[Lion Zion]

Greeting one and all. Just registered at this terrific group several days ago in anticipation of the arrival of my ebay purchased Grado SR225 and RA1 amp. The gear arrived today at my office. After anxiuosly unpacking the box at home, I plugged the phone directly into my Pioneer Elite receiver jack, fired up a cd on the old Dennon and hey, the phones sound pretty darn good. Now the help part, and I know this will sound lame so bare with here. In opening up the battery compartment, I immediately noticed that one of the leads (black) was seperated from it's original solder point.

Anyone out there have a suggestion. I have no clue how to solder stuff and the wire and where it should be reattached to the underside of the connection "button" point does not appear to look like it can be spliced/taped. So the bottome line is... HELP!!! I am sure that it is a repairable/replaceable situation, just not sure how to go about it and am bummed about not getting the immediate gratification of hearing the "rig in it's entirety. Perhaps the local hardware store can bale me out or a helpful soul here. Thanks in advance for any input assistance/ideas/recommendation you may have. I look forward to belonging to this community and sharing ideas and experiences.

 

[wallijonn]

any local technician should be able to solder the wires back on. what they charge you will probably make you cry, so try to find an old radio repair shop. the old man will probably do it for $5.

you can always email Grado for a quote.

 

[Lion Zion]

Great idea! I will sniff around for a radio repair shop. A $5.00 hit is probably a better alternative to mailing the unit back to Grado. Thanks so much!

 

[MagusG]

Excellent choice in phones, SR2XX are teh ****, and wallijohn, aren't you just the grado repairman tonight? heh
-Mag

 

[Lion Zion]

Thanks for the positive feedback on the choice of cans. I purchased this rig without ever actually auditioning Grados, based completely upon the comments/reviews by members of this community/forum.

After my morning latte, I had a brain storm as follows: I take guitar lessons every Sat. Perhaps the guitar tech at the shop, who most have swapped out millions of pickups over the years could be induced to perform a basic soldering task on the amp. I feel fairly confident that he has the chops to do it!

Once the amp is (hopefully) repaired, the only lingering question I will have, and this is an important one; which cd to fire up for the maiden voyage of my new rig! I also had to make this critical decision when I got my first cd player in the early 80's. The choice then was easy..Jimi's "Are you Experienced".

 

[Mythar]

if it's a non-critical part (as it sounds like it is) and you can't get anyone to do it for you, learning to solder is pretty darn easy. for a $15 iron and $2 of solder, you can fix the thing back up, and have a couple extra tools for some DIY projects if you ever get the urge. Keys when soldering...1.plastic melts-don't try to solder plastic (I melted a battery strap like that by accident)

2. heat the 2 things you're soldering together, then touch the solder to the connection...don't touch the solder to the iron, or you'll get a bad connection. Get a 15-30 watt pencil iron if you decide to do this. 30watt is faster, but more prone to melting things

You might even go to radio shack and buy a few 9v straps, pull em apart, and try soldering them back together so you get practice before you go for it on your amp. They're pretty cheap. All told, doing it this way will cost you less than $20, and will teach you the basics of soldering. DIYing is fun! Good luck to ya.

 

[Lion Zion]

Great tips. Thank you so very much. I love this forum. Everyone has made me feel like a member of the community. Since this is really about give and take, I cant wait to get the rig fired up and participate. I stopped off on the way home just now at the local hardware store and was able to purchase a replacement combo wires and "post".($1.19) It looks like it can be easily spliced after snipping the old one off. The splice/tape approach may not be the cleanest way to do it, but as they say "to serve is to suffice". Soldering is a groovier way to go, and perhaps I will follow the advice and snag an iron from "the Shack". I want to get this bad boy on line now! Again, many, many thanks to those of you who have offered their time and assistance.

 

[wallijonn]

did you ask if there was a technician in the back of the Radio Shack store?

 

[Lion Zion]

Thanks to Wallijonn. Great idea. I must confess to having a slight case of ocd. I will remain obsessed until the Grado RA1 is repaired and ready to rock! If I can't get it done by the end of the day tomorrow, I will probably have to be placed into a 12 step or similar program! I waited for so long until my check cleared the seller and the item shipped x country that I am so ready to sit down with some of my new/favorite cds and really put it through it's paces. For those who might actually care, this is my mental list of stuff waiting in que to throw at my new rig;

1. Lemon Jelly =Lost Horizons/KY
2. Delgados = The Great Eastern
3. Augustus Pablo=Blowing The Wind
4. Little Feat =from the 4 cd set by Rhino "Hot Cakes" (probably disc 1, my favorite era Feat)
5. Lips=Yoshimi
6. Royksopp=Melody A.M.
7. Daniel Lanois=Shine
8. Goldfrapp=Black Cherry
9. Clash= History Of (lately, and with JS's untimely death, I have been revisiting this bands output. I can't get enough of the guitars on "Complete Control"
10. Beulah= The Coast is Never Clear
11. Super Grass=new album, can't think of the title
12. Perniece Bros
13. Wilco= YHF
14. Medicine =Her Highness (love the title)
15. Mercury Rev= Yerself Is Teem (ditto)
16. Beck =Sea Change

oops sorry, this has turned into a ramble that probably best belongs in the music forum.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and again, thanks to all of you for your respected advise.