Grado Statement 2 or Grado Reference 2


Hello all,
More than likely my Moerch DP8 and Fidelity Research will be going on the chopping block soon, and I'm heading in the direction of a new Riggle Woody 12 inch Universal tonearm. I still have a Grado Statement circa 2000 ( needs a retip I think ), and I very fondly remember the musical bliss I Experienced with it mounted on my JMW10 tonearm. So I'm looking strongly at heading back to Gradoland. Which begs the following.

I'll be looking between the above two listed Grados. My present phonostage is a Decware ZP3 ( modded by Steve ), and I love it. I really don't want to go back to my Sonic Frontiers Phono 1 ( with SE+ upgrades ), so I'm hoping that the Reference 2 is close enough in character and tone to the Statement 2 that I'll be happy. ( I know that is highly subjective ), but I would like to go straight into the ZP3 and be done with it.

So.
Anybody out there have any experience with either, or have the chance to compare the two ?
Would love to hear any thoughts or opinions.

Thanks,                       Crazy Bill
wrm0325
Grado has kind of a convoluted naming convention for their cartridges.  They have a Statement Reference 2 and a Statement Statement 2.  Are these the two cartridges you are comparing?they also have a Reference Reference 2 with is a high output version of the Statement Reference 2.  If you are asking about the Statement Reference 2, I have some experience with that cartridge.  I recently upgraded an older Grado State Reference 1 and traded it in on the 2.  I did not like it.  The problem for me with the output voltage.  The older Reference was a significantly lower .5mV output which worked  well with my EAR 834P.  The newer Statement Reference 2 has a 1.0mV output.  This may not be an issue with other phono stages but in my case it was an awkward match.  It was too high of an output for the MC setting on my EAR and too low for the MM setting.  I never could get it to sound anywhere near as good as the older version.  A phono stage with more or different output settings may work fine.  I was disappointed because I liked the older version so much.  Grade took it back and I moved to a Dynavector XX2 Mk 2.  It sounds much better than either version of the Reference....and works perfectly with my phono preamp.  The 1mV output of the Statement Reference 2 seems kind of odd to me. 
Not sure about current models, but i've managed to find rare (NOS) Joseph Grado Signature XTZ and this one is amazing cartridge! It was their top-of-the-line model in the 80s. This GRADO XTZ compete with my favorite MMs like AT-ML170 OFC, AT-ML180 OCC, Glanz MF61 and others.