Grado Timbre Reference3 Phono Cartridge

The Jarrah wood housing is chosen specifically for its acoustic properties. It acts as a natural resonance control, helping to minimize unwanted vibrations and coloration, which results in greater clarity and depth in your music.

The Reference3 is quite versatile. With an input load range of 10k to 47k ohms, it is compatible with a wide variety of standard phono preamplifiers, making it an easy integration into most high-end audio setups.

The modified four-piece OTL (Optimized Transmission Line) cantilever is designed to reduce tip mass. By lowering the mass at the stylus tip, the cartridge can track record grooves more accurately, leading to better detail retrieval and reduced distortion.

You should set your tracking force between 1.6 and 1.9 grams. We recommend starting at the middle of this range and adjusting slightly based on your specific tonearm and listening preferences.

Yes. Because it is individually calibrated and uses high-purity copper coils for a clean, undistorted signal across a wide frequency range (10-60 kHz), it provides a balanced, refined sound that performs well across all types of music.

The Reference3 weighs 10 grams. This is a standard weight for high-end cartridges, but you should verify that your tonearm's counterweight can accommodate this mass and that your tonearm's effective mass is compatible with the cartridge's compliance of 20μm/mN.