Full Grado Labs History! - Page 4

Don't forget what Justin Bieber told us: "never say never"

Hey, just to tell you guys I'm not dead. My flame for Grado headphones keeps on burning strong.

I'm slowly learning to appreciate my Grado headphones more for their intrinsic and extrinsic qualities rather than than the joy of owning them as treasures. For example the sub-bass of my Kotori 201 (equivalent of a Creative Live! Aurvana) is abundant in comparison, it does contain information that I might be or be missing on my Grados, plus it's such a thrill to the giant low-freq instruments move air, but at the same time the aggressiveness and sound signature of the Grados/Magnums is so good for the kind music I listen to, so to me both headphones are good in their own respect, compliment my roster nicely in sound and in function (Kotori 201 is my portable set). HP 1000 is my reference for neutrality, clarity, details and speed (when taped bowls are used).

Grados might not be so clean as the current offerings from Sennheiser, Audeze or HiFiMan on clean on cumulative spectral decay graphs... but  I actually have my way around that issue (and it is 3M Scotch Tape around my bowls!) which, according to my perception, solves it up to the highest volumes I listen to.

I've gotten into the Magnums lately (I acquired v2.5 metal inner chambers and SR325is chromed cups that Rhydon refurbished me with v4 gimbals and drivers), I really like them and their bass.

I definitely want to come back and be active on Head-Fi, participate in the Grado Fan Club again, finish my HP2i review, and make more Grado informative threads. I'm not around anymore but I'm still always on the lookout for anything Grado, making my HPA-1 an external power supply, and winning auctions on eBay by offering twice as much as the regular, sane Grado person would be ready to pay.

I have added a small section at the beginning of post #2, it's a relatively exhaustive feature list of the "i" upgrade.

:P, it's a double-edged sword, I don't want to have to fight against fellow collector like pcf; because I would probably loose the, hypothetical black anodized metal HP-1 unique prototype, lol!... so I'm keeping my buying activities secret until I've secured the object ;). Once it's done though, I don't refrain myself from expressing my joy of having bought something, like a new headphone, in more than one thread, hehe.

Be assured that I'll scan the 8 pages of the HP1 Stereophile May 1991 review and upload it in my album "Grado documentation and papers", and inform you guys when its done!

There you go!

Stereophile, May 1991:

– GRADO HP l PROFESSIONAL RECORDING MONITOR HEADPHONES (Gary A. Galo) [the review begins at the very bottom of the first page]

Discussed : the HP 1 and HPA-1, their design, their sound, with details provided of a discussion the reviewer had with Joe. The difficulty of attaining adequate amplification for headphones in a time the only headamps that existed were the DIY ones. Extensive comparison with Stax Lambda Pro and quite a bit of talk about the Stax ED-1 diffuse field equalizer (a Stax module that compensate frequency response of the headphone for the natural amplification of the concha/pinna/ear canal to flatten perceived frequency response). An impedance and phase curve of the HP 1000 is provided

I just bought a 1994 Stereophile article SR60 review (in which Joseph Grado is “interviewed” / speaks) on eBay for a few dollars on eBay. I will scan and post it here like I did above.

I don't know the exact date when the HP 1000 was released, but it was somewhere in 1989 according to this history. So basically, in 2014 will be the 25th anniversary of the HP 1000, and by extension the 25th birthday of the Grado Laboratories company headphone producing tender half.

I'm still hoping for some kind of serious HP 1000 comeback. A PS-1-like brother, with unibody machined aluminum alloy cups (the driver held in place by 6 hexagonal screws which allows for easy replacement [or even modification, because we're hardcore at modding flagships like that] of the drivers to a Magnum solution and even transplant HP 1000 drivers, if that floats your boat) with a geometry akin to RS-2 shape (or the RS-1i/~PS-1 geometry, which I think changed slightly during the "i" upgrade, as a way to tell the original PS-1 from the new "PS-2") which are the closest in geometry to that of the celebrated HP 1000 after all. It could have a more neutral Alessandro-type sound signature aiming for a different market, could be that of the the studio professionals. I would price it at 1400, and give it the current chrome metal finish of the PS1000.

Position in their current line-up:

– Neutral sound signature for studios: Alessandro flagship MS-1000

– John Grado sound signature: RS-1000, side-flagship to the PS-1000 and spiritual successor to the HP 1000 living in symbiotic relation with the RS-1.

Especially since Rhydon stopped making headphone upgrades, there is definitely an unclaimed customer base for unibody aluminum cups headphone out there, some people just doesn't like the GS- and PS-1000, others don't associate feather-light wood as a positive thing when used in headphones (for me it's clear a no-no) and that have been unlucky with the Reference and Statement series having only that, and the Professional series also making a crucial use of the same mahogany. I'm left with SR325is / MS2i. The SR325 has been the flagship of Grado for the duration of about a year around 1995, during the HP 1000 to RS-1 flagship transition, from metal to wood. And I wish for a comeback of the former material and model (but without the polarity switches, hehe).

Oh and I received my Stereophile, June 1994, Grado SR60 review. It's by Corey Greenberg and it's not what I expected, hum, no Joseph Grado interview in it :/.

I'm not going to upload the scanned paper as I realized it's already fully on Stereophile's website there: http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/532