Product Description
Grado Labs, the family-owned American audio manufacturer founded in 1953, announces the evolution of its phono cartridge lineup. Spanning the Lineage, Timbre, and Prestige Series, the updated lineup introduces meaningful improvements to cartridge performance through refinements to the stylus assembly, coil composition, and housing geometry.
Phono cartridges are the foundation of Grado’s history.
For decades, they defined the company’s work in analog and were central to its early innovation. This latest evolution focuses on their performance. These refinements contribute to better tracking, greater control, and a more balanced presentation, while also improving consistency and ease of setup.
Refined Core Elements
At the center of the updated lineup are refinements to the elements that most directly influence performance. The stylus assembly has been further developed across the range, with diamond profiles and cantilever materials carefully matched to each model. Select models now incorporate nude Shibata diamonds, expanding beyond the elliptical profiles used throughout much of the previous generation, improving groove contact, tracking, and detail retrieval. Coil composition has been updated across all models, moving to OCC copper at varying levels of purity. These changes contribute to improved signal transmission, greater clarity, and more consistent channel balance. Housing geometry in wood-bodied cartridges has also been refined, with updated profiles designed to improve both performance and the setup process, allowing for easier installation and greater stability during use. Together, these refinements result in a more controlled, more consistent presentation across the entire cartridge lineup.
Timbre Series — Performance That Exceeds Expectations
The Timbre Series delivers performance that consistently exceeds expectations within its class. Each model pairs elliptical diamond stylus profiles with carefully selected cantilever designs and OCC copper coil composition to achieve a balanced, engaging presentation. Developed as complete systems, these cartridges emphasize how each element works together rather than any single component. Grado’s moving iron design, based on its patented flux-bridger system, is carried through the Timbre Series, maintaining the same core approach used in its reference models. Material selection plays an important role across the series. The Reference and Master utilize American Osage wood with machined boron cantilevers, while the Sonata and Platinum feature Mediterranean Olive wood with a specially developed aluminum cantilever design. The Opus, crafted from American Maple, completes the series with an aluminum cantilever configuration. The result is a range of cartridges that delivers performance exceeding expectations within their category, with a balance of resolution, musicality, and control.
