Beagle
His body's not a canvas, and he wasn't raised by apes.
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2001
- Posts
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- 3,476
Perhaps it was the heat.
Anyway, to begin, for some reason, my SR325 was not sounding up to par. It had gone for repair a couple of months back (both drivers replaced) and I never listen to my phones above a moderate volume, so I had the impression that perhaps I should break in those new drivers with "Gladiator" and a moderate to loud volume setting. I let them run-in for 24 hours, then gave 'em a listen. I noticed a noise (rattle) in the left drivers, a bit of a crackling sound in the diaphragm. Thinking back to the Grado tweaks in the old DIY area, I set to work, opening the chambers by using a hairdryer to soften the glue. The driver had to be pried out with a screwdriver. I looked at the plastic diaphragm, noticed a bit of a damaged "crease" collapse, pulled it up and back into shape with a piece of tape, gave it a bit of heat to firm it up, then put the driver back in the housing, which was a real pain, took about three hours. Then I noticed the diaphragm was REALLY crackling. Turns out the plastic housing got a bit out of shape and was "squeezing" the driver out of shape.
I attempted to straighten out the housing, but made a mess of it. Picture me outside in the back yard, at the picnic table with a hammer and screwdriver, hacking away, the dog looking at me in a rather odd manner.
A sickening feeling came over me, as I realized I had just ruined my SR325.
What to do?
I thought "I still have my SR225....the drivers are the same (UHPLC copper voice coil and matched .05 Db)...I will substitute those, and solder on the SR325 cord.
After relaxing a bit, I decided to listen to my old SR60 using the SR325s flat donut pads. "Hey, these sound real clean, more open top end than the SR325".
So I decided to use the SR60 drivers in the SR325, along with the 325s cord. The operation was a success but in the process of removing the drivers, I kind of melted the plastic rear screens of the SR60. The sound was very open in the top, but after a while I noticed a distinct lack of bass and bass dynamics. The lack of bass probably made the mids and highs seem more clear.
So back to the original plan. Use the SR225 drivers. Got them inserted, wired to the SR325 cord and gave 'em a listen. Sounded great...balanced, clear, bass in place, fine. Went back down to the workshop to glue them together. I noticed my soldering job on the right channel was pretty sloppy, so I undid the wired and whn I was resoldering the second wire, THE BOARD COMES LOOSE!!!
I panic, because I know that only a tiny, tiny wire is connected between that board and the diaphragm. I leave everything still, seek out some glue, only to realize that the damage is done, the wire is severed, with so sign of the tiny wire to resolder.
"Well, that's it then. GOOD SHOW! YOU JUST DESTROYED THREE PAIRS OF GRADOS!!"
Now comes the good part.
After picking myself up off the floor, amongst the pieces of shredded plastic and broken drivers, I come to the realization that I still have the good driver from the SR325s.
But I think to myself "mismatch, ain't gonna work".
But I have little choice, so I solder the cord to the remaining driver and put it back in place in the aluminum housing.
Now, here comes the kicker...
Expecting the worst, I plug in the phones to my RA-1 amp. I am initially pleased that the phones actually work, then I am literally STUNNED by the sound.
Perfect balance. Absolute pinpoint imaging. I thought I was dreaming. I listened to several familiar recordings (Gladiator and Willow soundtracks, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Portishead, PJ Harvey, Kiki Dee) and realized that I was hearing the best Grado sound I had ever known.
The sound was the basic SR325 sound, but the imaging was phenomenal. The way vocals and instruments were layered and stacked, the way a drum kit had a room sound with it, with the guitar and vocal in a different space. The way the orchestral dynamics and bottom end thudded and thundered.
After listening for a few more hours, I went back downstairs, plugged in the glue gun and put the phones back together permanently. I let them cool, then went back and listened again. They sounded even more solid, with the chambers/housing put back together properly.
I was tickled pink by this turn of events, this utter accidental fluke. What the ironic thing is, I now have one superb Grado; the other two pairs are totalled, less chance of me trying more experimenting.
Sometimes I believe that certain things happen for a reason. It was as if some higher power found a way to get me to stop foolong around tweaking my phones.
Let's hope he has a giant sledgehammer handy if he sees me reaching for that hair dryer.
Anyway, to begin, for some reason, my SR325 was not sounding up to par. It had gone for repair a couple of months back (both drivers replaced) and I never listen to my phones above a moderate volume, so I had the impression that perhaps I should break in those new drivers with "Gladiator" and a moderate to loud volume setting. I let them run-in for 24 hours, then gave 'em a listen. I noticed a noise (rattle) in the left drivers, a bit of a crackling sound in the diaphragm. Thinking back to the Grado tweaks in the old DIY area, I set to work, opening the chambers by using a hairdryer to soften the glue. The driver had to be pried out with a screwdriver. I looked at the plastic diaphragm, noticed a bit of a damaged "crease" collapse, pulled it up and back into shape with a piece of tape, gave it a bit of heat to firm it up, then put the driver back in the housing, which was a real pain, took about three hours. Then I noticed the diaphragm was REALLY crackling. Turns out the plastic housing got a bit out of shape and was "squeezing" the driver out of shape.
I attempted to straighten out the housing, but made a mess of it. Picture me outside in the back yard, at the picnic table with a hammer and screwdriver, hacking away, the dog looking at me in a rather odd manner.
A sickening feeling came over me, as I realized I had just ruined my SR325.
What to do?
I thought "I still have my SR225....the drivers are the same (UHPLC copper voice coil and matched .05 Db)...I will substitute those, and solder on the SR325 cord.
After relaxing a bit, I decided to listen to my old SR60 using the SR325s flat donut pads. "Hey, these sound real clean, more open top end than the SR325".
So I decided to use the SR60 drivers in the SR325, along with the 325s cord. The operation was a success but in the process of removing the drivers, I kind of melted the plastic rear screens of the SR60. The sound was very open in the top, but after a while I noticed a distinct lack of bass and bass dynamics. The lack of bass probably made the mids and highs seem more clear.
So back to the original plan. Use the SR225 drivers. Got them inserted, wired to the SR325 cord and gave 'em a listen. Sounded great...balanced, clear, bass in place, fine. Went back down to the workshop to glue them together. I noticed my soldering job on the right channel was pretty sloppy, so I undid the wired and whn I was resoldering the second wire, THE BOARD COMES LOOSE!!!
I panic, because I know that only a tiny, tiny wire is connected between that board and the diaphragm. I leave everything still, seek out some glue, only to realize that the damage is done, the wire is severed, with so sign of the tiny wire to resolder.
"Well, that's it then. GOOD SHOW! YOU JUST DESTROYED THREE PAIRS OF GRADOS!!"
Now comes the good part.
After picking myself up off the floor, amongst the pieces of shredded plastic and broken drivers, I come to the realization that I still have the good driver from the SR325s.
But I think to myself "mismatch, ain't gonna work".
But I have little choice, so I solder the cord to the remaining driver and put it back in place in the aluminum housing.
Now, here comes the kicker...
Expecting the worst, I plug in the phones to my RA-1 amp. I am initially pleased that the phones actually work, then I am literally STUNNED by the sound.
Perfect balance. Absolute pinpoint imaging. I thought I was dreaming. I listened to several familiar recordings (Gladiator and Willow soundtracks, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Portishead, PJ Harvey, Kiki Dee) and realized that I was hearing the best Grado sound I had ever known.
The sound was the basic SR325 sound, but the imaging was phenomenal. The way vocals and instruments were layered and stacked, the way a drum kit had a room sound with it, with the guitar and vocal in a different space. The way the orchestral dynamics and bottom end thudded and thundered.
After listening for a few more hours, I went back downstairs, plugged in the glue gun and put the phones back together permanently. I let them cool, then went back and listened again. They sounded even more solid, with the chambers/housing put back together properly.
I was tickled pink by this turn of events, this utter accidental fluke. What the ironic thing is, I now have one superb Grado; the other two pairs are totalled, less chance of me trying more experimenting.
Sometimes I believe that certain things happen for a reason. It was as if some higher power found a way to get me to stop foolong around tweaking my phones.
Let's hope he has a giant sledgehammer handy if he sees me reaching for that hair dryer.
