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RE: Grado The Statement 1 cartridge

I will know at least about the Grado Sonata1 shortly (new TT with this cart will be crossing my door next week at some point! *excited*)

I did a ton of research into Grado carts - but only heard the Red and Black ones. However ... I know of a few people buying the Grado Gold1 (US$220) and swapping out the stock stylus for an 8mz stylus (US$100) as a way to get near Sonata1 sound for half the price.

Makes me think it ought to be similar to the Statement1 in sound knowing how this sort of thing works, excepting that the stylus is user replaceable in this "frankengrado" combination.

Given that the Gold1 + 8mz is $320 and the Statement1 is $350 ... it is horses for courses in a lot of ways - but I suspect the overall performance is similar or the Gold1 may be "slightly better" to some ... but the stylus *is* user replaceable and a $100 item and you don't have to futz around with re-aligning the cart when the new stylus is popped in ... I'd suspect a Statement1 would be about $280 for a "retip" exchange from Grado.

I'll definitely post up and let you know how the Sonata1 does after it breaks in a bit - to see how close it comes to the positive and negative press. I do understand that it is a "love it or hate it" thing with most - you are giving up a touch of detail for perfect rich accurate tonality to real life. Apparently it does not do the "audiophile feats and stunts" as a result.
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"You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you." ~ R A Wilson



Edits: 05/30/12

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