Grado modders go Magnum - Page 126

Quote:

Originally Posted by ambchang 

So I finally found some SR325 aluminum cups, but I am looking for the housing to put the drivers in.  Anywhere I can get a set of those for a reasonable price?  I would prefer to get aluminum ones, then wood, then the normal grado plastic ones if I can get my hands on them.

 

Thanks

Larry at Headphile seems to be offering Korina wood driver holders if you recable with him, but I cannot figure out his website or find the images he refers to. Enter at your own risk!

You have to scroll down the Grado page a bit to find this: http://www.headphile.com/page5.html

Now available… Convert to wood driver housings! Keep your stock Grado screened enclosures. An option with just recable or with woodies and recable. Turn your SR/MS into something similar to HF1/HF2. Photo of the Korina driver holder in High-End area below.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrislangley4253 
 

moisture is another huge variable with wood.  moisture can vary great even within the same piece of lumber. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris_Himself 

Anybody see that supermodded SR-225 in the sales section? Bleh.

    If you're referring to the "Custom Wood Grado SR-225" that has the horrible loosely wrapped and unsightly headband,

    with glue attempting to hold smaller screens and glue, glue, glue splattered all over the screens, with the very very poorly

    uncentred machined cups which themselves are filled with holes and scratches, clipped gimbals and ridiculously short cable.

    Then - double bleh!

Thanks guys.  I am still looking around, hope to land something interesting on a reasonable budget.

I guess head-fi motto is going full effect right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by charliex 

 

    If you're referring to the "Custom Wood Grado SR-225" that has the horrible loosely wrapped and unsightly headband,

    with glue attempting to hold smaller screens and glue, glue, glue splattered all over the screens, with the very very poorly

    uncentred machined cups which themselves are filled with holes and scratches, clipped gimbals and ridiculously short cable.

 

    Then - double bleh!

yeah. that things unsightly

Although they might have improved sound, I'm glad to see that I was not the only person who thought those particular 225's looked horrid. 

I honestly question if it even improved sound. I wish that seller the best of luck, but given the overly enthusiastic "car salesman" description, it comes off almost as disingenuous, as if the seller knows it's pretty awful but just wants to get rid of it on some unsuspecting fool. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by parbaked 

The ultimate metal 'Grado' would be a one piece milled cup with some clever way to secure Magnum/Grado drivers. The grills could also be machined out of the aluminum billet, making these truly 'one piece'. The whole cup could then be treated/anodized etc. Maybe score some of Joe's special goop to rub around....

I'm always talking about the same Grado headphone (lol sorry!)..... but the HP-1000 have mostly just one-piece machined aluminum cylinders (*and I believe the PS-1 too, fully).

The slim line of hard/cement glue is there to hold everything together: the "one-piece cups", the metal grid, and the "HP-1000 ring" together (and as a bonus the cable, too!). I don't think there was another way as effective, that you could also reverse.

The 6 hexagonal screws is also a fairly clever way of holding the drivers tightly in my opinion ;), it makes driver replacement a bit easier too.

They are not anodized (though a DIYer could do it, why not :P) and I'm not sure if they come treated stock. The "i" upgrade includes a metal acoustic treatment and that changes the "patina" on the metal a bit. The metal of the HP-1000 is a complex anti-resonance aluminum alloy, there is a warning about it in the sheets that came with the headphone (last paragraph):

Mottled could refer to the "wet" some of them have:

Or the (etched) patterns in the metal:

(and same headphone, still "etched" after the "i" upgrade)

Oh, but there is one coming! (fully machined, even the grills; they could easily be anodized and meet all your requirements :P)

http://www.bb3.com.au/Home.aspx

Maybe you already knew thought, since Luke/Taiden posted about it earlier in this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ambchang 

So I finally found some SR325 aluminum cups, but I am looking for the housing to put the drivers in.  Anywhere I can get a set of those for a reasonable price?  I would prefer to get aluminum ones, then wood, then the normal grado plastic ones if I can get my hands on them.

 

Thanks

The normal Grado plastic ones are molded with the drivers. It doesn't exist alone, and you need to tear it apart to liberate your Grado drivers (like in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A6UwkQFTdg by Taiden).

As early as for my SR200 (pre-1993), the drivers were already "embedded" like that... when you send your headphones for drivers replacement at Grado they replace the whole thing (maybe the cable too! gets replaced).

Only exception is black anodized metal SR325 (http://www.head-fi.org/t/616052/full-grado-labs-history/30#post_8673922), and SR-1-2-300 with HP-1000 drivers which are all like that:

(my SR200 in the background, one screen replaced by Grado, the white one) (in foreground my SR100-0)

(my SR100 left, HP-2 right)

(my SR325-0)

Larry at Headphile was taking out HP-1000 drivers from these "erroneous :P" plastic HP-1000 Grados... to make his creatures.

This thread needs some life! Here is my newly recabled Magnum V4 build. Grado SR-60 outer cups and grills,black aluminum chambers from Symphones, headphone lounge leather headband, new bowl pads, orange replacement tips for rods, and occ copper recabling done by me. Looking and sounding quite good if you ask me!

Halloween colors!

Hey guys, 

Question for you about these...any idea where I can get rod blocks, rods, end caps, or even rod clamps that fit the Grado rods?

I just picked up a fantastic modded set actually made by Rhydon before he stopped doing the actual modding and focused on the Magnums. Can anyone name the cable type used? It looks like the connector is a custom mini threaded end and the cable itself is solid core. The cable is is definitely 4 braided conductors going to each cup. The workmanship in these is fantastic as the pics show and the headband is padded lambskin.

What I would like to do...if someone could point me in the right direction...is replace the plastic gimbals with either wood or aluminum, get new rod blocks and rod end caps. Any help would really be appreciated. 

the connectors look like SMC connectors as used on hifiman headphones.  as for the gimbals, martin custom audio might be able to help you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by icefalkon 

 

I just picked up a fantastic modded set actually made by Rhydon before he stopped doing the actual modding and focused on the Magnums. 

I believe these are your headphones and, if so, they are NOT made by Rhydon. NOR are they a "Full Magnum Build". 

Rhydon's Magnum mods had aluminum inner cups to hold the drivers. These are one piece wood cups.

This is the kind of woodied Grado/Magnum one can buy today from The Headphone Lounge - still a good (great) headphone.

The seller posted this huge post on how great the experience was and then tried to sell them off the same day on the FS forum.

Then they show up on ebay....

http://www.head-fi.org/t/624760/my-experience-with-headphone-lounge

http://www.head-fi.org/t/624749/full-magnum-v4-build-300-today-only#post_8672003

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rav 

as for the gimbals, martin custom audio might be able to help you.

Yes, Martin will hook you up with some sweet all metal gimbals and your 'phones will look even better. You will then have NO Grado left except the metal headband. Actually martin can sell you a new metal headband too, if you ask nice. http://www.martincustomaudio.com/