A New Epoch!
Stereophile|December 2017

Brooklyn-based Grado Labs has been in business for 64 years, manufacturing moving-iron phono cartridges, headphones, and, for a while, even a unipivot tonearm with a wooden arm wand, as well as the sophisticated, S-shaped Signature Laboratory Standard arm.

Michael Fremer
A New Epoch!

The company’s founder, Joseph Grado, who well deserves the appellation “legendary,” died in 2015, at the age of 90. He began as a watch builder at Tiffany & Company, and started making phono cartridges in 1953, as the hi-fi boom took off. He retired in 1990 and sold Grado Labs—still located in the same Brooklyn building where he’d begun in 1953—to his nephew John Grado Jr., who by then had put in more than a decade at Uncle Joe’s company, pretty much running it after Joe had returned to what he liked best: inventing things.

 At the time, Grado Labs manufactured some 10,000 cartridges annually. It’s not as if Joe’s new invention—three models of costly, handmade headphones—was an attempt to diversify because the cartridge business was bad. Joe also invented the highly regarded, limited-edition Grado HMP-1 omnidirectional microphone, a favorite of veteran recording engineer Peter McGrath, who is currently director of sales for Wilson Audio Specialties. The headphones, hand-built by Joe and John, were an immediate success among audiophiles and recording professionals. Grado Labs’ move into headphones has proved prescient, given the subsequent boom in that market, and with the vinyl resurgence, Grado today is poised for continued growth in both arenas, even as John Grado reaches retirement age (though it’s doubtful he’ll retire anytime soon). There are more Grados in the pipe line. Recently, it was announced that John’s sons, Jonathan and Matthew, have joined the company.

The Core Business Expands

Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Stereophile.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra December 2017-utgaven av Stereophile.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA STEREOPHILESe alt
Louis in London
Stereophile

Louis in London

No jazz-centric visit to New York City is complete without a trek out to Queens. At 46th Street in Sunnyside stands the apartment building where famed cornetist Leon Bismark \"Bix\" Beiderbecke's alcoholism finally killed him in 1931.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2024
Believing in bricks and mortar
Stereophile

Believing in bricks and mortar

North Carolina hi-fi dealer Audio Advice has been busy lately.

time-read
4 mins  |
October 2024
Musical Fidelity AI
Stereophile

Musical Fidelity AI

In 1989, I bought my second pair of Rogers LS3/5a's from a guy on Staten Island who had them hooked up to a Musical Fidelity AI integrated amplifier.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
Burmester 218
Stereophile

Burmester 218

As much as I tinkered with a little crystal radio as a child and started reading stereo magazines in high school, it wasn't until my early 30s that I half-stumbled into the higher end of the hi-fi sphere.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature
Stereophile

Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature

The \"Bowers\" in the name of British manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) refers to founder John Bowers, whom I got to know fairly well before he passed in 1987.

time-read
9 mins  |
October 2024
Hegel H400
Stereophile

Hegel H400

STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle
Stereophile

SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle

How many times have you been told by parents and teachers that everything successful must be built on a strong foundation?

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
RECOMMENDED RC2024 COMPONENTS
Stereophile

RECOMMENDED RC2024 COMPONENTS

Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.

time-read
4 mins  |
October 2024
Paging Dr. Löfgren
Stereophile

Paging Dr. Löfgren

It started one evening when I was killing time watching YouTube videos and stumbled across a 2017 talk given by Jonathan Carr, Lyra's brilliant cartridge designer.'

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024
Music among the Fairchildren
Stereophile

Music among the Fairchildren

Pull down the shades, find a comfortable seat, and come with me on an imaginary journey to the year 1956. The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket wins reelection, the United Methodist Church begins to ordain women, and a can of Campbell's tomato soup costs 10 cents.

time-read
10+ mins  |
October 2024