New York’s cartridge and headphones specialist Grado has launched the new Opus3 cartridge, with the company aiming to incorporate many of the technologies included in its higher-end models into a mid-level product.
What’s more, the new Timbre Series Opus3 features a number of firsts for Grado. The wooden housing is now manufactured from Maplewood in a new profile/shape which has been refined to operate in tandem with the overall cartridge topology. Grado has always championed the positive acoustic properties of Maplewood as applied to the company’s highly-acclaimed headphone products. So, for the first time, Maplewood construction has been carried across to a Grado cartridge. A thermal aging process was applied to the Opus3 in order to maximise the acoustic performance, improve damping and control the cartridge’s resonance signature.
In fact, the Opus3 was the first cartridge to be specifically designed for the new Timbre Series and as such it incorporates a few other new features. In addition to the Maplewood housing, new coil winding and shielding techniques bring the four coils “in exact unison” with claims of a cleaner overall signal.
The Opus3 features an aluminium/elliptical diamond cantilever. It’s available in high and low outputs and Grado also offers a mono version. The high output version is specified with a 4.8mV @5 CMV (45) while the low output is rated at 1.0mV @5 CMV (45). Tracking force is said to be between 1.6 and 1.9 grams while the Opus3 weighs 8 grams. Channel separation is averaged at 30dB between 10 Hz and 30 kHz and ‘Controlled’ frequency response spans from 10 Hz to 60 kHz.
“We have been working on these upgrades over the past year and thought now would be a great time to reorganize and bring new structuring to the cartridge line-up”, Jonathan Grado, VP of Marketing told SoundStage! Australia, going on to say, “Combining the Reference and Statement Series into the Timbre Series now gives listeners a better understanding of the types of cartridges we hand-build, and the Opus3 bridges that gap between Prestige, the entry-level, and our mid-range Timbre series.”
The hand-made in Brooklyn Grado cartridges are distributed in Australia via BusiSoft AV and are available around the country via specialist audio dealers.
Grado Opus3 Cartridge
Price: AU$500
BusiSoft AV
+61 3 9810 2900
www.busisoft.com.au
