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Grado PS1000 Distortion in bass?

post #1 of 14
11/10/09 at 9:28pm
Thread Starter 
I've been using my PS1k's for about a week now and I am completely blown out of the water with the quality and balance of sound. Everything was going well until my heart skipped a beat today when I played a drum and bass track at moderate/high volume and heard the right driver vibrate with the music- sounded as if the driver was starting to go/or was just distorting. I've tried playing the same song with just a 5th gen Ipod, my Yamaha receiver and also through my laptop with the same results- the right driver always distorts prematurely at around a volume of 7, from a scale of 1-10 with this particular track. Most rock, electronic and vocal audio I've been testing out have played flawlessly, could the distortion be partial to the particular low frequency (40-60hz) from the song? Kind of worried...since I've heard so many stories of Grados being out of commission for several months. I don't think I could part with these for that amount of time!
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post #2 of 14
11/11/09 at 7:06am
It could be Grattle but did you check if the distortion is on the recording itself? You can try by swapping the left/right channels if no other headphones are available.
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post #3 of 14
11/11/09 at 7:58am
It's a well known symptom saying the GS/PS1k's transducer is about to die soon, and yes, deep, loud bass is what these headphones often cannot stand. My GS1000 #7029 is indestructible but my GS1000i broke soon when I was listening to them loud for a couple of hours. The same has happend to my firend's PS1000 but I have never heard about such failures in any other Grado up to RS1. Seems like the bigger chamber is overloading the transducer at low frequencies, so you cannot listen too loud when bass is strongly present in the music. However Grado Labs define no maximum rating for volume or power of the signal, so talking "too loud" is meaningless.
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post #4 of 14
11/11/09 at 1:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by majkel View Post
It's a well known symptom saying the GS/PS1k's transducer is about to die soon, and yes, deep, loud bass is what these headphones often cannot stand. My GS1000 #7029 is indestructible but my GS1000i broke soon when I was listening to them loud for a couple of hours. The same has happend to my firend's PS1000 but I have never heard about such failures in any other Grado up to RS1. Seems like the bigger chamber is overloading the transducer at low frequencies, so you cannot listen too loud when bass is strongly present in the music. However Grado Labs define no maximum rating for volume or power of the signal, so talking "too loud" is meaningless.


I had this exact issue on my GS1000, although I can't be described as a mad volume fan nor one who listens to bass heavy stuff (I listen 100% to classical symphonic music, and I just want my recordings to sound as loud as live concerts)...won't ever buy another Grado again, considering this seems to be a (relatively) common issue and Grados are all but cheap.
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post #5 of 14
11/11/09 at 5:21pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your replies, guys.

I was crossing my fingers on the distortion just being grattle, but the more and more that I ask around, the more I do feel that it is the driver starting to fail. What I can't get my head around is why it's only happening to this one song, and of course, I'm to scared to get one of those "test bass" cds to see if I can reproduce that same frequency all over again without totally destroying (spontaneously combusting) the driver!

Hmmm.
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post #6 of 14
11/11/09 at 5:59pm
I'm amazed you are listening to your PS1000 soo soon. How many hours to you have on them? I've had several Grado and not had a failure. You DO know that while they are at their worst at less than thirty hours - they still need a total of at least 135hours. It is best to not consider them burned-in until 150. You did it with music didn't you (instead of these pink/white or whatever noise programs). One song? Maybe it also your particular sample of that recording.
Grattle. I've never yet experienced that phenomenon..........guess I must live right
My recipe for a proper lifestyle.....plenty of Cigars, a modicum of Cognac, and .....women.
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post #7 of 14
11/11/09 at 6:23pm
I'm curious if this problem is exactly reproducable at the same spot in the same track? Or does it sometimes show and sometimes not?
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post #8 of 14
11/11/09 at 7:27pm
Thread Starter 
BushGuy - I burned them in for approximately 75 hours so far, I've always felt that 50+ hours were appropriate for burn-in, but I'll be more than happy to burn them in more . I burned them in with a mix of pink noise and a mixture of electornic, classical, and vocal music also. I tested the song out on another pair of PS1K's and the distortion with that particular song was not apparent (same source). Maybe you've got more luck/skill than I do!

MadMan007- The distortion/graddle is constant with that one particular track. I double checked my drivers this morning and saw that there is a tiny piece of wood that is loose between the driver and the wire mesh, not too sure how to get that piece out (go figure, Grado).

Going to try and burn-in the drivers more, I'll keep you guys posted to see how things go. By the way, how long would it take if I were to send these in to Grado for inspection?


Thanks again for the responses, having other people to think with really helps with the process of having a Grado!
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post #9 of 14
11/11/09 at 8:29pm
A loose piece of wood would certainly do it - odd, since the composition contains soo little wood. Just call John and tell him about that piece of loose wood, nicely............pls next time - stick to using music for burn-in. There are several reports of things gone awry using those noise programs. I don't comprehend why folks go that way. Using music has never failed anyone. There is a page on Jan Meiers' site that promulgates the same burn-in in more detail..........many plug headphones into a radio out and let them burn away until sufficient hours have been reached.
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post #10 of 14
11/11/09 at 8:39pm
Thread Starter 
It seems that the driver's hole was carved out of the wood very crudely in my set. I just went around with a really thin piece of toothpick with a round end and dislodged five 1/4" slivers of wood around the wire port and gently shook them out, through the mesh. There are slivers around the driver itself, which are located at really scary place where I would be scared to put anything pointy by. Thanks for the tips on the pink noise, I tend to use it to burn in while I'm asleep, then switch back to normal radio during the day, but I'll be sure to try out the all radio method! I'll call up Grado to see what I can do about this. I just can't imagine waiting three months- they should simply swap them out at this price.


Quote:
Originally Posted by BushGuy View Post
A loose piece of wood would certainly do it - odd, since the composition contains soo little wood. Just call John and tell him about that piece of loose wood, nicely............pls next time - stick to using music for burn-in. There are several reports of things gone awry using those noise programs. I don't comprehend why folks go that way. Using music has never failed anyone. There is a page on Jan Meiers' site that promulgates the same burn-in in more detail..........many plug headphones into a radio out and let them burn away until sufficient hours have been reached.
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post #11 of 14
11/12/09 at 1:46am
Thread Starter 
Ahhh, it's fixed! I dislodged all of the wood particles sticking out of where the driver is fitted. After removing a ton of splinters around the wire's port and driver's edge, the distortion is now gone. I guess it was that particular frequency vibrating the pieces of wood. Thanks for all of the help, life is back to normal!
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post #12 of 14
11/12/09 at 3:20am
Congratulations!
My life is back to normal too!
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post #13 of 14
11/12/09 at 6:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by arctechnika View Post
Ahhh, it's fixed! I dislodged all of the wood particles sticking out of where the driver is fitted. After removing a ton of splinters around the wire's port and driver's edge, the distortion is now gone. I guess it was that particular frequency vibrating the pieces of wood. Thanks for all of the help, life is back to normal!
Interesting. Your reasoning makes sense especially since it was perfectly repeatable. A piece of loose something or other in a headphone is more likely to be heard randomly. My HF-2 also has 'splinters' near the wire entry although I've never heard distortions that weren't music details that are audible on other gear. It looks like they sort of just punched through the wood and didn't even clean up the hole rather than drilling
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post #14 of 14
11/12/09 at 6:13am
all hail the grado qc
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