[Rob80b]

I think this thread brings up an interesting dilemma. First there is one camp that believe the secret of the Grado sound comes from the in house development of the driver and will tolerate the archaic design and fit because of the sound. The other camp, love the design “The Grado Look” and are not too concerned where the drivers come from as long as they are happy with the sound.
Now maybe Joe and John were playing around with some cheap OEM drivers twenty years ago and found they could greatly improve on the sound with a better casing, high density plastic or wood, who knows. And so decided to buy twenty years worth of those drivers.
It’s true from the photos there is no indication of in house manufacturing facilities for the drivers and the tour mainly focuses the tools for the casings and assembly, so what is one to believe.
For the first camp it makes it hard to swallow, for the second camp the Grado myth is only enhanced that much more.

 

[Zanth]

Hase, if EdT had maintained the "question" there would not be much of a problem, the point is that he hasn't maintained any note of seeking an answer rather he has provided his own answer to his very own question and is now claiming this answer as true, moreover, deceptively posting fictional pricing of parts in order to spread FUD regarding Grado products :"Oh no! if only the population knew their headphone cost 10 bucks to make! Would they pay 70 for it?" This apparenlty is fine to you but grawk comes in, and using blunt language, calls EdT on it. Pretty biased interpretation here.

 

[EdT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hase /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some people are getting pretty sensitive about what seems to me to be a question supported by valid observations (or rather lack of observable evidence). Remember EdT asking for pictures and anything other than a statement by an interested party. Had anyone such, I think EdT would have shut up and curious folks like me would have let it go. I don't want to be seen as supporting the "accusation" (though I don't think that is the correct characterization), just want to see civil discussion about the possibility.

Some people see it as an attack, but I see it as someone being smart in business, make your money and run !

I have been warning people on my car forum that within 5 years, Chinese made cars will finish the US auto industry, as expected most laugh until you prove to them the writing is on the wall and some still refuse to believe and when it actually happens it will be too late, do your research on how fast these countries are coming up, as the president of the American trade organisation said last week, "For a bunch of communists, they have becomed pretty good capitalists !"

1. The US owns China $1.3 trillion in trade surpluses

2. Petro China becomes the largest corporation in the world doubling its assets within two weeks to $1 trillion beating out the the world's former largest company Exxon with assets and revenue of only $550 billion

3. China puts in a bid to buy US owned UNOCAL(Chevron), US government rejects the offer on behalf of a private corporation.

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob80b /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think this thread brings up an interesting dilemma. First there is one camp that believe the secret of the Grado sound comes from the in house development of the driver and will tolerate the archaic design and fit because of the sound. The other camp, love the design “The Grado Look” and are not too concerned where the drivers come from as long as they are happy with the sound.

You forgot a third camp, those that love the sound and don't care what they look like.

Quote:

Now maybe Joe and John were playing around with some cheap OEM drivers twenty years ago and found they could greatly improve on the sound with a better casing, high density plastic or wood, who knows. And so decided to buy twenty years worth of those drivers.

Rhydon already claims that the DH-40 is not the driver in the current line-up. This means that at best, Joe Grado bought a bunch of drivers back in the day for his HP-1000 line. Since there are no replacement drivers at Grado, one has to try and source out Joe himself and that can cost a bunch, likely because they are not to be found anywhere and because Joe has already treated/tweeked them. Whatever John uses now, they aren't the HP-1000 drivers.


Quote:

It’s true from the photos there is no indication of in house manufacturing facilities for the drivers and the tour mainly focuses the tools for the casings and assembly, so what is one to believe. For the first camp it makes it hard to swallow, for the second camp the Grado myth is only enhanced that much more.

And the third camp gets to ignore the discussion completely sit back and listen to music rather than get caught up in all of this

 

[Hase]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hase, if EdT had maintained the "question" there would not be much of a problem, the point is that he hasn't maintained any note of seeking an answer rather he has provided his own answer to his very own question and is now claiming this answer as true, moreover, deceptively posting fictional pricing of parts in order to spread FUD regarding Grado products :"Oh no! if only the population knew their headphone cost 10 bucks to make! Would they pay 70 for it?" This apparenlty is fine to you but grawk comes in, and using blunt language, calls EdT on it. Pretty biased interpretation here.

Ok, this reply sounds good to me. EdT did stray from the question. One might argue that it was less "straying" so much as "tangents" and "probing possibilities" but your point is solid.

 

[Rav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdT /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some people see it as an attack, but I see it as someone being smart in business, make your money and run !

People see it as an attack because you're saying these things based on speculation.

Quote:

I have been warning people on my car forum that within 5 years, Chinese made cars will finish the US auto industry, as expected most laugh until you prove to them the writing is on the wall and some still refuse to believe and when it actually happens it will be too late, do your research on how fast these countries are coming up, as the president of the American trade organisation said last week, "For a bunch of communists, they have becomed pretty good capitalists !"

That's a different matter ... the only thing surprising to me is that the US domestic car market has lasted as long as it has

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hase /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, this reply sounds good to me. EdT did stray from the question. One might argue that it was less "straying" so much as "tangents" and "probing possibilities" but your point is solid.

Again, I have no problems with posting a question and seeking an answer. Even if one doesn't like the currently most valid evidence as the one true answer (John Grado's words in this instance) and one wants to seek out something else, my beef is claiming speculation as evidence and then going a step further and claiming this new evidence as the definitive answer to the original question all the while implictly calling Grado a liar. Keep it in the realm of theory, of searching and folks can chime in with whatever they want, but going the other direction gets ugly fast. If John Grado or Grado Labs had a history of blatantly lying, distorting the truth, screwing their customers...then I mean, why not speculate hard on this issue and with experience in an industry and knowledge of companies offering specific parts, feel comfortable sticking with an alternate theory until one knows for a fact, I wouldn't be objecting to such theories and would likely hold them to be true myself, but in this case, claiming something and calling him a liar just isn't ethical.

 

[classic_rock_69]

So after 9 pages of bickering, do we have hard packed evidence that the drivers are either made in Japan or in the USA?

If we don't then let's do each other a favor and shut our yaps.

 

[SuperNothing]

Quote:

Do you have a pic of your watch? I just did a quick search on it and I can't believe what one gets for $120 bucks on sale! Titanium, automatic movement and the slide-rule! Hook me up with water resistance up to 300 m and I'm in!

Any watch with a slide rule, such as the Breitling Navitimer, can't be made to that level of watertightness. Since the slide rule has to turn you can' use a screw down mechanism or anything else to keep the crystal that water tight.

Quote:

I doubt IWC do, but some of the special edition Patek are made in house. Thats what I do I buy mechanical watches with the same ETA movements inside $3000 Omega's SeaMasters in $200 O&J watches.

As stated before Ulysses Nardin produces a lot in house and I know Jaeger-Lecoutre produces all of its movements in-house, especially with the need to produce one specialized enough to do the Reverso. I also know that Rolex uses a few in house movements for their very high end watches such as the Rolex Daytona Cosmograph which has been using Rolex 4130 Caliber since 2000. Before then the movement was Zenith El Primero. However, just because the movement is not made in house doesn't make the watch any less reliable.

 

[EdT]

Villi Manilli was good too ...look who they fooled !

Milli Vanilli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Rob80b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif You forgot a third camp, those that love the sound and don't care what they look like. Rhydon already claims that the DH-40 is not the driver in the current line-up. This means that at best, Joe Grado bought a bunch of drivers back in the day for his HP-1000 line. Since there are no replacement drivers at Grado, one has to try and source out Joe himself and that can cost a bunch, likely because they are not to be found anywhere and because Joe has already treated/tweeked them. Whatever John uses now, they aren't the HP-1000 drivers. And the third camp gets to ignore the discussion completely sit back and listen to music rather than get caught up in all of this

I think that regardless of which camp your in, Grados are pretty unique in this day and age. Seeing that their roots are in the phono cartridge, maybe we would not be surprised to discover nimble fingered workers hand winding the the magnetic coils for each driver.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you have a pic of your watch? I just did a quick search on it and I can't believe what one gets for $120 bucks on sale! Titanium, automatic movement and the slide-rule! Hook me up with water resistance up to 300 m and I'm in!

I do. Somewhere.

This is the model i have:

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/St...t=products.asp

30M water resist, looks like. But lets be honest here, it's not like we're diving for sunken pirate treasure.

 

[EdT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do. Somewhere. This is the model i have: Self Defense Armory Shopping Cart 30M water resist, looks like. But lets be honest here, it's not like we're diving for sunken pirate treasure.

Orients are basically lower end Seikos, but I can tell you they are darn accurate watches for mechanicals, great value for a auto watch.

I think your talking about this one:

 

[bhd812]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do. Somewhere. 30M water resist, looks like. But lets be honest here, it's not like we're diving for sunken pirate treasure.

ARR THEY ALWAYS AFTER ME GOLD!!!!! ARRRR

irate:


(it is said that any watch rated under 100M is not safe for light swimming of showering)

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do. Somewhere. This is the model i have: Self Defense Armory Shopping Cart 30M water resist, looks like. But lets be honest here, it's not like we're diving for sunken pirate treasure.

Thanks for the pic. No deep diving with this beauty but I should would love a nice divers watch. I've had my eye on an Omega for ages.