An Interview With John Grado

[jrosenth]

Agreed - John if you're reading this, thanks for the HF-1 - truly commendable.

 

[Zanth]

Hey guys, I am just about to post the updates that I had promised a month or so ago. Life takes over sometimes and my hobbies are pushed to the wayside. I have taken the time to edit out some spelling mistakes, include the little bit about the cartridges and Allessandro and I've included a Q&A section at the end of the article. Should be up in a couple of hours or so.

Sorry for the delay.

However, as recompense for my tardiness, I've set up a follow-up interview with John for this Sunday morning

So get some additional questions up now, know that I will be following the same format, I'll write a "part-two" summary and then I'll end with a Q&A section. I'm not going to attempt to record this. I really enjoyed speaking freely with John, we had a conversation, not a Q&A session, I much preferred it that way. I'm certain the majority of this conversation will involve the HF-1's and perhaps an update on the Street-styles.

Anyway, I'll be back in a few with the update.

 

[wualta]

If it hasn't been answered in all the hubbub already, I'd really like to know if the drivers for the low-end 'phones are really truly made from scratch entirely in-house. Do they wind their own voicecoils, machine their own magnet structures, inspect them on their own interferometers, etc etc.

 

[Feanor]

Zanth, I'm very interested in the drivers of the HF-1. Did John change them from the normal sr-225 drivers? Also, is he planning a HF-2?

 

[Zanth]

Okay, it is updated! So that is that! So now then, if anyone wants their questions asked and hopefully answered, start posting them so I can ask them! Just a little over two days until I speak with him!

 

[Sean H]

Thanks!! Great update. Questions? What else would you even talk about other than the HF-1?

I personally want to know more about it. Is it in fact 225 drivers? Are they tweaked, if so? If they aren't then what drivers are they? Extend a huge thanks of course, especially from #11!

If I think of more I'll post them but all I can think about is the HF-1 right now.

 

[Zanth]

I'm pretty confident it will mostly be about HF-1's. He had hinted at something big in September to be the main focus of the follow-up. I thought maybe it was an early release of the Street Styles, obviously I was WAY off track

 

[The Monkey]

1. Please thank John for recognizing our community and giving back.

2. When will he be opening a storefront in NYC? Just a small store likely would turn a nice profit for him.

3. Has he thought about selling Grado T-Shirts? I'd buy one.

4. Does he have a target burn-in time for the HF-1? Does he believe in burn in?

5. Does he have any recommendations for accelerating the comfort of the bowls (other than oily skin

)?

Very cool that you're talking to him again.

 

[Jahn]

Thank John for us, certainly. I'd be interested where the vinyl ends and the leather begins on the headbands of his Prestige Line of cans. Also, would he be interested in joining a National Head-fi meet here in NYC next spring when (not if) contacted? That's all I can think of right now, thanks!

 

[wolfen68]

1. Definitely HF-1 detail stuff and exactly how/why the idea to do this came about.

2. More detail on the street styles (which I thought would be my next Grado can...wrong when HF-1 was released). Will they approach a SR-60 quality of output?

3. Some perspective on what he thinks regarding what goes on here at head-fi. Does he really pay any attention whatsoever to the "common take" given here regarding any one of his headphone models? If so, feedback here is given how much credence as compared to the general public, musicians, or professional reviewers?

4. Let him know that leather/pleather is good....vinyl is bad

 

[adhoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfen68 4. Let him know that leather/pleather is good....vinyl is bad

wait... um, isnt pleather 'plastic leather', and hence vinyl? :confused

 

[clarke68]

1. As others have mentioned, thanks/props/details about the HF-1. Maybe plead with him to make them available past September?

2. How many different Grado drivers are there? I could imagine him doing his entire line with just two...one for the Prestige and one for the Reference, with all the improvements coming from enclosure design and better driver matching. Of course, there could be different drivers in all the cans, but I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Thanks Zanth/John for keeping the dialog going!

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhoc wait... um, isnt pleather 'plastic leather', and hence vinyl? :confused

I meant "pleather" as the general term for synthetic leather, which is usually pretty substantial and sometimes hard to differentiate from real leather (and made of plastics or artificial resins).

 

[Jahn]

Ask John to name drop - what celebs approached him directly for a can, or even a question - and what does he think about the exposure cans are getting now on two fronts - ipods, and DJs, and the two totally different approaches you need for those types of uses (SR40 addresses the ipod, but DJing? is he interested in making a can for this culture?)

 

[The Monkey]

How'd it go today, Zanth?