If you have a prestige black cartridge, can you upgrade the stylus to the prestige green by just buying the green replacement stylus? I know the black is a 3pc OTL and the green is a 4pc OTL but can they be interchanged? :scratch2:

Anybody done this?

If you have a prestige black cartridge, can you upgrade the stylus to the prestige green by just buying the green replacement stylus? I know the black is a 3pc OTL and the green is a 4pc OTL but can they be interchanged? :scratch2:

Anybody done this?

Both Green and Black are 3pc OTL. I don't believe the green stylus is any different than the black. The difference between the two cartridges is that the green cartridge meets higher test specs.

ahhhh, thanks, I meant to say the blue/red were 4 pc OTL. So why is the green replacement stylus more than the black replacement stylus? :scratch2:

The green stylus is taken from the top 15% of the mfg run. The rest are Blacks. Same for Blue/Red, and Silver/Gold.

still no one has answered my question. :scratch2:

still no one has answered my question. :scratch2:

Have you asked Grado? www.gradolabs.com

When they test the cartridges at the Grado factory, they test the whole thing: cartridge body and stylus. The green and black are the same device. The green is just the top 15% specwise.

The styli are 100% interchangeable.

I don't see how one could test a cartridge body without a stylus installed (other than for a shorted turn in a coil or an open coil.) However, with a stylus, there are two tests that can be easily run without actually playing the stylus:

(1) compliance
(2) alignment

It is likely that the better styli (using the above tests) get the green dots and are sold as "green" replacement styli, and the lower 85% are designated as black replacement styli.

* * * * *

But, in many respects, this is a run-of-the-mill apples versus run-of-the-mill oranges question. The Green and Black are the cheapest cartridges in the Grado line, with the least advanced features.

In my opinion, the Grado prestige series Red is the cartridge where you begin to pull subtle details out of the vinyl. Buy one, you won't be sorry.

Fred Longworth

In answer to your question "NO". Upgrading a stylus on a Grado doesn't work. A gold stylus on a black will sound like a black.