[Duckman]

Speaking of redundance: this has probably been asked before, but is there any advantage in starting out with SR80 drivers over against SR60?
 
Cheers,
 
Dave

 

[alphones]

Hi Dave,
To answer your question just save the money and grab the sr 60.
Cheers,
Al

 

[KneelJung]

Quote:

Speaking of redundance: this has probably been asked before, but is there any advantage in starting out with SR80 drivers over against SR60?
 
Cheers,
 
Dave

If you go back to the beginning of the thread Bill put up some FR charts of the various Grado's and his thinking behind why the SR60 versus other models in the Grado line. I dont really kow what seperates a 60 from an 80 other than bowls versus comfies. Although they both come stock with comfies now I believe. The bass is supposesedly better on the stock 80, but that's one of the things the mod fixes; and supposedly the 80 is harder to drive.
 

 

[Bilavideo]

 

x2
 
My grados sound so neutral now that it's weird to call them grados anymore. I should be getting my second pair of sr80is back today, and I'll try damping the basket like you did, Big Bill. Did you take the felt off? My plan is to scrape all the felt off and stick the dynamat directly onto the back of the driver. Although I'll only vent ~ four holes.

I did the equivalent of this, with ten holes vented.  It does make a difference.  The theory behind it is that the basket, itself, takes a beating.  It's at the sonic ground zero.  When it vibrates, it add artifacts and distortion to the presentation.  Damping the basket is just another way of subtracting from the presentation whatever isn't coming directly off the driver.  
 
On loudspeakers, a good basket is made from rigid material designed to be relatively transparent.  It certainly isn't made of plastic.  It also isn't covering most, let alone all, of the space behind the diaphragm.  I'd like to experiment with whittling away as much of that plastic as possible without endangering the structural integrity of the driver.  But if people are loathe to liberate a driver, just imagine how they'd feel about drilling holes into the back of the plastic basket.  Dynamatting is the safest, easiest way to solve one problem without creating another.

 

[Saintkeat]

hmmmm so what kind of dampening material has been tried?
 
1. felt
2. dynamat
3. rubber?
4. leather?
5. cork/particle board?
 
 
 

 

[sml1226]

Well if we had the ability to lift the diaphragm and VC wires off the basket without their destruction, we could try all kinds of replacements. But then you see the limits of mylar and have to move to the likes of loudspeaker cones and all that, then you really do have earspeakers.

 

[Bilavideo]

 

Well if we had the ability to lift the diaphragm and VC wires off the basket without their destruction, we could try all kinds of replacements. But then you see the limits of mylar and have to move to the likes of loudspeaker cones and all that, then you really do have earspeakers.

It's gonna happen, brother.  Let the revolution continue.
 
And on a lighter note, wanna see an aerated driver?  Why stop with 10 holes when you can turn the back of your driver into a pepper shaker?
 

 
Hey, I didn't say it would be pretty.  I have no idea how this sounds.  I'll be back when I do.

 

[Big Bill]

Quote:

 
Hey, I didn't say it would be pretty.  I have no idea how this sounds.  I'll be back when I do.

It's a thing of beauty to me brother!
 

 

[eclein]

I feel asleep watching X-men "The Last Stand" ...the end woke me up...
 
I have modded the SR60's and the SR125's the original versions and i can't tell the difference between them when equally modded. The SR60's are the ones that got the wood shells I think somewhere on here I wrote they were 125's...OOps!! The only way for me to tell is the cord on the 60's is mini plug and the 125's is 1/4".
 
When I first started with this journey like two days after I got my first pair and realized that these were special I somehow started talking to a guy who works for Grado and he said awhile back a bunch  of us audiofile types got together on a Sunday afternoon and tried all the models starting with the first ones on up and pretty much everyone who was in attendance said the entry level Grados were fine and the biggest jump in performance came with the 325"s. I asked him straight up as a disabled retired guy which model should I save for- if I had the money I'd buy the best ones but I don't- so he said off the record enjoy the 60's and save for 325's next.
 Then I started modding these and all bets were off. I have some Ultrasone Hfi-700's (Alienware Branded OZMA version) and they were always my reference cans and as I made changes to the Grados I'd compare, they always won until I did a bunch of mods and then Dynamat. Then they were passed by my modded cans I paid $45 for.
 I did...linen removed, large ear pads, removed the shells from the tray and did 4 holes (now 10) and did Dynamat and I was drooling, zooming past the Ultrasone's without any other shell mods or screen thing yet--nothing and then the health crap started up but before I really got slammed I received a pair of 125's and they were way too bright!! So I quickly modded them and went one step further with the thin foam at the end of the chamber and then ended up with those in the hospital and enjoyed them immensely, and everyone that heard them remarked that they were the best headphone they had ever heard, "I didn't know headphones could sound that good" was a comment a young physical therapist made who know---he thought--his audio gear, he was floored.
 Then I got home and the shells arrived and I took the foam from the 125's to use in the 60's with the wood shell because Bill had installed the mesh for me and WOW!!! 
 
 The only material I've tried in the end under the mesh is the thin foam I stole off some Sony's I had and tried to mod. I haven't tried anything else but I think I'm the only one using them that way and with the EVS things in place I'm golden and I think the only one using them now.
The original way I did the foam would be a great way to try other materials etc..on the cheap...use the plastic if you can't swing the wood and do like I did...I took the plastic screen off in one piece with the logo button in place and used the plastic to reinforce the thin foam and hold it in place..

I used the screen pictured above right behind the thin foam with the lgo button facing outward which pushed the foam out a little bit making the nice rounded look...the bass tightened up, sounded more like closed cans nice deep bass, not boomy or thin and the open sound of Grado's we all love was there also and the dynamat was the big equalizer smothhing out any spikes and the foam/plastic grill let some sound waves through but cut back on the thin sound you get sometimes with headphones. The plastic screen was the only material I used and the thin foam also and I wrote in the thread earlier you could go to town trying different combinations of materials for the screen and the thin foam insert...endless possibilities.
 
 
 So enter the Cocobolo shells..Bill put a notch in mine for the cable because I have no drill, no soldering iron and basically no feeling in my hands so Bill hooked me up and put some mesh screen in mine--the exact color and grade I would have gotten by the way(Thanks Bill)- and because of the nothc Bill made a little lip around the inside of the shell to keep the driver tray from going any further into the shell crimping the cable and in doing so he gave me a much bigger chamber to play with. With all mods including the shells but without anything behind the mesh they sound a bit bright sometimes and sometimes they were perfect--I like perfect all the time so I pulled the 125's apart took out the foam rebent the nesh a little and tuck the foam in and closed it all up to find myself with tears of joy because my new friend Bill had so graciously and quietly building these shells for me while I was in the hospital and when I got out these welcomed me home and back into action..so the foam is in, the EVS is in, all temporary with tape as solder..LOL....I did 10 holes around the out side. I did not put any lining inside the shells..the foam is just under the screen only so the chamber resonates and adds to the sound with that little bit of foam cutting out the unwanted frquencies...

 
 In short---I love these cans, they will  be handled with care and with me until the end of my time...this was more than sending some wood shells to a guy, there was serious concern, serious support, serious generosity, and dare I say Love in these shells...Bill gave a minute of 3 for me and my situation, my brother in Portland and sister out side of Phila. never called once, no body visited me except for some friends from audiocircle and my roomate.
 This thread in many ways has keep me going, thinking about what to try next etc...i took these back to the Hospital Thursday when I wen for a Dr's appt and a crowd gathered around to see the headphones I'd been boring them with for the past 2.5 weeks....LOL...  
 Mod on!!!! I will...I still have some 125's sitting around from before I went nuts and took them apart for the wood shells.....Fun Fun!!!
 
 Ed

 

[schwallman]

They look really nice. What headband is that?

 

[estreeter]

My 60s should be here by Wednesday, although I dont anticipate doing anything till the weekend. If past experience has taught me anything, its that you need to start afresh on anything that involves sharp knives, glue and manual dexterity

 

[Jverde321]

Hey guys, awesome thread, i was thinking about modding my sr60i's, mainly the simple ones like the venting, blue tack/dynamat/felt on driver/inside plastic shell. I was just wondering how this affects the sound, because i want to keep the great clarity and the agressive sound but also improving the bass impact without losing to much of its detail. so, if i were to put maybe 4 holes in the cloth, and then put blue tack (maybe dynamat) on the back of the driver, and then lined the cup and button with a thin layer of felt, could i keep the airyness and clarity, not tame the highs too much, and increase bass impact? or would doing this muddy the sound and greatly tame the highs?
 
 

 

[Bilavideo]

 
So I'm officially off the 10-Hole Mod.  I'm not exactly sure how many holes I'm up to now but I'll need a lot of Dynamat to ever go back.  How does it sound?  When you're already at 10 holes to begin with, going to 19 or 20 is not as radical as going from 0 to 10.  The bass is authoritative and effortless, as if my headphones were amped, but I don't think what I'm hearing is any more bass than what I had at 10.  What I seem to be hearing is an increase in clarity from the absence of some former spiking.  To the extent that the unvented plastic and felt acted as a series of mini cups, I'm hearing less of that cup-like echo, that wall-and-ceiling collection of standing-wave resonance.  I don't how I'd quantify it, or whether I'm succumbing to a convenient placebo, but the soundstage seems larger and the sound feels "fuller."
 

 

[eclein]

Quote:

They look really nice. What headband is that?

the stock one, waiting one from Big Bill....

 

[eclein]

Quote:

Hey guys, awesome thread, i was thinking about modding my sr60i's, mainly the simple ones like the venting, blue tack/dynamat/felt on driver/inside plastic shell. I was just wondering how this affects the sound, because i want to keep the great clarity and the agressive sound but also improving the bass impact without losing to much of its detail. so, if i were to put maybe 4 holes in the cloth, and then put blue tack (maybe dynamat) on the back of the driver, and then lined the cup and button with a thin layer of felt, could i keep the airyness and clarity, not tame the highs too much, and increase bass impact? or would doing this muddy the sound and greatly tame the highs?
 
 

I think that sounds like a real good plan myself.....I try and make it so everything can be undone if it sucks... so put stuff in temporarily and see how it sounds...I use alot of packing tape..LOL