Grado cartridges still worth the money?

I have the Grado Statement 2 (low output) which just replaced the older version of the same cartridge that I had for over 15 years.  VPI Aries turntable and the original VPI HW 10 tonearm.  Great midrange...open and detailed.  I've been very happy with these Grados.

Grado is not in your face like most these days, gives you a middle of the hall sound perfect for Symphonic music . Tone is better than most as well .

chakster,

More than a year ago I got a collection of cartridges from a friend who had a home dealership.  Due to his age he'd given up vinyl.  That included both Grado 8MX and XTZ models.  I've had a couple of other Grados but am not familiar with either of those.

I've not auditioned them yet due to rebuilding a 'table.  If the XTZ is as good as you suggest I'm sure I'll be pleased.  Were they all Signatures?  All this one shows on the stylus fitting and cylindrical container is XTZ.

Just ordered a new Statement Series Reference 2!! Watch this space...

I liked the Grado.  I had a 15 year old version of the Statement Reference 2.  I enjoyed it for all those years.  When I decided it was time to retire my cartridge I immediately thought I would trade it back to Grado for the new Statement Reference 2.  Upon first listening it sounded fine.  However, the more records I played the more I started noticing distortions and over modulation that I had never noticed before with the older cartridge.  After discussing this problem with my dealer, Grado support and EAR support (my phono stage is an EAR 834P) we arrived at the conclusion that the newer Grado was not a good match with my phono preamp.  The new Grado, though still considered low output, has an output of 1mv whereas the older version had an output of .5.  Apparently this was an awkward output level for my EAR.  It was too high for the MC setting on my EAR and too low for the MM setting.  I don't blame the cartridge for this but the 1 mv output may be difficult to accommodate by phono stages that have a limited range of settings.