Joe Grado RIP, while his legacy, Grado Labs, lives on

[JohnnyB]

Joe founded Grado Labs in 1953 and held 48 patents, many for phono cartridges. As demand for phono cartridges dwindled, the company reinvented itself with a great line of headphones. Now demand is back for cartridges as well. They're making over 60,000 cartridges a year. Those and their headphones are all made largely by hand by 18 employees in Brookly, New York. Founder Joe Grado passed on this past February at age 90.

Here's a pretty good profile of Grado Labs with emphasis on the current ownership and management and headphone production.

Then there are these limited edition headphones that use oak from Bushmills whiskey barrels and were co-designed by--of all people--Elijah Wood:

[Armitage]

I've had a number of Grado phono cartridges in my day.

[RobB]

RIP. Sure it's only a matter of time before Grado Mfg gets shipped offshore.

[JohnnyB]

RIP. Sure it's only a matter of time before Grado Mfg gets shipped offshore.

Really? They've been in business for 62 years. They're still not only made in the USA, they're still in the re-purposed produce shop that Joe Grado's father started when he got here from Sicily. With 18 employees and in-house hand-building techniques, they manage to put out over 60,000 cartridges annually plus industry-standard headphones available everywhere. They evidently have a business model that works. Even the wood they use for their premium cartridges and headphone housings is domestic wood, and some of it still comes from Brooklyn!

I don't know how they do it, but I'm glad they do.

[tomteriffic]

RIP Joe. I have a couple of sets of his headphones, wouldn't mind a cartridge. Never heard a bad thing about them

[JohnnyB]

RIP Joe. I have a couple of sets of his headphones, wouldn't mind a cartridge. Never heard a bad thing about them

In the mid-'70s Grado's top line cartridge retailed at $150 (about $655 in today's money). I worked at a stereo store and put one of those on our primary demo turntable. When I fired it up, it created such a lush, 3-dimensional soundstage that the part-time bookkeeper, who had no interest in audio, ran out of her office in the back of the building to see what was creating this incredible sound. I swear it sounded like I'd flipped a switch from stereo to surround sound.

The wholesale price on that cartridge made it possible for me to buy one. It was simply fabulous and spoiled me for anything else for a long time. In around mid-1976 Grado came out with a Grado Signature version of that cartridge at $300 (nearly unheard of at the time) that was an ultra-close tolerance version of the one I had.

I still have my first-generation Grado SR60 headphones. Although my 4x as expensive Sennheiser HD580s are a tad better, when I'm wearing the Grados they're so musical I don't really notice what I'm missing. Their wood-bodied reference headphones must be incredible as well as gorgeous.

[ArnieZ]

I have had and still have a Grado cartridge in my turntable. They were relatively inexpensive for the quality and generally the Stylii and bodies were interchangeable. I am sure I've got some bodies and stylii around somewhere! RIP

ArnieZ

[sixesandsevens]

RIP Joe.

[RobB]

RIP. Sure it's only a matter of time before Grado Mfg gets shipped offshore.

Really?

Yes, really.