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How to distinguish between HP-2 & HP-3 by appearance?

post #1 of 10
9/20/06 at 11:19am
Thread Starter 
As the title states.

If you don't have a box, how can you know if the HP-1000 is HP-2 or HP-3?
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post #2 of 10
9/20/06 at 1:39pm
AFAIK, you can't.
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post #3 of 10
9/20/06 at 1:44pm
odds are tho, it's going to be an HP2. very very few HP3 were made, and are we really going to hear a drastic mismatch of drivers? probably not.
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post #4 of 10
9/20/06 at 1:52pm
There is no discernable difference in the physical appearance between HP-2 and HP-3.

However, there is a difference between those that do have some and those that don't have some HP-2's ..anyone with some extra HP-2's...

Sell them to me
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post #5 of 10
9/20/06 at 1:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Audiofiler
There is no discernable difference in the physical appearance between HP-2 and HP-3.

However, there is a difference between those that do have some and those that don't have some HP-2's ..anyone with some extra HP-2's...

Sell them to me

So....if a seller sells a HP-3 and tells the buyer that it's a HP-2, there's no way that the buyer can find out the truth?

Man, that sucks!
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post #6 of 10
9/20/06 at 1:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nichifanlema
So....if a seller sells a HP-3 and tells the buyer that it's a HP-2, there's no way that the buyer can find out the truth?

Man, that sucks!
the odds of that happening are one in a bajillion. i think we've only seen one HP3 here in all our years snooping around. i bet there are folks here willing to pay well for an HP3 just to complete their collection, in fact!
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post #7 of 10
9/20/06 at 2:28pm
I have both they look exactly the same only differance is how matched the drivers are,Sonically they sound pretty much the same,like listening to 2 differant HP2s.Only 50 where made & most of them had Hp2 drivers in them anyway according to my conversation with John about them.
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post #8 of 10
9/20/06 at 2:35pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bozebuttons
I have both they look exactly the same only differance is how matched the drivers are,Sonically they sound pretty much the same,like listening to 2 differant HP2s.Only 50 where made & most of them had Hp2 drivers in them anyway according to my conversation with John about them.
I've just been searching and found that Xanadu left a post about the HP-3 having a different driver from that of HP-2...


Quote:
Originally Posted by Xanadu777
As I was fiddling around with a couple of pairs of HP's last night, I may have made a discovery to end the HP2/3 mystery. A pair I was suspicious of being HP-3's showed something very interesting when I took the drivers out. My first clue was the "Standard" cable rather than the Ultra-Wide and no box. The pic below shows what I found, and the first time I've seen this...



Notice the funky cover on the top of the driver on right (suspected HP-3). It's like leather, only it's not and seems to be affixed with some super strong substance that I couldn't conquer. Seeing this, I think it's the "mark" of the HP-3 beast. It also further makes me wonder if this "damping" of the driver back is what is really making these "85% the sound of HP1/2" according to Joe Grado litarature. That would further my theory of matching or lack of. I can't think of any other logical explanation for this cover, since there was no evidence these had been opened before. HP-3 mystery solved? Maybe...
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post #9 of 10
9/20/06 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bozebuttons
I have both they look exactly the same only differance is how matched the drivers are,Sonically they sound pretty much the same,like listening to 2 differant HP2s.Only 50 where made & most of them had Hp2 drivers in them anyway according to my conversation with John about them.
yup..except that it was closer to 30 if I recall, but maybe mistaken here..you are probably right..

I talked to John Grado about this before and after the sticky thread on John's interview here on HF, and seem to recall just a few HP-3's made it and that they did not want to rebadge them, so the batch was still called HP-2's..but were limited in number.. Also heard that the amount of change in the driver configs was later discovered as less than intially projected or figured..but that may be part truth/fiction too

interesting history on them, now some one sell me a pair!
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post #10 of 10
9/20/06 at 8:20pm
I was wrong on that old picture reference, those must have been either something someone added or an experiment by Grado or a user.

Besides the box from what I recall, the only way to tell a HP-3 is by taking off the pads and looking for "HP-3" written in black on the chamber. From the interview, it sounds like very few were actually not matched as well, if any in reality. It was a good way for a struggling company to sell the same item a little cheaper, and thus get a sale. It's my opinion that HP-2 and HP-3 were identical except for the sticker on the box and the price...
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