In 1953, Joseph Grado founded Grado Labs in the south Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park. Joseph became an ambitious entrepreneur and innovator in the field of audio, developing the first stereo moving coil phono cartridge and obtaining more than 48 patents for his inventions. Grado now offers both a full range of phono cartridges and headphones. Grado headphones are renowned for their ability to reproduce an open, natural soundstage which is an effect of their vented diaphragm design that incorporates a large air chamber. All Grado headphones and cartridges are hand-assembled in Brooklyn, New York.