an external power supply. Any imperfect AC motor near your phono cartridge - any cartridge - will produce some "hum".Other cartridges considered: direct replacement (Dynavector 10x5), other moving coils e.g. Denon (high or low output), the prestige gold, and the Audio Technica AT440MLA. While various of these alternatives may have served well, I cannot imagine obtaining a significantly better result, and this was the least expensive option considered. Note that the Denon DL-103 (or DL-103R) has a spherical stylus. Some may prefer it but it is a very different item, mainly values dynamics against the tone and tracking you'll obtain with the Grado.In terms of price performance, and musical enjoyment, the prestige silver 1 reigns supreme. Highly recommended.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
You can do Better with your Money
By Leevo
Positives: detailed fluid sound, especially for a non-moving coil cartridge. Surface noise is kept to an acceptable level. Its "middle of the road" specifications should give it a wide arm compatibility. Though I would not recommend mounting it to a cheap tonearm. I had it initially attached to a Pro-ject 8.6" carbon arm, and the sound was too bass heavy. Compared to an ortofon 2m red, this cartridge is quite a lot betterNegatives: Sound isn't dynamic enough; kinda too laid back. Its worst feature is the humming it emits when close to AC power sources. Ie the vast majority of belt driven turtable motors! I wouldn't recommend it on this basis alone.I would very much recommend a Denon Dl-103 over this cartridge, as the price is comparable, yet the denon is a true moving coil cartridge with a very solid and dynamic performance, most probably the King at around $200 price level, with NO HUM!! Thanks for reading.
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