Benefit of low output moving-iron Grado ?

Bad writing skills, Nicky. What I meant by "dependable" was a modest upgrade (the high-output Master) which would be SIMILAR to what I've got and have been happy with (the Sonata), without gambling on a new phono stage. Whew...

You might want to experiment with loading. We had a ZYX Universe that was very nice, one day the needle just decided to let go of the cantilever and that was that.

So we installed a wood-body Grado we had on hand. Its 5mV. It was also a little upfront/in your face compared to the ZYX (we are running a Triplanar which easily tracks either cartridge). However being a high output moving magnet, they are sensitive to loading. We've used 10K as a loading value in the past, and that seems to work well with this one too.

Funny thing, if the arm really *can* track the cartridge, you have it set up right and loaded right, you really don't hear big differences between many cartridges. Miss one of the caveats above though and its a different story!

IOW we're not hearing a big difference between the two cartridges other than output. Loading in this case was the key as the Triplanar was not the variable.

I've been lurking around this thread as I too have a Reference Sonata and felt it was very brash, comparing it to my Zu DL103 on my other table. Tried the 10k loading and it did the trick. Much more laid back but did not lose any of the sparkle.

The smartass in me wanted to post that the Grado hum wouldn't be as loud. :)

You don't get hum if set up right. If you have a Rega, you might get hum because the motor is not grounded. Easy enough to fix.