Grado
Grado Labs was founded in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, by Joseph Grado, a master watchmaker who had previously worked at Tiffany and Company and for Sherman Fairchild. Joseph Grado began manufacturing phono cartridges from his kitchen table before establishing Grado Laboratories in a converted family fruit shop. He is credited with pioneering the first stereo moving coil phono cartridge and was inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame in 1982.
John Grado, Joseph's nephew, joined the company in 1965 and assumed day-to-day management in 1975, purchasing the business in 1990 and serving as President and CEO. His son Jonathan joined in 2013 as Vice President of Marketing, representing a third generation of family leadership. The company has maintained a deliberately low profile, relying on word-of-mouth through audio dealers and enthusiasts rather than mass advertising.
Grado Labs introduced its first headphone line in the 1990s, with wooden headphone models debuting in 1994. Today the company produces the Prestige, Reference, Professional, and Statement headphone series alongside phono cartridges across the Lineage, Timbre, and Prestige collections. Nearly all products continue to be hand-assembled and individually tested at the Brooklyn workshop.
