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Dying Grado driver?

post #1 of 7
4/10/10 at 11:39am
Thread Starter 
I plugged in my Grado's recently to find the left side is noticably quieter than the right and has a sound much like a hair on the driver (I'm sure every Grado owner knows this sound!) Turning up the volume turns the sound into more crackle than music. They have been hanging on the same stand they've hung on for at least 6 months and barely been used, let alone abused.

Resistance of both drivers reads 32 ohms (measured from the plugs) as expected and they are terminated to 2 3pin XLR's so no chance of a cross channel short. Is it dead or is there something I missed? No idea how to access the drivers but I'll look into it if there's a chance of saving them.

Thanks in advance,

Suicidal_Orange
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post #2 of 7
4/10/10 at 12:05pm
A hair can cause that problem. Try sucking it out very gently. Don't suck too hard or you might damage the driver (you'll hear a crackling sound when you suck too hard).
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post #3 of 7
4/10/10 at 12:06pm
Thread Starter 
I've heard a hair before and it was just annoying, but this is a really big drop in volume. I'll have a go anyway - thanks for the advice
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post #4 of 7
4/10/10 at 12:56pm
Have you checked your amp for DC offset?
Do you leave your headphones plugged in when you turn it on or off? What is the amplitude & duration of the power on/off spike?

After an unfortunate accident I obtained a set of Grados that had the voice coils melted off of the actual driver membranes. Sucks.

The still made sound, and measured properly well for resistance, but the sound was CLEARLY off. It was really just the sound of the voice coil bouncing around in the magnet.
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post #5 of 7
4/10/10 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
I've mainly used them with CK²III, just measured the DC offset as 3.7 and 7.2mV which is fine.

Before August last year I did leave them plugged in while powering on the amp but read in a meet thread it wasn't safe so stopped. They've been used maybe 30 hours since then without issue until recently.

Wow! Cause found - I used them briefly with my voyager to test a new balanced-mini adaptor, and that has an offset of 810mV on one channel! Bye bye driver

Thanks for the suggestion nikongod, you've saved my IEM's!
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post #6 of 7
4/10/10 at 6:55pm
800mV May not be enough to zap them, but its not really safe by any standards either. At least its one less thing to take a risk on.

If they were OK after that for about a month I'd keep looking elsewhere for the actual cause.

Were you using the Voyager as the source when you had them plugged into the CKK3 on turn-on? Perhaps the DC servo didnt kick on and that killed them. Very few people think about how long it takes for a DC servo to kick in and what rail voltage can do to your headphones.

Do they make noise if you shake them? Is it the same on both sides? The fubared Grados I got clearly rattled when you shook them. I guess since one side works and the other dosnt you can compare.
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post #7 of 7
4/10/10 at 7:42pm
Thread Starter 
The last time I used the Grado's was with the Voyager (a portable amp) a couple of weeks ago, surely not a coincidence. Then plugged them in to the CK²III (while on with volume down) to find them not right and confirmed it's them not the amp with the Canamp - it doesn't look good. There is no rattling from either side though so maybe I'll get lucky? Best work out how to get in I think, hopefully something will be visibly wrong

I'm far from an electronics expert so I'll just agree about rail voltage while remembering to unplug
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