[jmpiwonka]

found this yesterday. can't find much info on it.
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/audio-technica-AT7V-VM-type-cartridge_W0QQitemZ300147893246QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item45e23563fe&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A835|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

found one thread where some people were saying it might be very similar to a signet tk7e.

anyway i'm thinking about getting a new cartridge. got a grado silver, i think older than silver 1.
there are some grado gold1 on ebay between 135-150 bucks.
at440mla for around 135 at a place or two.
then i guess i could just really say screw it and get something like a soundsmith smmc3 but output is around 2.12v, i've got a bugle and i could replace some resistors to get the gain up.

new cartridge will go on my (slightly fast  ) empire with sumiko ft3 arm, so medium mass arm with fluid damping capability.
looking for a little cleaner sounding highs and more open sound than the silver is offering me now...

[TheChairGuy]

You can try fitting a van Alstine Longhorn crossbar to your Grado....it'll help tracking quite a bit (which will improve the treble)

Outside of that, not much one can do with a bushed, elliptical stylus.  The Shibata (or as Grado calls them, Ellipsoid) tips sounds soooo much better on the Grado's than the std bushed elliptical your Silver has.

I've bought G1+ styli on ebay for under $80.  You can find an occasional TLZ (higher grade with nude, shibata tip) for under $150.  It fits directly in place of your current stylus assembly.

I'd take a Grado retrofitted with the Longhorn (and damped internally with silicone 1000cst oil) and a shibata over any Audio-Technica/Signet.....but, it's a personal decision in the end

John

[jmpiwonka]

oh well that's good to hear because i just got an RMA number to send the grado silver to soundsmith for the mid level retip. ruby cantilever with nude contact line diamond...

i was looking on the grado website and noticed all the specs for inductance and resistance and all that are very similar so i thought perhaps it's mostly the stylus that gets upgraded. had been thinkin a bit about getting a retip and just decided what the hell...

was thinking about getting the at440mla before everyone has the prices raised but i'll probably just save the money, use the grado black i have until then...

[TheChairGuy]

You should have a pretty brilliant sounding cartridge after a new ruby cantilever and line stylus.

Add the van Alstine Longhorn (and damp the internals with 1000 cst silicone oil) and you will be loving that Grado (likely).

It's just more natural sounding than any cartridge I know. That's not everyone's goal listening to music, of course

John

[jmpiwonka]

actually i just pulled out this box that says grado on it  ...inside is a statement sonata cartridge i got off ebay for like $28 because the cantilever is broken. i just might send that to soundsmith instead and replace a few resistors in the bugle to get the gain up...or get a step up transformer.

what do you think?
not sure how old this statement is, the paper inside says the channel seperation is 30db while the newer models are spec'd at 40db. but the inductance is still 2mh and resistance is still 2ohms.

[TheChairGuy]

$28 is a pretty good deal for the low-output version of Grado's $500 cartridge.

You stick a Soundsmith rube cantilever and line stylus on it you should be making splendid sounds (providing you have the requisite gain to propel it's 0.5mv output to volumes you can live with)

The Prestige Series (like the Black and Silver) and Reference Series (the wood bodied series) have about 4.5mv output and 45mh inductance and 500 ohms resistance.

The Statement Series (the same wood shell as the Reference series) houses different internals with less windings on each coil and, correspondingly, lower voltage, inductance and resistance figures.  As you noted, it needs another ~20 db gain with another active stage to get it to volumes needed.

Grado recommends 47K loading for them as well as the higher output cartridges...but they probably respond better to something in the 2-10K range.

I've not heard the Statement series myself...but my favorite cartridge is a low output (0.33mv) Pickering with similar specs to the Statement Sonata you now have.  The lowered inductance and resistance should give you some of those moving-coil-type goosebumps that proponents of those designs love...with a large dose of naturalness that those designs typically fail to provide.

In all, it may provide a best-of-most-worlds experience for you   Good find

John