Grado Lineage, Timbre & Prestige Carts Overhauled

Grado’s new cartridges aim to deliver higher performance through updated stylus assemblies, coil materials, and housing designs.

We’re told the latest updates focus on improving performance, offering better tracking, more control, and a balanced sound, while also making setup easier and more consistent.

The main updates centre on components most affecting performance, while continuing Grado’s moving-iron design and patented flux-bridger system.

The stylus assembly has improved across all models. Each features carefully selected diamond profiles and cantilever materials, with some now using nude Shibata diamonds rather than the previous elliptical designs.

All models use OCC copper coils with varying purity to improve signal flow, clarity, and channel balance.

The shape of the wood housings has also been improved. The new design should boost performance, simplify installation, and keep the cartridge more stable during use.

Grado proclaims that all these updates work together to give the entire cartridge lineup a more controlled, consistent sound.

Lineage Series

The Lineage Series offers the best performance Grado has to offer in cartridge design.

Each model uses a nude Shibata diamond and select cantilever materials—sapphire in the Epoch and Aeon, boron in the Statement—with ultra-high-purity coils. The result is speed, detail, and control while preserving vinyl’s natural sound.

Grado tells us this design delivers the speed and detail of moving-coil cartridges, with greater stability, consistency, and long-lasting performance.

All Lineage models use Brazilian Ebony wood housings. This wood is chosen for its weight and density, which should help with stability, control resonance, and deliver a more solid sound.

Lineage cartridges are available in low-output configurations, with both stereo and mono options.

Timbre Series

The models in the Timbre Series pair elliptical diamond stylus profiles with carefully selected cantilever designs and OCC copper coil composition to achieve “a balanced, engaging presentation.”

Material choice matters. Reference and Master use American Osage with boron cantilevers; Sonata and Platinum use Mediterranean Olive with custom aluminium cantilevers. The Opus in American Maple features an aluminium cantilever.

Prestige Series

The Prestige Series remains the foundation of the Grado cartridge lineup and has evolved over more than five decades. The line maintains its promise of a stable, reliable performance with a focus on ease of use and long-term consistency.

Built around elliptical diamond stylus profiles, aluminium cantilevers, and an OCC copper coil, these cartridges promise strong tracking integrity, a full, balanced sound, and a presentation that remains true to the original recording.

One important feature of the Prestige Series is its user-replaceable stylus. This lets you keep the sound quality over time without having to buy a whole new cartridge.

The Prestige Series is easy to install, simple to maintain, and is a great starting point for new Grado users and a reliable choice for long-term analogue listening.

Long-Term Ownership

For wood-bodied models, Grado offers a cartridge trade-in program. You can trade in any old cartridge, regardless of condition, to receive a discount on a new wood-bodied Grado model through this program.

To participate, simply return your used cartridge to Grado, and you will receive a credit toward a new wood-bodied cartridge from the latest lineup. The condition of the trade-in cartridge does not affect eligibility for the discount.

With each trade-in, you can choose to upgrade or downgrade to any available wood-bodied model, selecting the one that best matches your system and listening preferences.

The new Grado cartridge lineup will be available in all three series. Prices start at US$3,500 for Lineage models, US$300 for Timbre models, and US$140 for Prestige models.

For more information visit Grado Labs