[Arty McGhee]

  ....so I am not sure how appropriate or good it is, but I wrote a review on the V6 driver:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/symphones-magnums/reviews/14832
 
It seemed like a good idea at the time @Rhydon.

great review

 

[fleasbaby]

  great review

 
Tks....not exactly the pinnacle of writing, but no one writes about drivers, and there's a solid crew of modders out there....would be nice to have more opinions on the options documented as reviews instead of hidden in these long, looooong threads.

 

[7keys]

  ....so I am not sure how appropriate or good it is, but I wrote a review on the V6 driver:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/symphones-magnums/reviews/14832
 
It seemed like a good idea at the time @Rhydon.

Nice review.
 
I'm a little surprised there are only three reviews.

 

[fleasbaby]

  Nice review.
 
I'm a little surprised there are only three reviews.

Agreed. I was about to launch a new page just for the V6, but decided to run with the existing page.
 
For those who have ordered the C6 cups via Shapeways, is the $24.99 for one cup or a pair? Perhaps @Rhydon could shed some light on the matter?
 
I just ordered my third pair of V6 drivers. I want to try them with the C6 cup and get the full experience as envisioned by Rhydon...

 

[7keys]

   
For those who have ordered the C6 cups via Shapeways, is the $24.99 for one cup or a pair? Perhaps @Rhydon could shed some light on the matter?
 
 

A couple of pages back Rhydon said you have to order 2 for a pair.

 

[joeq70]

A couple of pages back Rhydon said you have to order 2 for a pair.

Yeah, this confused me as I initially thought oh 25-50 dollars for cups, why not get some? Now that I see I was mistaken, I'm gonna keep rolling with my woodies.

 

[7keys]

 

A couple of pages back Rhydon said you have to order 2 for a pair.

Yeah, this confused me as I initially thought oh 25-50 dollars for cups, why not get some? Now that I see I was mistaken, I'm gonna keep rolling with my woodies.

Possibly Arty McGhee could whip you up a set.                              

 

[xylin6]

   
Tks....not exactly the pinnacle of writing, but no one writes about drivers, and there's a solid crew of modders out there....would be nice to have more opinions on the options documented as reviews instead of hidden in these long, looooong threads.

You're too modest,you're review is comprehensive,educational and downright entertaining ( i literally laughed out loud as i read the line "Grados aren’t bass monsters, they aren’t pretty, but they can bring tears to your eyes if you use them to listen to a little Led Zeppelin…"..after all, what Grado fan can't relate to that?

 
i also enjoyed your summary on the history of both Grado & Symphones along with the modding community which has evolved out of it as well as providing references and sources of your own build so that anyone reading your review has a solid idea of where and how to begin their own. fact is, it's reviews like yours along with the forums here which gave me the confidence to build my own V6 and i'm grateful for it because they sound utterly amazing! (pics coming soon i promise)

 

[fleasbaby]

  You're too modest,you're review is comprehensive,educational and downright entertaining ( i literally laughed out loud as i read the line "Grados aren’t bass monsters, they aren’t pretty, but they can bring tears to your eyes if you use them to listen to a little Led Zeppelin…"..after all, what Grado fan can't relate to that?

 
i also enjoyed your summary on the history of both Grado & Symphones along with the modding community which has evolved out of it as well as providing references and sources of your own build so that anyone reading your review has a solid idea of where and how to begin their own. fact is, it's reviews like yours along with the forums here which gave me the confidence to build my own V6 and i'm grateful for it because they sound utterly amazing! (pics coming soon i promise)

Thanks for the kind words...

 

[fleasbaby]

  A couple of pages back Rhydon said you have to order 2 for a pair.

Tks! Just placed my order then...feels odd to actually buy cups instead of make them. LMAO

 

[Rhydon]

Excellent review fleasbaby, well written and crucial insight into the v6 process  

 

[fleasbaby]

  Excellent review fleasbaby, well written and crucial insight into the v6 process  

Thanks Rhydon!

 

[thelostMIDrange]

.............is this printed cup a dense type of pressed paper? sort of a cardboard/hardoard? What wood might this cup resemble? balsawood maybe? does it ring when tapped with your knuckle ?  Is it non resonant or alive?  I'm guessing teh approach taken here is the full monty non resonant approach. The grado rs line is based on teh alive approach which may be why they can be a bit too brash and undefined on top which might be attributed to this overaliveness (light resonant wood cup, more less full transfer of driver to cup (because that glue dries up pretty hard and approaches a direct contact transfer. Teh new v6 cups use the opposite approach with the foam mount. So I just wonder if this deadening principle extends to teh cup and am not familiar with what type of product a CAD printer turns out?
 
 
Just for those who are into trying to articulate the theory behind a headphones approach and to boil it down to basics. The driver produces tiny vibrations. One has a choice of trying to fully contain them within the driver, or on teh opposite end, to allow them to dissipate through the cups and on out. In between these two extremens might be a third class where one would deaden some aspect of the design and allow for resonance (vibrational movement o fhte drivers) in another part.

 

[fleasbaby]

  .............is this printed cup a dense type of pressed paper? sort of a cardboard/hardoard? What wood might this cup resemble? balsawood maybe? does it ring when tapped with your knuckle ?  Is it non resonant or alive?  I'm guessing teh approach taken here is the full monty non resonant approach. The grado rs line is based on teh alive approach which may be why they can be a bit too brash and undefined on top which might be attributed to this overaliveness (light resonant wood cup, more less full transfer of driver to cup (because that glue dries up pretty hard and approaches a direct contact transfer. Teh new v6 cups use the opposite approach with the foam mount. So I just wonder if this deadening principle extends to teh cup and am not familiar with what type of product a CAD printer turns out?
 
 
Just for those who are into trying to articulate the theory behind a headphones approach and to boil it down to basics. The driver produces tiny vibrations. One has a choice of trying to fully contain them within the driver, or on teh opposite end, to allow them to dissipate through the cups and on out. In between these two extremens might be a third class where one would deaden some aspect of the design and allow for resonance (vibrational movement o fhte drivers) in another part.

 
More information can be found here:
 
http://www.shapeways.com/product/FHXXSMGN9/c6-beta-1-2
 
Its basically plastic, extruded using a 3D printer. Others can speak to the resonance, I'll know in early January personally when my pair is scheduled to arrive. I would assume, like you, that it is dead, and has been used especially because of that.
 
There is a "metal" version you can order as well. This might have more "life" to it than the plastic. More information here:
 
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/steel
This might be in that zone you speak of. In between dead and alive...a zombie perhaps?

 
I am surprised no one else has thought that it might be interesting to take up the challenge of making a wooden version of Rhydon's design...I keep rolling the idea about in my head with all the others that crowd in there. I need to jot it down to experiment on at a later date...

 

[thelostMIDrange]

Taken from a discussion regardind loudspeaker design and the question of whether to make the cabinet light and 'resonant' or heavy and nonresonant. The british speakers have historically been designed along the light approach and is the one that makes inherent sense to me for grado cups. i.e. to tune the cup to the driver in such a way as to allow for the cup to do some of the work to dissipate driver vibrations, hence resulting in a more coherant and stable driver. So in this particluar passage it discusses the benefits of a light but non bell like enclosure as being desirable. So I wonder if a nice light mahogany thin cup with a thin lamination of some deading material (say lengthwise maybe 1/16” thick) would approximate this ideal. i.e. to simulate 'a crack in the belll'.... To be resonant enough to move vibrations away from the diver but not continuously ring so as to allow a built up resonance.........In any case this appears to be a different approach entirely to a totally non resonant enclosure and a foam mounted driver....there is also teh question of whether a headphone driver/cup can or should be tought of as being same/similar to loudspeaker design. I'm still mulling that one over.....
 
 
 
 
.and What underpins the BBC's thin-wall cabinet philosophy, is the observation that a perfectly cast bell will ring on for many seconds. Conversely, a bell with a hairline crack will sound leaden and hardly ring at all. It's the same with cabinets: if the panels are all rigidly glued together then at some critical frequency or other a note or notes in the music will trigger the cabinet's natural structural resonance. In such a rigid structure, there is nothing that can be done to suppress the ringing - and each time that note reappears, it tops up the ringing which then becomes a permanent drone underneath the music. Conversely, in a thin-wall cabinet, the lossy joints (i.e. removable baffle/back and the generally 9-12mm thin panels used throughout the box) each act as an acoustic hairline crack. They inhibit the build-up of resonance. Now, let's not kid ourself that it is possible to kill cabinet resonance stone dead. It isn't. Not with any approach to cabinet design because the sound pressure inside the cabinet is huge. What the thin-wall approach does is to move unwanted resonances downwards in amplitude and frequency so that they are adequately buried below the music and then pushed down in pitch. Alan A. Shaw Designer, owner Harbeth Audio UK