An Interview With John Grado

[grawk]

Count me way in on the headfi custom variant on the ps1

[boodi]

Originally Posted by Zanth

What is up and coming, the PS-1 stuff, pads, HP-1000 lore

:lambda:

[seeberg]

Originally Posted by Zanth

There will be yes. There will be our discussion about his cartridges, the addition of the Alessandro stuff in the main body and I'll clean it up a bit and make it flow better than it does now. All the really juicy parts are in there already though. What is up and coming, the PS-1 stuff, pads, HP-1000 lore and the pricing deal.

Freakin' awesome... Thanks, Zanth.
,
Abe

[Cerebral_Mamba]

Firstly, I'd like to thank you in including the Alessandro part.

George Alessandro is a friend and he had a little business in the works and wanted to include some headphones that could be offered to the pro market. He asked John if Grado could make these for him. After discussing the sound he wanted (more analytical, akin to HP-1000's) John went out to make them.

Does that mean the MS-Pro is almost as good as the HP1000s??? I have not heard them, but you yourself Zanth, have always praised the HP1s a lot and reading between the lines of what you have written, I feel you like the HP1s more, except for your mention of RS1s woodwind inst. performance and fun to listen stuff.

I guess I'll just have to buy them both and try them out and keep the one I like and send the other back

Originally Posted by Kurt Who wants a custom Head-fi Edition Grado? Cheers

Selling about 250 of the highest end Grado cans?? I did think it was a rather easy job, after all about 10 times more people buy the priceiest Merc. in a few weeks time :blink: Maybe, i'm living in a fairytale, but that seams an easy target for us in the US to catch. If confirmed, i suggest that we waste no more time and to get to work immedietely with John Grado . I mean, lets get some voting etc and if we indeed get that number, we can go in with this proposal. Think about it, The German folks wanted something to sell, so did Alessandro, but we as music enthusiasts don't want something to purely sell, but could ask for the ideal sounding Grado, with warmth, precission, base, highs, mids and all the other stuff one could want in a headphone I know i'm going a little overboard here, but I think we should work on getting a new Grado out

[fureshi]

thanks for putting together such a great write-up of your conversation with John Grado. it's giving me even more respect for him and his company.

as for the head-fi spec grados, it certainly sounds very tempting. if it actually happens, i'd be more than happy to take part.

[Zanth]

Originally Posted by boodi

Originally Posted by Zanth
What is up and coming, the PS-1 stuff, pads, HP-1000 lore










:lambda:

Boodi, What I meant was all the good stuff, meaning the PS-1 details, the remarks about the pads adn the HP-1000 lore has already been posted, what remains is primarily about the carts, the inclusion about the Allesandro stuff and maybe some clarification on things since I wrote this over two days and both times late at night. I didn't edit, I just went with it and figured I could edit later.

Regarding custom phones for Head-fi. I don't know if this is a possibility in the least. When I mentioned 200-250 of the PS-1's were made or are going to be made total, I'm not certain if this was the original maximum number or what is turning out to be the total number. It was once mentioned that as long as there was sufficient demand, Grado would build them. Perhaps then, the anticipated sales was larger than what it turned out to be? If so, and 200-250 are tops, then it may not have been worthwhile (complete speculation on my part). I don't know if John would go through the hassle of doing a custom Head-fi phone. However, if that ever were to happen it would be pretty cool. Yet, does anyone realize how much bickering would come of it? Some would want the PS-1's but cheaper and with a Head-fi logo, others would want an HP-1000 type phone, others would want a PS-1 driver in an Rs-1 body, others would want something totally different. It would be utter insanity. With the German distributor there was one guy and John. German guys says I want X and John builds X. Trying to come to a concensus on these boards is nearly impossible

[smittysan89]

even though the idea is awesome I have to agree with Zanth on that...

[Zanth]

Originally Posted by toor

Though his rational for the pricing in Europe doesnt make sense from an economics point of view.

I don't know what part you don't understand? Imported goods are more expensive than their domestic counterparts. Imported goods are cheaper in their originating country. In order to protect dealers, distribution networks need to be controled, and they are, through binding contracts. Each distributor is able to sell to their respective zone, which happens to be by country in most cases. The US is fortunate in that they are able to purchase directly from Grado Labs. This cuts out a middle man. The price then is cheaper. Grado sells the phones to the distributors of other countries at a lower price than he sells to the dealers in the US. He makes less money with the international sales. If for example, Tyll sold via the internet to folks in Germany, the German distributor is cut out of the equation as are the potential German dealers. If the German dealers feel they can't compete with online sales from US dealers who get their phones at a better price, then they will stop carrying the Grado line. This means fewer people will have access to Grado products through those stores. Grado has built up its business around "brink and mortar" stores, not online sales outlets, and out of appreciation to them, John insists on protecting them. This also means that the industry has a greater respect for Grado products and they will then likely more readily want to sell his products.

Do Americans order BMW's online and have them shipped over at a cheaper price? No...and the reasons are more complicated due to shipping costs...but in the end, BMW's ARE pricier here because of the extra costs in shipping, distribution, storage etc. Same with the phones. They leave Grado and are shipping overseas, are stored at a distribution warehouse, then shipped to dealers and stored at dealers' shops and warehouses.

Shipping costs
Distributor takes his cut which also includes his storage costs
Dealer takes his cut which also includes his storage costs

The end result? The consumer pays more.

[gsferrari]

Excellent read...Thanks Jason and John Together you've made 1 hour of my time at work...worth living

Inspiring stuff...I certainly dream of doing similar things in the future...if not right away. Stories like these help draw me away from the mainstream thinking, careers etc. and encourage me to think "different"...

I am waitin for the first "electrostatic" grado A PS1 chassis with slightly larger diameter - housing an electrrostatic transducer = magic! :veryevil:


YAY - the SR-60 Appreciation Thread was mentioned :eggo: Man I love my SR-60s!!! :basshead:

[Alexhifi]

Excellent write up! I thank you for spending your time on it.

-Alex