[hypr]

The foam pads on my SR225s is flaking off into tiny little pieces. Its all over my shirt, face, ears etc. I'd put them away for the past year and hadn't used them, and I took them out today to find them in this condition. I've had them since 2002...is this normal? I found it weird that they were fine when I put them into the box and into my closet, and now they're in this condition.

 

[mr56k]

Yea I have seen this happen also. I purchased some used grados and the foamies were crumbling apart. Good news is the replacements are cheap.

 

[hypr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr56k /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yea I have seen this happen also. I purchased some used grados and the foamies were crumbling apart. Good news is the replacements are cheap.

That's good to hear. I was worried some insect had gotten in them and ate away at the foam haha. Can you recommend a good place to get replacement foams?

 

[Nugwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hypr /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's good to hear. I was worried some insect had gotten in them and ate away at the foam haha. Can you recommend a good place to get replacement foams?

TTVJ!

 

[mr56k]

Radioshack or if you look on ebay you can get the standard or the yellow 414 foamies that a lot of people on here use. Like this
Earpads SENNHEISER HD414 HD 414 CLASSIC Ear pad Cushion - eBay (item 200229186976 end time Jun-13-08 19:59:30 PDT)

 

[charonme]

this happens with my porta pros too

 

[grawk]

This is a great opportunity to try TTVJ flats on your 225s

 

[MaZa]

If you have washed them to make them softer, they will also degenerate faster. But this still happens on all Grados as time passes. So yes, you need replacement foams. And while you are at it, you might try different foams aswell to hear different sounds from your Grados.

 

[hypr]

What kinds of different foams are there? On TTVJ I see "Bowl Pads" and "Flat Pads" amongst some others. Are bowl pads the regular stock replacement for the 225s? And what are the benefits of the flat pads?

 

[grawk]

Flats are what the 225 was designed with. They give a more punchy, aggressive sound at the cost of soundstage.

Bowls were designed to answer the complaint that grados didn't have soundstage. You lose some of the richness of the sound in exchange for more artificial space.

A good compromise is to smash bowls. That works particularly well wtih 225s.

 

[KinesongPayaso]

Happened to my K81DJs. The pleather is flaking off, which just left bare foam on the ear cups

Being used EVERYDAY, for maybe 2-10 hours everyday
Left in a room temp of 24-28c, I sweat quite a bit too :X

When I first bought it, I kept putting Armor-all on it after week month. But got lazy for the past year

Sweat + temperature + consistent use + K81dj's normal vice like grip turned it into this

 

[BushGuy]

ditto what Grawk said..........plus added comfort to my ears. You may go through a minor psychological war if you A/B them - let the amp supply greater soundstage, NOT Bowls.

 

[MaZa]

Quote:

Flats are what the 225 was designed with. They give a more punchy, aggressive sound at the cost of soundstage. Bowls were designed to answer the complaint that grados didn't have soundstage. You lose some of the richness of the sound in exchange for more artificial space. A good compromise is to smash bowls. That works particularly well wtih 225s.

In my personal opinion, SR225 + flat pads sounded very flawed in my ears. WAY too bassy, very forward, but also very mellow sounding. Difference isnt only soundstage, the sound changes completely.

Dunno about original SR225 though. Grado SAYS there isnt technical difference to later ones other than pads, but I wouldnt be so sure because different pads do change sound quite dramatically, it might have affected the tuning progress aswell? People do say that old RS1 and newer RS1 sound very different afterall, so how they react to pads might be very different too? In any case, I have hard time figuring that the late model SR225 I own should have originally sounded like the way it does with flats.

Or perhaps, or most likely, its just not my taste. But a warning to op that if you try different pads, you will also get completely different sound which you MIGHT not like.

 

[hypr]

I think I'm going to pick up a pair of each the bowls and the flats to compare them. I remember reading about the flats a few years ago but I never picked them up because my original foams were okay. I guess now really is a perfect opportunity to experiment.

 

[alamakazam]

would it be nice to custom a leather cushion for grados