An Interview With John Grado - Page 17

Wow, I guess I just don't really know where to begin with this. First, I agree, the R10's should not have been mentioned, but I think your assumption that the HE90's are the best in the world is again...a gross assumption. In fact, there are MANY here who feel the R10's best the HE90's! So who is right? Many don't like the electrostatic presentation of music. If I had to choose, I would go with a dynamic over an electrostat most of the time for sure. Though I have not yet heard the HE90's, the HE60's are close enough for me to discern whether I would put them in a class by themselves, and certainly I would not. But that is neither here nor there, opinions being what they are.

Now then, your other gross assumption is the profit margin with the new top phone over the profit margin of selling 7-8 RS-1's. The R&D I'm going to assume has been paid for by now. The R&D needed to produce an electrostat would be enormous. In fact, are you aware that Stax themselves outsourced (perhaps they still do?) the design and production of at least a few of their models (and top models btw)? Again for John it seems he has an objective with a sound he wants to present and electrostats can't do it. His idea of a hybrid is a very interesting one, and one I would like to see come to fruition at some point, but John was clear that he does not see the need to continually develop products to remain successful. The fact that he is having the best year of Grado's history is testament to the success of the current line. He wants to enjoy his success right now by spending time with his family, and doing things other than business strategy and planning. R&D is time consuming and he once went through this stage at a rigorous pace with long long hours. He knows what it takes and frankly, having a son at home myself, I can completely relate to wanting to spend time with my family over making more money and/or establishing oneself as the manufacturer of the "best headphone in the world." As a complete kicker to this, there was one print publication that I read wherein the reviewer graded the RS-1 over the Big O. That says something. Some folks think the RS-1's already ARE the best in the world.

As for your fine comments on how he is lazy well, I'm sorry, this just demonstrates your ignorance on his life goals and his priorities I guess. I'll blame myself for not relaying that well enough in my write-up.

Exactly.

The problem with this is that Head-fi is PEANUTS in the grand scheme of things. Not that John does not respect Head-fi members, but frankly his profits aren't coming from Head-fi, they are coming from his worldwide clientele through his dealer network. I remember folks getting all uppity on Tyll when his product line was apparently "slipping." He was flamed pretty hard and he remarked how Head-fi consisted of maybe 1% of his sales. 1%! Folks, as much as we are an insane bunch over these headphones, to a major manufacturer, we are a blip on the screen, in most cases anyway. Folks like Ray, Mikhail, Justin...sure they make their living off of folks here, buying and selling amps and continuing the cycle, but the real cash cow are the non-members spread throughout the world.

Why these points? Because as much as many members may consider the HE90's the best, this is not the case worldwide. In fact, there are again plenty of people who think the RS-1's are the best, or the HD650's, or the Qualias etc etc. The best is simply a marketting claim. It can't exist because we all like different things. There have been plenty of direct comparisons of the Omega II system vs. the Big O where the Stax came out on top...to repeatedly declare the HE90 the best and demand an American company to do something better...well, if we were to poll all those in the world who have heard the RS-1's and the HE90's and we found that 30% felt the RS-1's were superior, John can actually sell to those 30% and better yet, sell to the other 70% if they are willing, because the HE90 is out of production.

As for giving control of his company to someone else, that means he is giving up something that he has worked hard to achieve and maintain. Again, he is ridiculously successful for a company that does not advertize. The likes of Sennheiser, Audio Technica, Sony, they are marketting machines always needing that new product line out to keep profits high. And once again, new does not equate to better, just look at the Qualias. How many feel they are the best?

I'm thinking one or both of his sons? They are 14 and 10 right now, John is in his 50's, he has plenty of time to train them as Joseph trained him.

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