Grado Infinity Black Widow competability

nkorah

Active Member
Hi,

A bit of background:
I'm listening with an upgraded Lenco L78 with two arms:
On the original arm I'm switching between a Grado Prestige Gold1 and a Denon DL103. It works great an I'm happy with it.
The other arm is the Black Widow, which I bought to satisfy my Ultra-Low-Mass fetish :)

16266696446_67df75a5ee_b.jpg


I've installed a Grado Reference Platinum1 on the widow, after calculating resonance and reading online reviews. well - it doesn't fit well :sigh:

60-70% of the time it sings, and rocks and plays, but as soon as the record face is a little imperfect - it's heard, Inner-grove distortion is obvious, and the arm (and cart) miss-trek imperfections through which the other arm cruses with barely a click.

My gut feeling is that the Reference Platinum1 is just a bit heavy and stiff for such a light arm (3 gr'!).

I did this, to prove to myself that with a little bit more weight and resonance absorption - it will work. and it does!

15753017834_488500990d_b.jpg


Which proves the problem - not present the solution.

Than I thought about the cartridge the arm arrived with - a Grado G2 (without stylus) it's a 4.5 gr' cart which was 45cu when young.

Do you think it will hold a Grado 8MZ stylus? Do you think it will work with the Widow? I'm not thrilled on spending 120-130$ for a test. Neither I'm thrilled to go the Stenton 881 Jico way.

Thanks!
 
Hi,

A bit of background:
I'm listening with an upgraded Lenco L78 with two arms:
On the original arm I'm switching between a Grado Prestige Gold1 and a Denon DL103. It works great an I'm happy with it.
The other arm is the Black Widow, which I bought to satisfy my Ultra-Low-Mass fetish :)

16266696446_67df75a5ee_b.jpg


I've installed a Grado Reference Platinum1 on the widow, after calculating resonance and reading online reviews. well - it doesn't fit well :sigh:

60-70% of the time it sings, and rocks and plays, but as soon as the record face is a little imperfect - it's heard, Inner-grove distortion is obvious, and the arm (and cart) miss-trek imperfections through which the other arm cruses with barely a click.

My gut feeling is that the Reference Platinum1 is just a bit heavy and stiff for such a light arm (3 gr'!).

I did this, to prove to myself that with a little bit more weight and resonance absorption - it will work. and it does!

15753017834_488500990d_b.jpg


Which proves the problem - not present the solution.

Than I thought about the cartridge the arm arrived with - a Grado G2 (without stylus) it's a 4.5 gr' cart which was 45cu when young.

Do you think it will hold a Grado 8MZ stylus? Do you think it will work with the Widow? I'm not thrilled on spending 120-130$ for a test. Neither I'm thrilled to go the Stenton 881 Jico way.

Thanks!

The 8MZ will have the same compliance as the platinum. it would prefer 10-12 gram arm. you are correct about the original G1-G2 stylus. in the 40 range. I ran mine (G1 through Signature 4) on a mayware 4 arm (5.5 gr). Sourcing an older stylus for the G2 body, and very high compliance, you would need to find an F-1, G1, G2. all others will be 20 cu. including ones listed as "replacement for"
 
Yeah, prolly step away from Grado for the BW ... You can get Grado sounds out of the Lenco arm anyway. Time to go another direction :)

Light AT body with an LC ??
 
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The Widow wants a high compliance cartridge. I'm running an old Micro-Acoustics 630 that's about 35 years old. I posted a thread a while back trying to find a good fit in a modern cartridge and didn't have a lot of luck. Might want to look for NOS vintage.
 
The Widow wants a high compliance cartridge. I'm running an old Micro-Acoustics 630 that's about 35 years old. I posted a thread a while back trying to find a good fit in a modern cartridge and didn't have a lot of luck. Might want to look for NOS vintage.

Good call, as i ran a MA 2002e and a Sonus Blue also on the mayware.
Finding an older Sonus might be something to look for. MA's are rarer than hens teeth.
 
The Sonus carts are an excellent match for the BW. Also Shure V15 Type III, MA, maybe the Stanton 881, higher end AT's.

Basically the highest compliance cart/stulus you can find. :)

Also agree on the G1/G2 stylus if you want to run a Grado.
 
The problem with the AT 150/MLx is the body weight. It's an alloy body and it's kinda heavy. OTOH, a 440 body with and MLx stylus should be fun :D
 
Didn't lini mention a while back that a good combo was the AT-100E body and the 150 stylus due to the lighter yet similar body? Plus you have a spare emergency stylus.
 
Thanks guys!
my thought was that if the Reference Platinum1 is JUST not so, using a cart weighting almost 2 gr' less (the G2), with the same compliance might make it.

I think I'll go the 881 way. I'm not a fan of "lightly used" or NOS stylus, though I have no problem with the old carts themselves. At least, the 881 has a supply of new good (if expansive) stylus to buy.
 
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