@slaw Always wanted to try a Grado, the hum issue pushed me away.
I like(d) my Grado. The hum can be annoying, but was way more annoying with the old table. Those two didn’t play well together. Went away a lot with the SOTA/Jelco. But not completely. I certainly won’t poo poo Grado though, they have their sound, but was really happy with my Red. For the money not too shabby, at all.
Ive heard, depending on the model, Grado will build/reduce the power output for you, which I would think could quiet things down.
It’s interesting, my old Grado output was 5mv, the Soundsmith is 2.4mv, and really works just fine with my phono stage at the same setting @ 42db of gain. I thought I may have increase it, but nope, actually right where Peter recommends. I had my doubts, but no, it works fine at 42.
Darn thing is quiet. And really pretty spectacular.
