[seeberg]

I had this idea the other day concerning materials' resonance, and in this case my idea using glass might work. Here's the idea: sr60-225's use non-resonant ABS plastic earcups, sr325's use aluminum alloy, and rs1-2 use mahogany. What do you think would happen if I replaced the earcup housing of my sr60's or sr125's with hard glass and metal grilles? I've got a couple of contacts in the glassblowing business and they are really good, and on top of that, they have tubes that are up to 3" round and over 1/4" thick. I could have them do the fabrication and I'd use hot glue, if that's what's actually used in the manufacture of Grado's (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I don't wanna mess this up) and attach the best metal screen mesh I can get with a plastic ring covering the edges, similar to a mod in HeadWize's Grado Mod page, and even add a flat glass button if I think it'll look good. The actual size of the earcups would be about the same as that of the RS-1, provided someone here can give me some dimensions of the earcup starting from the outer edge of the pad mounting space(diameter, height, thickness if possible). Now I've got to know what kind of adhesive I can use to re-bind the stock earcups if the project doesn't produce my intended results.

Does anybody have a take on this idea of mine?

 

[blessingx]

Would be very interested in hearing how they turned out.

 

[Spent&Bent]

Glass resonates.... it can actually shatter with certain frequencies.

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

i would love to see a pair of glass grados

 

[TM2 Rampage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProFingerSk8er i would love to see a pair of glass grados

Uber-fragile Grados...

 

[Zoide]

I would not like to see shattered glass shards go anywhere near my face...

 

[seeberg]

I doubt they'd shatter; I've seen glass that's thicker than you'd think and very hard to break., also, would glass that's taking up to a 1w load from 20-20khz @32ohms shatter? I think it would take like 100watts or more for that to happen. In either case, thanks for the responses, keep them up! (by the way, I may use glass that's 3/8ths thick if I can get some, for strength).

 

[seeberg]

Speaking of glass that might shatter, there's always shatter resistant glass tubes too, although I wonder what their resonant properties are. By the way, come to think of it, it'd be a bad idea to mod my sr125's in any way, considering they've been in storage waiting to be sold for over a year now. Thank John Grado they have an average resale value on eBay for 125-140$! Or I'd be out some bucks. Modding the sr60's seems a little less of a risk here.

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

as long as the glass tubes are thicker then 5mm, i dont see how they could shatter

 

[seeberg]

neither do I. Thick glass rings simply don't have a tendency to break, especially if the glass is of good quality. 5mm is around 3/8th inch thick, so I agree with you on that one.

Listening to Danzig Live on my Grado's right now...
AND HE ROX!!

 

[tennisets]

3/8 inch is actually about twice as thick as 5mm, so you should be very safe with 1/4 or 3/8 inch, whatever you decide to go with (assuming you actually do this mod). This sounds like a really cool idea, I'd love to see how it turns out!

 

[TonyTripleA]

Glass is very strong for a given thickness, but its very brittle. Building fishtanks has given me some insights as to just how strong glass is. Its only impacts like being dropped that you have to worry about....

But why do you think glass will "resonate" better for headphones. I'd have thought that a supercooled liquid like glass might actually be very "dead" in sound unless shaped very carefully and tuned.

Wood is porous and has cavities in both the vessels and fibres that can provide resonance properties. You'll get the opposite in glass I would imagine.

Cheers,

TonyAAA

 

[seeberg]

My bad. You're right, tennisets, I mean't 3/16th's-that's about 5mm. I was reading my ruler like an idiot. And to tonytriplea, you're familiar with the whole line of Grado's right? Most, if not all of their Prestige Series models, sr-60 through 325 are all advertised as having been made with non resonant properties in mind. That's more or less what I'm going for, since glass is more solid than wood, and closer to aluminum in its build. It's crystaline if I'm not mistaken, and the varieties I've seen are so refined, it could have a significant effect on the resonance by reducing it further. However, I need to know if sr325 earcups are all aluminum, or partially (plastic where the drivers mount) the same question applies to the rs models as well, since I've only seen up to the 225's in real life. Any answers for me on that?

 

[Takashi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seeberg It's crystaline if I'm not mistaken, and the varieties I've seen are so refined, it could have a significant effect on the resonance by reducing it further.

No, the definition of "glass" is non-crystalline, supercooled liquid. Yet, I don't think glass is "dead", as glass is used for certain musical instruments. Just hit or rub the edge of a glass and it resonates at certain frequency. (Remember that water glass thing Sandra Bullock played in "Miss Congeniality"?) I guess the problem of glass is being (1)brittle and (2)solid and dense that it will have resonance peak.

Still I think it's an quite interesting project, though.

 

[reeseboisse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seeberg My bad. You're right, tennisets, I mean't 3/16th's-that's about 5mm. I was reading my ruler like an idiot. And to tonytriplea, you're familiar with the whole line of Grado's right? Most, if not all of their Prestige Series models, sr-60 through 325 are all advertised as having been made with non resonant properties in mind. That's more or less what I'm going for, since glass is more solid than wood, and closer to aluminum in its build. It's crystaline if I'm not mistaken, and the varieties I've seen are so refined, it could have a significant effect on the resonance by reducing it further. However, I need to know if sr325 earcups are all aluminum, or partially (plastic where the drivers mount) the same question applies to the rs models as well, since I've only seen up to the 225's in real life. Any answers for me on that?

If I remember correctly, the SR325's drivers are mounted in plastic. As are the RS1's, and, I assume, the RS2's.