[sjones]

This is my first Grado and my last one as well. While the SR60s are not as expensive as the others in the lineup, I expected much better quality from these.

 

[SuperNothing]

I have had no problems with my SR-325i. Guess I might be lucky.

 

[MaZa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by razer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just how good is good? I could probably name a few other pairs of similarly great sounding cans at cheaper or higher price points and they all seem to have much better build quality than the RS-1s....Not that I haven't heard the RS-1's....I myself own a pair of GS-1000s and have had them sent back for a replacement because the right and left driver wooden housings were not of the same shape, some slight warping or whatever and the left channel was louder than the right. talking about matched to 0.1 db by ear so I guess that's what you get...

Heard several cans and RS1 is a keeper. Tells how good it is, for ME. Lack of soundstage? Thats because drivers are close to your ears, (having drivers further of your ears creates artificial acoustic-space sound, grados can do that too with liberators or headphile pads) but that doesnt mean it images the placement instruments badly, though its still not their strong point.

But that kind of build quality is worrying. Atleast my RS1 feels rock solid, luckily.

 

[milkpowder]

That's almost as ridiculous as discovering half way through your hamburger that all the sesames had fallen off.

 

[kontai69]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjones /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is my first Grado and my last one as well. While the SR60s are not as expensive as the others in the lineup, I expected much better quality from these.

That unfortunately is a common defect with the SR-series and RS-2 Grados. Fortunately, it is EASILY self-repairable by dabbing a small drop of Superglue on the end of the metal headband and reinserting into the plastic block. When you do this, it will NEVER come out again even if you tugged at it hard!

Interestingly, I actually experienced the opposite problem. When I was installing my DIY leather headbands, on some ends of the headband, I couldn't pull out the metal headband no matter how hard I tugged and wiggled.

I had to work on the other end.

 

[AudioDwebe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizzel /img/forum/go_quote.gif If HD650s started falling apart, people would be up in arms but because it's Grado and we have a nice little image of them being a small company, it's somehow more acceptable?

I agree.

I think partly it's the "We're a small, family-owned business up against the big guys" image presented and I guess the history (for lack of a better word) of their cans having routinely fallen apart for others. Also, the Grado line of headphones has the market cornered if you enjoy their "sound signature."

Maybe it's kind of like that beautiful, yet annoying lady you've been with in the past. You can kind of disregard the annoying part in order to enjoy the beauty.

At least for a while.

I fixed (I hope) the RS-1's with some metal epoxy last night. The directions say it takes 5 minutes to set and 24-hours to cure so I decided not to touch them until tonight. We'll see.

 

[LawnGnome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's almost as ridiculous as discovering half way through your hamburger that all the sesames had fallen off.

Are you kidding me?

A driver falls off a pair of 650$ cans and you think it is no big deal?

It is far from ridiculous.

 

[Ranma13]

Sucks to hear, I recently got one of the redesigned RS-1's and I definitely wouldn't enjoy having them fall apart on me. On the plus side, since Grado's headphones are quite basic in design, it's easy to repair any damage yourself. I had a pair of Denon AH-D5000's where the left earcup wouldn't turn secure itself tightly enough and constantly fell out. I wouldn't even know how to repair it, but I ended up returning them so it didn't matter.

 

[milkpowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LawnGnome /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you kidding me? A driver falls off a pair of 650$ cans and you think it is no big deal? It is far from ridiculous.

Haha!! My analogy failed so miserably (you took it the wrong way

) I should probably keep my trap shut in the future

 

[AudioDwebe]

You know, the more I think about it, it is rather pathetic for a manufacturer to know of a design flaw and not do anything about it. And I'm only assuming that they (Grado) "know" about the flaws, as I'm sure many of their headphone owners have contacted them about repairs or have sent them in to get their repairs performed.

Maybe it's just a way for them to make more money after the warranty expires on their headphones. You know, kind of like the appliances that mysteriously break down a few months after warranty (like there's some kind of a timer in the damn thing!).

It seems to me that with the frequency of their earpieces falling off, they would have went back to the drawing boards to figure out how to keep it from happening. I'm sure it'd be something as simple as dabbing a bit of metal epoxy into the hole before inserting the rod and pressing it on.

I think one of the posters above is right. Because it is a Grado, and Grado is known for their somewhat shoddy worksmanship, it tolerated by the general headphone community.

That shouldn't be the case. They SHOULD fix the problem.

Could you imagine if Nissan (you can insert any manufacturer of any product except Grado here) found out the doors to its Altimas fell off on a somewhat regular basis? They would have had a recall and went back to the drawing boards after incident number one, not ignored a customers call about getting it fixed.

I'll stop now before I go and box up every damn thing Grado (3 cans/2 cartridges) I own to sell.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Ciao,

 

[sjones]

I have repaired (hopefully) the SR-60s using some superepoxy. Thanks to everyone who suggested this tip. Stuck a very small amount into the hole and reattached the metal band. It's been curing since yesterday night, about 8 hours. So far it seems incredibly strong and has held well to the pressure that I have put on it from tugging and gently pulling it. I'm quite happy with this fix so my advice to others with this problem is to do the fix yourself rather than send it in to Grado. They aren't very helpful or responsive to emails about service for your headphones.

 

[krmathis]

That sucks!
But since they are only ~6 months old I assume Grado will fix them at no kost.

 

[razer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bizzel /img/forum/go_quote.gif If HD650s started falling apart, people would be up in arms but because it's Grado and we have a nice little image of them being a small company, it's somehow more acceptable?

Hey, Yamamoto Soundcraft started small as well and still is small. In fact, they're a dozen bunch of small companies out there making various audio products. Ray Samuels, Singlepower and so on. Even larry who does darth headphones you know...he DIY's them does a much better job in making sure cables are sheathed properly, the wooden grain is more or less texturised nicely and fitting is neat. And yeah, you do pay a premium for darthed headphones so do you when you buy them RS-1's or GS-1000's. And having said that, cans that fall apart, be it just a quick simple fix to solve that problem, ain't acceptable in no way when it costs over more than half a grand. Its a total negligance in workmanship and quality control. And the need to go to such extensive mods like getting a liberator to get that much more soundstage out of a pair of grados ain't right.

IMO, a good pair of phones is being split to two parts, one part would be it being able to faithfully replicating music from its original source so that all naunces could be heard and second, its to sound pleasant to one's ears. Well, I admit that I like the RS-1 sound but the lack of soundstage is something that bothers me alot.

 

[freid77]

The same thing happened after about a year with my SR60s, i was shaken up, but i turned the problem into a blessing by removing the plastic headband and just super gluing it back. The cheap super glue did the trick and the phones look cooler and stick to my head better with out the black vinyl headband, its all good now...

 

[AudioDwebe]

Epoxy did the trick. A quick and easy fix.

No longer pissed.

Ciao,