High Output and Excellent Stability
Newly Upgraded for Even Better Performance
The Grado Blue moving magnet phono cartridge delivers high output and excellent stability. It uses a four-piece OTL cantilever technology, standard oxygen free wire in the coils, and Grado's specially designed elliptical diamond mounted on a brass bushing. A reduction in the mass tip results in a frequency response from 10 Hz to 55 kHz. Output is 4.5mV with channel separation of 25 dB at 1 kHz.
"I recommend that you consider this $ensible cartridge, as it is good value for the price," urges James T. Frane in $ensible Sound magazine.
Newly Redesigned Blue1
The newly redesigned Red1 and Blue1 cartridges have had their coil design reconfigured, and the effective moving mass of their generating system has been reduced by 17%. This decrease in stylus mass allows for enhanced tracking with improved imaging, giving a quicker, more accurate reproduction of the music.
The Red1 and Blue1 models use a four piece OTL cantilever technology, oxygen free copper wire in the coils and Grado's specially designed elliptical diamond mounted on a brass bushing.
The Red1 model is selected from the Blue1 production run and meets higher test specifications. Approximately 10% of the production run meet these standards and become Red1 models.
Other Enhancements
Grado has recently made a number of upgrades to the Prestige series to take cartridge performance to the next level.
In the cartridge body, Grado has cut back on the number of turns of wire in the coils. The resulting shorter signal path increases the speed and lowers signal distortion, thus improving the accuracy of the signal.
Grado has also improved the control of the resonance of the coils. The company's engineers took the lessons they learned from Grado's wooden body cartridges and found a way to incorporate the benefits into the Prestige series. The 'potting' of the coils decreases vibration, lowering noise and distortion within the coils.
All of these enhancements have contributed to the world famous Grado sound: the warm, smooth, full bodied, non-fatiguing, and rich sound qualities.
Hand-built All the Way
The hand-built Blue1 uses a four-piece OTL cantilever technology, standard oxygen-free wire in the coils, and Grado's specially designed elliptical diamond mounting on a brass bushing.
A proprietary "flux-bridger" generator system requires fewer coil turns for lower cartridge mass and electrical inductance. This contributes to a frequency response to 50 kHz and beyond, plus tracking forces from one to two grams. | 
