[joseph69]

  I've just reunited with my Black Grado SR325 headphones. It's absolutely great hearing these again! Lovely bass and smooth, but yet lucid midrange!
 
How much do the Blacks fetch nowadays? I don't have the orignal box. The headband on this one. Appears to be the thin common Grado one. I've seen other Black SR325 with posher thicker bands.
 
Anyway, I'm not looking to sell btw!
 
S.

I don't think I've ever seen an owner post the black 325 before…nice!
These days they go for about $50.00+/-  

 

 

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

I don't think I've ever seen an owner post the black 325 before…nice!
These days they go for about $50.00+/-      

WANT!!!!!!!!!!!! What a nobrainer!

 

[joseph69]

WANT!!!!!!!!!!!! What a nobrainer!

I wouldn't mind hearing these myself.

 

[Bengkia369]

  




.

.






I've just reunited with my Black Grado SR325 headphones. It's absolutely great hearing these again! Lovely bass and smooth, but yet lucid midrange!

How much do the Blacks fetch nowadays? I don't have the orignal box. The headband on this one. Appears to be the thin common Grado one. I've seen other Black SR325 with posher thicker bands.

Anyway, I'm not looking to sell btw!

S.

Black 325 is made of plastic?!

 

[wormsdriver]

 

Black 325 is made of plastic?!

I had a pair of black sr325 with black star drivers (HP1000 drivers), they were aluminum. They were actually a bit heavier than the first non-black sr325 as I think I remember they also had a metal ring on the inside of the cup on the inner side of were the grill is.
The drivers sleeves were hard plastic like the sr series but I think they were a bit more rigid? They seemed better built/ better materials than the later sr series cans as far as I remember.
 
 

 

  I've just reunited with my Black Grado SR325 headphones. It's absolutely great hearing these again! Lovely bass and smooth, but yet lucid midrange!
 
How much do the Blacks fetch nowadays? I don't have the orignal box. The headband on this one. Appears to be the thin common Grado one. I've seen other Black SR325 with posher thicker bands.
 
Anyway, I'm not looking to sell btw!
 
S.

I don't think I've ever seen an owner post the black 325 before…nice!
These days they go for about $50.00+/-  

 

 

I did! http://www.head-fi.org/t/793440/very-rare-grado-black-sr325-with-hp1000-drivers-price-drop#post_12260191

 
Just had too many cans at that time and felt I had to downsize.

 

[ruhenheiM]

 
I did! http://www.head-fi.org/t/793440/very-rare-grado-black-sr325-with-hp1000-drivers-price-drop#post_12260191

 
Just had too many cans at that time and felt I had to downsize.

 
do you miss it? for the sound, is it worth to buy if you already had ps1000? since sr series with black star drivers never came out cheap

 

[Sherwood]

There are three versions of the black SR325 before they changed to the silver housing, then later the "i" designation.  For many years, the 325i was the only "i" model in the lineup.
 
Version 1) Black aluminum housing, leftover "blackstar" drivers from the HP1000 run.  No telling how well-matched these drivers are, since the Hp1 and 2 were supposed to get the tightest tolerances, then the HP3 after that.  I imagine after they stopped ordering housings for the HP1000 series they dropped some of the remaining blackstar drivers in a housing they did have -- the SR325.
 
Version 2) Black aluminum housing, "pink" drivers.  These are the same drivers on the legendary RS1 with the brown headband.  Usually called vintage A or vintage S.  These look the drivers shown above by TDL-speakers.  After John was out of B-stock Joe-era blackstars, he used up some older RS1 drivers.  Again, these might have been matched to a lower tolerance than the Rs1.  They also might be fantastic.  I own a pair of these and love them.
 
Version 3) Black aluminum housing, white drivers.  These are the same drivers that eventually occupied the silver and the rebooted SR325i housing, and they didn't oxidize pink over time like the version 2 drivers did.  Also, any repaired SR325 would have these.
 
All in all, one more fun relic from the Grado archives.

 

[joseph69]

  I did! http://www.head-fi.org/t/793440/very-rare-grado-black-sr325-with-hp1000-drivers-price-drop#post_12260191

Just had too many cans at that time and felt I had to downsize.

Nice! These were sold in the beginning of this year and I didn't even see them on the F/S forum.

 

[TDL-speakers]

Thanks for the informative post, Sherwood!
 
S.

 

[eserafinojr]

Very nice SR325s. Quite rare indeed.
 
The pink driver Grados sound absolutely phenomenal. Oustanding dynamics, they're well extended, just a wonderfully balanced organic sound to them.
 
Got a pair of very early production SR80 Pinks (Possibly an SR100 rebrand) HP1000 style headband, metal grilles.
 
I love all Grados but IMHO the vintage Grados were not only built better but sound better to my ears.
 
Does anybody know if the very early Vintage A RS1s ever got HP1000 drivers? Or were those always the pinks.
 
Would love to hear/purchase an RS1 Vintage A someday!!

 

[TDL-speakers]

''Organic'' is another good way of describing the sound of the vintage Grado's.
 
S.

 

[fleasbaby]

  I had a pair of black sr325 with black star drivers (HP1000 drivers), they were aluminum. They were actually a bit heavier than the first non-black sr325 as I think I remember they also had a metal ring on the inside of the cup on the inner side of were the grill is.
The drivers sleeves were hard plastic like the sr series but I think they were a bit more rigid? They seemed better built/ better materials than the later sr series cans as far as I remember.
 
 
I did! http://www.head-fi.org/t/793440/very-rare-grado-black-sr325-with-hp1000-drivers-price-drop#post_12260191

 
Just had too many cans at that time and felt I had to downsize.

 
The weight could also have been the drivers. I have been mucking about with Primo (blackstar) drivers pulled from some Nakamichi SP7. They weigh more than a standard Grado driver...not sure what it is, but they have a lot more heft. Could be something to do with the large black ring you can see from the rear.

 

[wormsdriver]

I did! http://www.head-fi.org/t/793440/very-rare-grado-black-sr325-with-hp1000-drivers-price-drop#post_12260191


Just had too many cans at that time and felt I had to downsize.

do you miss it? for the sound, is it worth to buy if you already had ps1000? since sr series with black star drivers never came out cheap

the sound was totally different than the ps1000 and other newer Grados for that matter. More neutral, midrange was their best asset.

As far as them being worth it, that's relative imo. If you have the money, are into Grados, or if you want to have an idea of what the hp1000 sounds like but on the cheap than go for it. They're pretry rare, so if you decide to sell them down the line, you can always recover your money back.

 

[wormsdriver]

There are three versions of the black SR325 before they changed to the silver housing, then later the "i" designation.  For many years, the 325i was the only "i" model in the lineup.

Version 1) Black aluminum housing, leftover "blackstar" drivers from the HP1000 run.  No telling how well-matched these drivers are, since the Hp1 and 2 were supposed to get the tightest tolerances, then the HP3 after that.  I imagine after they stopped ordering housings for the HP1000 series they dropped some of the remaining blackstar drivers in a housing they did have -- the SR325.

Version 2) Black aluminum housing, "pink" drivers.  These are the same drivers on the legendary RS1 with the brown headband.  Usually called vintage A or vintage S.  These look the drivers shown above by TDL-speakers.  After John was out of B-stock Joe-era blackstars, he used up some older RS1 drivers.  Again, these might have been matched to a lower tolerance than the Rs1.  They also might be fantastic.  I own a pair of these and love them.

Version 3) Black aluminum housing, white drivers.  These are the same drivers that eventually occupied the silver and the rebooted SR325i housing, and they didn't oxidize pink over time like the version 2 drivers did.  Also, any repaired SR325 would have these.

All in all, one more fun relic from the Grado archives.

Very nice SR325s. Quite rare indeed.

The pink driver Grados sound absolutely phenomenal. Oustanding dynamics, they're well extended, just a wonderfully balanced organic sound to them.

Got a pair of very early production SR80 Pinks (Possibly an SR100 rebrand) HP1000 style headband, metal grilles.

I love all Grados but IMHO the vintage Grados were not only built better but sound better to my ears.

Does anybody know if the very early Vintage A RS1s ever got HP1000 drivers? Or were those always the pinks.

Would love to hear/purchase an RS1 Vintage A someday!!

I've owned a pair of sr125, sr225 and I still own a pair of Vintage A Rs1 all with the pink drivers.
I loved the sr125 when I had those. The sr225 for some reason didn't have that same magic imo. They sounded like a regular sr225 (non i) to my ears.
The Rs1 is still to this day, probably my favorite. Like you said wonderfully balanced organic sound to them. They are very musical, great prat. They always have me singing along (which is a very rare thing for me to do),tapping my foot or bobbing my head along to the music.

 

[wormsdriver]

 
I had a pair of black sr325 with black star drivers (HP1000 drivers), they were aluminum. They were actually a bit heavier than the first non-black sr325 as I think I remember they also had a metal ring on the inside of the cup on the inner side of were the grill is.
The drivers sleeves were hard plastic like the sr series but I think they were a bit more rigid? They seemed better built/ better materials than the later sr series cans as far as I remember.


I did! http://www.head-fi.org/t/793440/very-rare-grado-black-sr325-with-hp1000-drivers-price-drop#post_12260191


Just had too many cans at that time and felt I had to downsize.

The weight could also have been the drivers. I have been mucking about with Primo (blackstar) drivers pulled from some Nakamichi SP7. They weigh more than a standard Grado driver...not sure what it is, but they have a lot more heft. Could be something to do with the large black ring you can see from the rear.

the glue that held the cup and the sleeve together was quite old and dry so it was easy to pull apart from each other. When I did that, I could see there was a ring inside that provided extra heft to them if I remember correctly. Maybe somebody that has a pair can chime in...