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Has anyone listened to the Grado Statement ?

I know they have reviews written about it,but I just wanted to hear from any Audiogoners about the reproduction of this cartridge,in your own words, by your own ears.
I'm leaning toward the Ref. Ref.due to my preamp not having the gain fro the .75Mv.The preamp is the CJ PV-5
with 41db gain in phono stage.Another concern I have is the cartridge on the Statement cost$1,650.00 for a retip.Ouch Ouch! That seems a bit steep,but maybe not at its 2.5k retail.Also is the extra 1K in price over the Reference
clearly heard in your opinion or not?Maybe that is too subjective of a question to answer.
128x12876doublebass
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
The Grado Statement series won't work with your PV-5; the output is too low. The Grado Reference will, however, and costs $1200. The nomenclature Grado uses is VERY confusing. Nice cartridges, but I agree that their retip price is too high. That's because they don't actually retip them but send you a new one and throw the old one away, according to what I've heard. Good luck, Dave
darkmoebius
900 posts
 
I have a Grado "The Statement" sitting here on my desk. It's stated output is 0.5mV. So, the Statement won't work with your PV-5 without some form of stepup unit.

As for the sound, I haven't had the chance to cue it up yet because I just got my table going with a Denon 103D. I'd like to fine tune and get a feel for it's performance(over time) as a reference point before moving on to the 3 other carts I have.

Sometime in the next few months I'll be able to give decent opinion on it's performance against the legendary Denon, Music Maker III, and ZYX R100 Fuji FS (silver coil).

Hopefully, someone will chime in with an experienced opinion on the Statement's sound. There seems to be very few people who've taken the jump.
james1969's avatar
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james1969
347 posts
 
I'm starting out with the straight DL-103. Not sure where I'm going...
sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
I have VERY pleased with the Grado Reference ($1200, 4.5 mV output version). Many of my friends get fooled into thinking it's a very pricey moving coil cartridge. I have heard the Statement, and in comparison to the Reference I don't think it's worth twice the money. Just a personal opinion, but before I'd spend the money for the Statement, there are other cartridges I'd consider (Shelter 90x, Lyra Helicon, etc.).
76doublebass's avatar
76doublebass OP
254 posts
 
Thanks sdcampbell for your input.I'm certain I will be buying the Ref. Ref. High output with my CJ PV-5.
I have the Wally Tracker to get the Azmith and overhang
dead on the spot with my Morch UP-4 Arm and VPI MK3 Table.
I'm sure I'll be spinnig many records once I get the cartridge after the first of July.
My front end system should be really singing then.I'm currently using the Grado Prestidge Silver Cartridge with a
high input of 5Mv. and it works just fine with the CJ PV-5.
I don't think my preamp can even handle a 2.5 Mv. output.
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