Grado TLZ ???


Hi, just purchased a grado cartridge. It is the gold with a TLZ "v" stylus. The TLZ v is engraved. How do you tell the signature? Does anyone know if this info is available and if so where? Thanks
rnadell

Showing 5 responses by frogman

Very simple. You have a Grado "Gold" with a stylus assembly that has been upgraded to that of a "TLZ v"; they are interchangeable. My guess is that performance-wise, you are not quite at the overall level of excellence of a full-fledged TLZ, but fairly close. Output of a Gold is 5mv, output of a TLZ was (if I recall correctly) 1.5mv. Output is determined by the body that you have, so yours outputs 5mv. The TLZ retailed for $500 when new.
OK, I just read your most recent post. I made my previous comments on the assumption that you had a "Gold" body. If the body that you have is silver and black, then you probably do have a full-fledged TLZ. It was probably packed in the box of a Gold. The TLZ came packed in those impractical little metal cylinders with end-caps that I always seemed to lose. Thing to do is to determine the output. Again, the TLZ was a 1.5 mv output, considerably less than the more usual 5mv of the black bodied Grado's. Shouldn't be too difficult to determine.
Lewm, there never was a "Signature" version of the TLZ, only a supposedly upgraded stylus assembly the "v", which is what the OP has. The TLZ was always part of the "Signature" line, which included the 8MZ, MCZ, TLZ, and XTZ.
From the Grado website:

Grado Signatures -- the 8, 8M, 8MR, MCX, 8MZ, and TLZ
Mosin, I did notice that the XTZ was not mentioned. I owned the XTZ also. I am not aware of a XTC; interesting. As I recall, the XTZ had an output of .5 mv, no? Very refined sounding cartridge. I ended up selling it because it did not have enough output for the preamp that I had at the time. You may be right about XTC being the stylus' designation