Needled by drop shippers.
Ok two main things here one leading to the other.
I misunderstood how Grado Cartridges work. Years ago I had one and saw that the stylus part attached to what looked like a plate which fit into a slot. I assumed that a mechanical connection was there and how could that work. I also had a couple “better” pickups so into a drawer it went.
Grado uses neither moving coil nor moving magnet. It uses moving iron which is a subtle difference. Basically a lump a iron is attached to the cantilever and it interferes with the magnetic flux lines in a set of coils.
Grado uses this method in their 100 buck pickups AND their 12 kilo buck units. Grado invented and patented the moving coil method about 65 years ago. They tried it and abandoned it. So if you are motivated to spend as much money as on a good car for a 6 gram audio toy not using a moving coil you can.
The really interesting thing is the upper echelon products have wood bodies and the styli are made so they cannot be changed just like moving coils. That is why I thought they were moving coils. The wood goes around what is a hot rodded standard Grado body to suppress vibration. Kinda makes me think some experimenting with Dynamat may be in order.
Another interesting thing is each level of price is either an increase in the complexity and tininess of the guts or of the quality control of batches. In the lower echelon of these guys there are three designs, but 6 models. There are standard and the pick of the litter for each of the three.
The Grado Green I just got is a pick of the litter of the cheapest one. 20 bucks more. I like it. There are things I prefer in others I have. I naturally wonder if the fancier Grados may have some of those missing things while keeping the stuff I like.
The TOTL of the “standard” Grados is the Prestige Gold 3. The price I see listed on several Canadian Sites is $320 CDN. They offer it, but it is not yet in stock. That is also the price of the Gold 2 which is still in stock at most dealers. Grado protects their dealers so US dealers cannot sell to Canada unless they are licensed. $320 bucks is not bad and in the interest of science I could do that. It would be unique for me to have a preferred cartridge that is STILL IN PRODUCTION!!
So I went looking. Ebay has some of the old series 2 and it tries to push me there. Amazon USA gave me a result of $300 USD with shipping which is $400 CDN at today’s exchange rate.
BUT Amazon.ca (Canada) pushes me to a single source called “Northern Shipments” which wants $819.05 for the same unit, and is NOT an authorized dealer. If you look at the vendor reviews they are all the “you can make money from home on your own time using the internet” type of unspecific review. A few negative ones are blocked. He sells backyard furniture and shoes too.
Two things are obvious this guy is a scammer who must PAY Amazon to get the listing and he does not have the goods. Grado would not sell to him. There are lots of people who will take orders for things they do not have. Once they have cash in hand they buy it for a lot less from someone else. It is called drop shipping. You sell stuff you never actually have. The internet of stupid people.
One reason Jeff Bezos is so rich is he allows / enables / supports scammers like Northern Shipments.
Stupid thing is who the hell would look on the internet see these prices and buy from that scammer?
Anyway if I wait for the stock of the old ones to dry up I will buy a new one.
