Grado Prestige RED-3
Grado MM cartridge hand-selected from among the finest Blue3 units, assembled in Brooklyn for precise, detailed vinyl playback.
Description
The Grado Prestige Red3 is a moving magnet (MM) cartridge from Grado's Prestige range. It is designed to fit a turntable for playing records, either replacing or upgrading an original cartridge.
This cartridge is built around a four-piece OTL (Optimized Transmission Line) generator, paired with a specific Grado diamond mounted on a brass ring. This transmission principle is intended to transfer the signal from the record groove to the generator while limiting parasitic resonances and distortion, resulting in a quieter background and better reproduction of fundamental and harmonic frequencies.
The Red3 differs from the Blue3, with which it shares the same basic design, through a manual selection process: it is chosen from Blue3 production runs meeting higher test specifications, with around 10% of production being selected to become a Red3.
The winding of the four coils in each cartridge is carried out using ultra-pure copper wire, using a technique refined during the development of the Lineage series, with the aim of achieving precise unison between the coils and thus good balance between the stereo channels. A dual-magnet system, common to all Grado cartridges, completes this design, along with the patented Flux-Bridger system, designed for the efficiency of the moving coil generation system across the entire frequency range.
The Red3 is aimed at vinyl enthusiasts seeking tonal balance and a well-defined stereo image, with careful reproduction of voices and instruments. Each unit is hand-assembled at the Grado workshop in Brooklyn, by technicians, some with more than 25 years of experience.
What to check before buying used
The diamond, often a bare elliptical stylus bonded to its cantilever, is vulnerable to impact and wear: check for the absence of a flat spot under magnification and confirm the tip is intact before purchasing. The cantilever itself may be bent or slightly warped following a drop or improper storage, which affects alignment in the groove. Also check the condition of the connection pins and the fine wires linking them to the cartridge body, as a weakened solder joint or contact will degrade the signal on one or more channels.
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