John was very clear on telling me that he likes to sell what he makes. A few years ago, Sennheiser actually had to dump their remaing stock of Big O's. Now they are essentially getting rid of (but not dumping) the last bit of parts stock they have by making a final uber limited batch of HE90's. One has to wonder why they have this stuff lying around still (or had to dump the Big O) if it was sooooo good? I mean 20 years or whatever, that should have been enough time to sell it all. I mean, they only made 300 units!
John likes the fact that almost anyone can afford one of his phones and that the SR60's offer a whole heck of a lot of the sound of his top models. He mentioned how he has demo'd the SR60's and the RS-1's to folks and there are plenty who can't hear the difference. Not that they would never be able to, but that they were completely content with the SR60's and walked away super happy. This is a testament to how good he has made the SR60's sound for their price. The RS-1's of course are his statement phones, with nuances, refinements balances etc, set in place to make them the arguably best headphone Grado has ever produced. I believe he enjoys pumping out products that are within reach in many cases.
However, it would be prudent to note that he did make a "Statement" cartridge and a total Statement line. He took his Reference line of carts, lowered the output by a large margin and then taking what he had learned, went all out for the Grado Statement Statement. This thing is $2500 USD. Not exactly cheap nor within the reach of most. Perhaps in time, he will take his Reference Line, do something to it and bring them into a Statement line and/or take what he has learned and go to a Statement headphone.
The retro styling though is one that I think will be sticking around. They are completely unique in the market place, they are renowned for it (love or hate it) and they certainly fit the need of many. Now...speculating on a new Statement phone would be fun, perhaps a new wood, and new dampening techniques that would further reduce unwanted resonance. An even faster driver that remain smooth but well extended yet the magic has to remain, nothing analytical, I wouldn't want (personally) to just have an even more refined HP-1000. Some of course would
