Grado Prestige 3 Black MM Phono Cartridge

5 reviews for Grado Prestige 3 Black MM Phono Cartridge

1. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Nova – April 4, 2022

   
   レコードの針をいくつか試したいと思い購入しました。悪くは無いが、価格なりの製品だと思う。プレーヤーやフォノイコの相性もあると思うので、なんとも言えません。

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DJ – July 21, 2023

   An excellent performer
   My search for the perfect cartridge has been a long, arduous path filled with money pits, lots of highs and lows, and frustration. It has been so very difficult to find that elusive cartridge that won’t destroy my bank account while still supplying the satisfaction that I so desperately seek. Is the Prestige 3 Gold the end of my journey? Who knows, but for now, it holds the place of honor on my headshell.It’s been tough to find a cart that blends firm, defined bass while also delivering a lush and detailed midrange. Add in the desire for a sweet, articulate top end without sizzling my ears off while not spending an arm and a leg, and it seems like an impossible task. The Prestige Gold comes as close as anything I’ve tried that was not an MC and did not cost more than 350 dollars. The other cart I have in my system is an AT 740ML. Absolutely gorgeous, detailed cartridge, but so bright at times that I struggle listening to it (I’m sure part of the issue was capacitance loading). It lacks the lush midrange I’d like, and really exaggerates the highs, and with some types of music I just don’t care for it. It was the best cartridge in my collection up until I bought the Gold.My first foray into Grado cartridges was the Prestige 3 Black. I found that I rather enjoyed listening to the Black, even though the highs are rolled off and the bass is slightly bloated. But the midrange, man it was nice! But I could only use it for a little while before I missed the brightness of the AT 740ML and I would swap it out. I’d looked at the Gold for several months, debating whether I wanted to spend the money on a cart I wasn’t sure I’d like. The Black was nice and all, but was the Gold worth the extra 200-ish dollars? Finally, I bit the bullet and bought the Gold. After about 25 hours of listening, I am super impressed. The Gold takes the bass of the Black and firms it up, providing heft and definition. The Gold uses this greater bass definition to really add detail and warmth to the midrange. And the highs? Nicely tamed as compared to the 740ML, but not as rolled off as the Black. It’s almost like Goldilocks and the Three Bears… everything is just right.I’ve owned Denon MC carts and been very impressed with them. If my system was set up for a MC cart, I’d probably have one of them on my tonearm. But the Grado Prestige 3 Gold reminds me alot of those sweet Denon MC carts, and is quite a bit cheaper than them. I highly recommend this cart. It sits on an Audio Technica AT LP3XBT table, although I did try it on my Pioneer PLX-1000 table too. It sounds amazing on both. I have it run into a Schiit Mani preamp and Arcam AVR5 receiver feeding Kef R7s.The sound is sublime and I could listen for hours. Highly recommended.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DJ – May 5, 2023

   A fantastic entry into Grado carts
   I’ve been using Audio Technica cartridges for years now, my latest being a VM 740ML. I love the 740, but the cost to replace the stylus is over $200 and I wanted to get a less expensive option that I could use for the bulk of my listening. AT carts are extremely sensitive to loading, and I noticed after purchasing a Pioneer PLX1000 that the warmness I’ve always associated with vinyl is kind of gone. Maybe something to do with the internal loading of the Pioneer, but it did not sound as good as my older players with AT carts.So I decided to look into other cart options. I had always avoided Grados, knowing that they have a rolled off top end and a very full sound. But, with my current setup, that sounded like it might be a good thing. Plus, I read that Grados don’t care about capacitance loading due to the way they are designed. I wouldn’t have to be as concerned about what cables I used or how much loading there was in the tone arm and internal wiring of the turntable.I picked up the Prestige Black3, and after about 20 hours the sound has opened up nicely. A great match for the PLX1000 and my Ampapa phono preamp. Bass is more defined, the midrange is full and lush, and yes, the treble is rolled off. Almost a little too much, but setting my treble knob at halfway completely takes care of that issue. The amount of detail I am getting out of this cartridge without it being fatiguing is very surprising to me. I am actually preferring it over my VM 740ML and I never thought I’d say it. I was originally going to use the Grado Black for casual listening, but now I find it just stays on my turntable. What a great, budget cartridge.

4. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   J. J. Techead – September 12, 2022

   Great choice for a second cartridge…
   I purchased this cart as a second cart for playing older/dirty records in my collection. I wanted a cart that had good sound and a relatively inexpensive replacement stylus. It’s easy to “trash” a stylus with dirty records since you will be cleaning it a lot. I was familiar with “The Grado Sound” and even own a pair of Grado headphones. I also was curious about the design features (moving iron vs. MM). Part of the requirement was that the cart had to be compatible with my high compliance (legacy) tonearm. It is.The first thing I noticed when I unpacked the cart was the built-in loose thin metal spacer inserted through the mounting hole beam. There was no mention of this in the enclosed instructions.Nor did I see it on any “unboxing” videos. Why was it there ? What was it for ?I came to the conclusion that it was a self threading spacer to hold the mounting screws so that the user would NOT have thread the nuts over the screws. However this “feature” added about a gram of weight to the cart. It was also loose fitting so it seemed that it was removable. In many cases, adding a gram of weight to the head-shell would NOT be an issue, especially if it makes the installation easy. However when mating this cart. to a high compliance arm, overall head-shell weight can be an issue. So I removed the spacer by gingerly wiggling it out from the cart. I noticed it was also coated with some type of lubricant so it could be removed. But there again..No instructions on how to remove it or why you would need it. The total weight came out 13 grams. Just a bit higher than the 12.5 grams using my Shure cart and original head-shell. In addition the included mounting nuts were too fat to thread on the inside of the head-shell, so if you use them you need to thread them on the top. Not a good look. I was lucky to find a pair of used (old) matching screws and (very small) nuts that I WAS able to thread using a “nut starter tool”. Also my “found” bolt&nut set (from an old cart) was lighter than the included pair. So these were the hoops I had to jump through before my listening test. The first thing I noticed about this cart was brightness in the extreme high end (10khz +). Now there’s a way to tame this by changing the input impedance of your phono pre-amp down from 47k to 23k. Just add a Y-connector and a pair of 47k 1% metal film resistors to the unused-Y lead. It seems that the standard 47k is the MAXIMUM input impedance for this cart. It can handle range of 10k-47k. Most MM carts are designed for just 47k. But then why should the end user even have to do this to achieve a flat response. Another hoop. After having pointed out all these “gotchas”..I must say this cart really shines with at least one type of music. Big Band jazz. If you are jazz music lover this cart is for you ! (despite the high freq hump). It really brings out the sound of woodwind and horn instruments on well recorded material. If there was more technical information in the instructions (especially on the role of the spacer) I would probably give it a 4 out of 5.Addendum:After now living with this cart for over a month I discovered another area of confusion. Proper VTA alignment for this cart can be tricky. For most carts just insuring that the tonearm is parallel with the playing surface will give you something close to proper alignment. Not true with this cart. The shell of the stylus must be “square” with the playing surface. This is made clear in the instructions. It is also stated in the instruction that NO spacer should be mounted in the head-shell. So this just adds to the confusion regarding the included spacer. In order to achieve proper VTA you may need the ability to raise & lower the tonearm height. This feature is NOT found on many lower priced turntables. In my case the tonearm will point at a slight down angle towards the stylus in order for the front-end of the stylus shell to be at a perfect parallel plane and (front plane of stylus) right angle to the record surface. If not adjusted properly you may hear noticeable low freq rumble (oscillation) due to resonance of the arm-cart combination. In my case the stylus “headlights” were tracking very close to the record surface and front of the stylus shell was pointing up.Equipment used:SME 3009 Series II tonearm w/ removable head-shellThornes TD-125 Mk-II turntable (re-built)Shiit-Mani phono pre-amp 47k/100pf.Sony TA-2000f pre-amp (re-built line amp stage)

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Abraham weiss – March 20, 2023

   I never knew music can sound this good
   I replaced my Ortofon OM 5E; wow, this cartridge rocks; it almost seems like I took off a towel covering my speakers. The lows are now sharp, the base is precise, and the mids are powerful, but the highs are not so much; this is a fantastic upgrade. I don’t have the hum that some people are experiencing I use a Uturn Orbit.I couldn’t use the setup it comes with as that made it way too heavy for my tonearm, so I used the old screws and nuts and not the mount it comes with; it wasn’t a huge deal, but I wish the manual mentioned that that’s an option. (I was about to send it back when I looked at youtube and noticed other people installed it that way)Prosmade in the USAvery sharp and warm soundpriceseparation of instruments (I am sure there is a technical term for this 🙂 )Consdoesn’t track as well as my old Ortofon (it’s not bad, but my old one tracked better)struggle with highs (it’s not bad, but every once in a while, its noticeable)it’s heavy, so that it will need some adjustment of the tonearm, and mine was almost maxed out to get it to track with the correct forceAll in all, this is by far the best sound I have ever experienced, I am saving up for a higher need Grado now