In this case, it's just a stylus. But a significant one. I've been using the Grado TLZ listed below for the last while, and loving it. The TLZ was the second from the top of Joe Grados cartridges, that went away when John Grado took over the company and launched the wood body ones. They are by all accounts better cartridges, however....
The last Signature Series that Joe produced, are just somehow magical. They sold for as much as $750 1990 dollars, and were very much Joe's babies. He kept tweaking them all the way through series V. Joe personally listened to every Signature cartridge body that was built, and graded them according to his well they performed. The best ones became the XTZ.
Now, I've been hunting for an XTZ for almost a decade now. I've seen 3 come up for sale, and all were gone before I got them. From what I have seen, people who have them just don't sell them.
The one nice thing about these is that the stylus is replaceable. And as the biggest difference between the various grades was the stylus/cantilever combo, swapping a XTZ stylus onto a TLZ body, effectively gives you a XTZ.
I spent the last few months trying to convince the Grado distributor in Canada to sell me a stylus. All to no avail.
Anyhow, today, I finally got things sorted out, and the XTX stylus is being made for me as we speak.
I look forward to sharing my impressions once it's mounted up and running.
The last Signature Series that Joe produced, are just somehow magical. They sold for as much as $750 1990 dollars, and were very much Joe's babies. He kept tweaking them all the way through series V. Joe personally listened to every Signature cartridge body that was built, and graded them according to his well they performed. The best ones became the XTZ.
Now, I've been hunting for an XTZ for almost a decade now. I've seen 3 come up for sale, and all were gone before I got them. From what I have seen, people who have them just don't sell them.
The one nice thing about these is that the stylus is replaceable. And as the biggest difference between the various grades was the stylus/cantilever combo, swapping a XTZ stylus onto a TLZ body, effectively gives you a XTZ.
I spent the last few months trying to convince the Grado distributor in Canada to sell me a stylus. All to no avail.
Anyhow, today, I finally got things sorted out, and the XTX stylus is being made for me as we speak.
I look forward to sharing my impressions once it's mounted up and running.