What's with the bad rap about Grado cartridges?

Immediately took the TT to KAB Electro Acoutics in NJ to have it modded by Kevin (tonearm damper, new thrust pad, new wiring, etc.) including installing a Grado Gold2 cartridge. In the past month I've listened to an assortment of both old, very old and newly purchased LPs.  I'm very happy with what i'm hearing.

Not a single tracking problem or any noise issue when the tonearm nears the end of play (my NHTs are fairly efficient) and my fully balanced system is in general dead silent.  I listen to the big picture, don't really zone in on any particular area of the sound so I won't comment there (for now).

After a month of listening the upgrade bug has hit (of course) and I'll be posting shortly in the phono stage forum looking to upgrade there.  Also, Soundsmith and VPI are local and attend some of our club meetings (hint, hint).😀

Russ

I finally encountered a weakness in the Grado (apart from its "soft" presentation which is not suited for some kinds of music, but which is a strong point for other kinds).

Yesterday I was playing an original pressing of Frank Sinatra's "My way". It's not warped in the normal sense of the word. You don't see the record's edge doing a wave during playing. But it has a rather uneven thickness on the beginning of side B. Not much, it's just 1-2 mm. With all my other cartridges, I have never noticed it in YEARS when playing this record.

Yesterday, I used the Grado (because it fits Sinatra very well sonically). Oh, my... that minor but rather sharp increase in thickess made the cartridge go crazy, the cantilever was jumping up and down like a pogo stick. That small bump was exciting a resonant frequence that refused to die for several revolutions. I don't have the tonearm damper, but I suspect it wouldn't do much becuase it's meant for horizontal resonance. It still tracked, but it was very very bad to look at, and also audibile with a thumping bass pulsating sound.

One of the quirks of Grado, I guess...