My new Joseph Grado HP2i & HP2is - Page 9

Joe Grado has passed away :(

 

http://www.facebook.com/GradoLabs

 

edit: nwm it is not Joe.

Edited by some1x - 5/15/12 at 2:34pm

Good edit!

 

Joe is alive and well. It was Angelo, his brother who unfortunately passed away at the age of 92.

Steve Guttenberg tweeted (without checking the facts first) today that joe has died. In no time the incorrect news had spread like crazy. Now if you google Joe Grado you will find something like this:

 

http://hifipig.com/joe-grado-passes-away/ 

 

delete, lol sorry

Edited by devouringone3 - 5/15/12 at 4:59pm

Its actually a concern for many people. I think thats why some people dont send in their HP1000s for the modifications.
 

 

The sound a bit congested? You quickly forget about that :P

 

I sent the HP2 I once shown you, yesterday, along with a cheque of 1400 dollars. I think it's for the better, and that improvements will be considerable. This upgrade quickly became part of my whole Grado investment plan. I'm just upgrading one HP-1000 though, lol. I'm a bit dry on money and I explain in the next paragraph why I think I only need one.

 

 

 

I think some of the upgrades go into the headphone body itself, so if ever something happen to my drivers, I will be able to swap them and keep most of the "upgrades" for a long time... most probably all my life ;).

 

Grado4lyfe (lol sorry for that)

Edited by devouringone3 - 5/16/12 at 5:09pm

If something happens to your HP2 drivers, you will have a hard time finding replacements- Joe is the only person who still has them. When the upgrade is done, he doesn't send you back the old drivers. He is worried that someone would put them in other headphones. 

Basically, HP1000 can only be serviced and repaired properly when Joe is still with us. That false news must have shocked a few people- especially the ones who have already sent headphones to him . 

You have a couple of really nice collectable Grado's my friend. Health to enjoy them. Joe Grado is/was a genius. I dont say that lightly either - the word is used far too often.

I was thinking that too ! I would say he works on a few at a time. maybe 5 or so with him at any time.

 

I hope he lives many more years, he seems a very fit man. Great to see such an active old timer who still has his heart in something he started a long time ago.

 

Well I have my SR100 and my SR325 which are both driven by almost identical "Black Star" drivers ;), and my back up HP1. I will pick the drivers of one of those, following the order: HP-1 first, SR325 second, etc. When I look at that inventory of mine I feel... how to say... full of fuel? lol. I mean, I really think I found my favorite and daily-basis medium for listening to music -- HP-1000 allows me to make one with my music and almost completely forget about the headphone in between; the comfort is also great I find).

 

Right now my HP-1 is at Moon Audio for retermination of this:

which just doesn't look good enough... to a four pins Neutrik X-HD: 

 

And my HP-2 is on the way to Joseph... so what do I do? I burn-in my SR325-0 (on my head, lol)

 

 

 

Yeah it's true, lol, we tend to forget about what we already have (health) when we go on to buy the world's best headphones for prices that would scare almost every non-Head-Fiying others. Even if it almost ruined me, I'm glad I discovered Grado at 19 years old, got strongly attached to it, planned my purchase of a RS1, and at 22 years old discovered Head-Fi and made that purchase. Then, not being blown away by it, continued searching in Grado's catalog, digging into its more virtuous past.

 

Joe Grado is a huge perfectionist and he is not afraid to go out and read every book and bits of information out there about a precise subject, just so he can push the bar up by himself in that precise field. When he learned his wife had a cancer he started doing researches for ways to help/cure/lighten her pain. There is a small biography on his website and it sounds like he excelled in every subjects he ever touched, enterprises he ever undertook. I'm thinking about watches, cartridges, and --Muhahaha!-- Headphones making!

 

An example of this would be the making of, of the HPA-1 and -2

 (everywhere it says "Mr. Grado" and in the third paragraph more specifically)

 

Tyll Hertsens said he and Headroom made and commercialized the first battery powered headphone amplifier, I'm not so sure about that, lol. The HPA-1 and -2 came fairly early also.

 

 

 

I spoken to him clumsily on the phone, with a French accent, and he handled everything finely, and helped me find my words, lol (with a keyboard I don't get to be so nervous, and I have dictionaries and stuff, but French is the only language I got to speak really).

Edited by devouringone3 - 5/17/12 at 12:14pm

I love the HPA2 amplifier, such a brilliant sound. I use it all the time, I used to put one in baggage so when I traveled I had it for the hotel at night when I was beat out after business meetings.

Wow, I miss my HP-1000, any of my two that are both away from me at the moment.

 

 

You guys know about ECP audio and their DSHA-1, made-for-Grado headphone amplifier? I planning a purchase of one, but I'd be curious to hear someone about it.

 

http://www.ecpaudio.com/DSHA1.shtml

 

Don't forget to click on the images, to show the full pictures ;)

Edited by devouringone3 - 5/22/12 at 7:44pm

Kevin gilmore also designed the dynalo (gilmore lite) amp for the hp1000. I find the Dsha-1 interesting except I don't understand why they would design a balance amp for the hp1000 (since its a hardwired unit thats been shown not to significant differ when balance).

 

It's balanced but with the provided adapter it becomes completely single ended also. I don't think it was designed for the HP-1000 but more for the current generation Grados :P. Although it's a said to be a generally good performer with many headphones other than only the most difficult to drive. It drove the LCD-2 very nicely according to someone on another forum I can't say the name.

Finally got my upgraded set in recently. Since its been 7 months it's hard to compare to what it sounded like before, lol. I did get the new pads, they do look and feel different slightly, they are a new set of pads and weren't modified from my original flats. Double ultra wide cable terminated in a neutrik jack.
Edited by recstar24 - 8/14/12 at 1:04pm

Nice amplifier you got there! DSHA-1, does it sound as good with Joe's Grados (it was made for John's right?)

Edited by devouringone3 - 8/14/12 at 2:31pm