[TheChairGuy]

I've heard forum recommendations ranging from use low mass arms with Grado to recommending high mass arm. Not sure why, but the low mass Black Widow seems to be doing great. Maybe something besides arm mass or damping is going on with the Grado dance?

Dave

Hey Dave - good to see you here from over at VE.

Yeah, there is something else going on here causing the Grado dance I think, too.  My Grado Green, that hopped already, is massed out and it's even got the (better tracking) line stylus from an older G1+ on it, too.

I just quite make sense of what's goin' on with it...but I've now played 5-6 albums in the past few days with it and had no issues, just that lovely,open, holographic and dynamic and realistic Grado sound 

John

[hurdy_gurdyman]

I made a Longhorn attachment for the Grado Blue/Black Widow combo. Now, the Grado company tells me the Black Widow is a poor choice for the Grado. However, I was getting good tracking and good sound with it. I decided to try the Longhorn on the assumption that the added mass will make things even better. Turns out to be a mixed bag. The sound has definitely improved. Everything sounds more open in some way I can't describe. Instruments have more "air" around them. I like the improvement. However, tracking seems to have slipped a notch. My torture record has a hole burned in from a really bad static discharge. Only a few of my past set-ups would go through this without getting locked in one place. The Black Widow/Grado combo did make it through. However, with the Longhorn, it locks up on the burned spot. I'm not sure why this is so. I've seen nothing even resembling the "Grado dance" so far.

I like the sound better with the Longhorn so am going to leave it in place for now. So far, nothing other than my torture record has had any sign of mis-tracking.

Somehow, in spite of what Grado wrote me about having to light of an arm, the Grado did track very good with the low mass Black Widow. Perhaps adding lots of mass is not such a good idea for these cartridges? I remember using my Grado Black in higher mass arms and not tracking as well as it does in the Black Widow.

Maybe the stars are lined up different over my home?   

Dave

[Wayner]

My Grado Gold Longhorn likes the spidery arm of a Harmon Kardon T25, indeed. Some of the local "experts" will try to sway you with their arm mass vs. cartridge compliance, but the formula has holes in it and not all of the variables for the formula are known. It is somewhat of a crap shoot. That's why AC is an invaluable source of info for finding people who have similar equipment that have real first hand experience with certain arm/cartridge combos.

Wayner

[gooberdude]

I ran a Longhorn'd Gold for 3 years on my budget Pro-Ject Expression table...the carbon fibre arm is pretty darn lightweight (i think) and i never had issues...though the Cardas Sweep track would make it freak out.


HGD, i'm intrigued by the hole in your torture recrod...from static discharge???     My mint orignal copy of Beastie Boys Check Your Head has always had 2 bizarre little holes in it.  Luckily it still plays, but i cringe with each play.       Initially i thought there was gunk in the grooves, but after a close insepction with a safety pin and jeweler's loupe i hit a white area...i dug right into the vinyl.    i used the pin to trace the groove, but i've never seen a hole in wax before.    the discharge would've been from the orig owner.

is this common and can these be avoided?     my place is static prone.

[hurdy_gurdyman]

I ran a Longhorn'd Gold for 3 years on my budget Pro-Ject Expression table...the carbon fibre arm is pretty darn lightweight (i think) and i never had issues...though the Cardas Sweep track would make it freak out.


HGD, i'm intrigued by the hole in your torture recrod...from static discharge???     My mint orignal copy of Beastie Boys Check Your Head has always had 2 bizarre little holes in it.  Luckily it still plays, but i cringe with each play.       Initially i thought there was gunk in the grooves, but after a close insepction with a safety pin and jeweler's loupe i hit a white area...i dug right into the vinyl.    i used the pin to trace the groove, but i've never seen a hole in wax before.    the discharge would've been from the orig owner.

is this common and can these be avoided?     my place is static prone.

I bought a brand new copy of Holly Tannen's "Invocation" (Kicking Mule Records Inc KM-236) I found back in the early 90's. Just a couple of days after buying it, I was playing it on my old Dual 1219. It was in the middle of a Michigan winter, so was cold outside and very dry inside. After finishing side two, I picked the record up. There was resistance to lifting it, kind of like it being lightly glued down. I lifted harder while looking at the edge of the record to see what was going on. I actually both saw and heard the miniature flash of lightning that sapped between the record and platter mat. It left a clearly visible hole near the end of track four on side two. When playing, it makes popping sounds several grooves before the actual hole. Most arm/cartridges I have will get locked up at the actual hole. At one time, all of them did. I cleaned it up a bit with a pin and managed to get it so once in a while something will track it.
I've never had this happen with another record. I'd rather it happen with a record I was less passionate about, as this is one of my favorite female vocalist records. Anyway, it's one of my most sever tests for a tonearm and cartridge now.

Dave