Originally Posted by Cerebral_Mamba
Also, since almost every year Sennheiser is churning out new models, wouldn't not working on new products or improvements to the present line become an issue when others surpass what the Grado provides today. I mean, I am sure there were no competition to the RS1 and SR60s at their time of release, but now, the margine is steadily reducing. Hmmm. I guess i was just hoping for something new to buy.
RobN addressed this somewhat with his SME remark. The SME V arm is still state of the art and is rarely if ever matched. It does some things other tone arms still can't do. It is also 20 years old. New does not always equate to better.
John sees producing new products as a means to increase profits. I tried to convey that his main goal was not to become filthy rich but to do well, maintain a strong foothold in the world of hi-fi and to ensure his products maintain a quality standard he is proud of while producing a sound he wants to be known and remember by. If he were to continuously produce new products, he would be working ALL the time. Because his company is now doing well, he feels it is his time to relax a bit and enjoy this success by spending more time with his family and watching his sons grow. If his company took a turn for the worse, he would at that time burn the midnight oil, as he did when he took over the company. In the beginning he requested that the accountant not pay him a salary at all. That meant, he would only get paid of the company did well. This went on for 3 years. During those years, things were very tight, there was a lot of stress and John spent much of his time designing, testing building and then releasing new products. This turned out to be a success and now he has a solid company with excellent profits. Think...with his current product lines, his company is having the best year ever! Why tinker with something that works?
Though headphones have not advanced as much as his carts (he has recently come out with low output wood-bodied carts as the Statement line) he doesn't need to to keep sales high. Other companies do need to do that. As for new technology, I doubt there has been much advancement in headphone or speaker technology that would bowl people over. Take the Stax Lambdas. Some feel they are nearly equal to the Omega II's. I believe the Lambdas are nearing 30 years old of not already
OF course, Grado is an innovator of technology, so if we want headphones to advance, John and his team will have to go out and make it happen, but for now, the RS-1's do what he wants them to do. Remember, there are more than a few here who think the PS-1's were not an improvement over the RS-1's, some think sidestep, others think step backwards. The HP-1000's were made for a different market that John is not necessarily refusing but it was not his original target. In fact, after all my time with the best of the best, save for HE90's, L3000's, K1000's and the Qualias, I still feel the RS-1's are among the best if not the best in certain areas. Considering how many dislike the Qualias compared to the R10's, again, new does not mean better and higher tech can sometimes take away from the sound.