[schwallman]

I'm sure it was a better move. Everyone is pretty enthuastic about them for a reason. 

 

[wje]

Quote:

I'm planning to sell my 325is drivers once they are replaced by Magnum drivers.  Has anyone sold just the 325is drivers on the for sale forum and for how much?
 
 

I don't recall seeing drivers for sale from the 325is.  However, I've seen the aluminum cups before - Marty has sold a pair when he built his killer set of SR-325i Grados with the wooden gimbals, cups, etc., etc.  I think I should do a search and see what rates are like if there have been some drivers sold in the past.  I do remember seeing an ad for a pair of SR-60 Grados with what the seller *claimed* was SR-325 drivers and the price was around $150.  However, it couldn't be confirmed by the seller that they were actually SR-325 drivers, but that they sounded *like* SR-325 drivers.
 
I'll be selling an excellent sounding pair of SR-80 drivers (from an older model and when Grado used to make some great sounding SR-80s) as well as a pair of SR-225i drivers.  Neither pair of mine have had holes punched in them.

 

[stratocaster]

I am already looking forward to all the impressions coming in

For me going Magnum was the reasonable step to take once I noticed I had reached the end of the road trying to tweak my Gradessandro drivers. What a chance that those drivers are available to us to be used in our woodies. I guess even plastic Grados with  Magnum dirvers in them would be an enormous step up. Although that sort of housing would never do the Magnums justice. They deserve better!
 
 
Quote:

I want both of my woodies to have Magnums.  I'm missing the sound terribly this week - sort of like a little boy who lost his puppy. 

I feel with you. I certainly wouldn't want to let my Magnums go. Not even for a week.
 

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

Just FYI, in my conversations with Rhydon, he spent a lot of trouble getting the air chambers right and they are, as I understand it, an important part of the design as much as the drivers are, so you may want to consider that. Interesting that he has caught the interest of modders though. Now if only Headphile were open to doing his Beyer mod with Rhydon's drivers...

What we're trying to do here is not so much replicate Rhydon's Magnums, but take the excellent set of drivers he has designed and incorporate it into our existing projects in search of an improvement. The excellent thing about Rhydon's selling of his Magnum drivers separate is that we get drivers on par with the RS-1 or higher models, at the price of slightly more than an SR80, and since as modders all we are after is the drivers in the headphones, I think we all see this as a deal that is a boatload of value for the money we put in

 

[stratocaster]

 
Quote:

What we're trying to do here is not so much replicate Rhydon's Magnums, but take the excellent set of drivers he has designed and incorporate it into our existing projects in search of an improvement. The excellent thing about Rhydon's selling of his Magnum drivers separate is that we get drivers on par with the RS-1 or higher models, at the price of slightly more than an SR80, and since as modders all we are after is the drivers in the headphones, I think we all see this as a deal that is a boatload of value for the money we put in

That's it, Night.
 
Yet I see it also as a way of giving Rhydon a kind of feedback about how his creations sound in wood or hybrid setups. I think that might help him develop his drivers even further, seeing this as a kind of beta testing of his drivers in different setups to help lift the performance even higher. Call me naive, but I never really understood why Grado is waiving this kind of feedback from enthusiasts. I would be quite grateful if I had people giving me interesting input and suggestions to help me make my product even better and thus easier to sell.
 

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

 
That's it, Night.
 
Yet I see it also as a way of giving Rhydon a kind of feedback about how his creations sound in wood or hybrid setups. I think that might help him develop his drivers even further, seeing this as a kind of beta testing of his drivers in different setups to help lift the performance even higher. Call me naive, but I never really understood why Grado is waiving this kind of feedback from enthusiasts. I would be quite grateful if I had people giving me interesting input and suggestions to help me make my product even better and thus easier to sell.
 

They would rather we buy their whole headphone for a project than buy the MSPro drivers at $100 and make our own MSPros and shortchange them of $400, and I suppose they see this niche of the community as quite a significant part of their customer base? And people could start undercutting their business if we could take our own drivers and make copies of their headphones and sell them for less. So I don't think its an entirely unjustified move to restrict the retail of their drivers alone.

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

I am already looking forward to all the impressions coming in

For me going Magnum was the reasonable step to take once I noticed I had reached the end of the road trying to tweak my Gradessandro drivers. What a chance that those drivers are available to us to be used in our woodies. I guess even plastic Grados with  Magnum dirvers in them would be an enormous step up. Although that sort of housing would never do the Magnums justice. They deserve better!
 
 
I feel with you. I certainly wouldn't want to let my Magnums go. Not even for a week.
 

 
Try 3-4 months That's about how long I expect to be around them from when I sent them to the mail due to loaners and then in the middle I'm going to send them to Martin for a FWJ and then 2 more people before it returns. Even with having quality headphones I do miss them but I look forward to when they come back in a woodie.

 

[wje]

Quote:

They would rather we buy their whole headphone for a project than buy the MSPro drivers at $100 and make our own MSPros and shortchange them of $400

 
The only issue with that is we can't directly purchase the MS-Pro drivers from Allesandro.  I sent them an e-mail asking them directly that same question.  Also, in regards to their MS-1i, they'll send out a replacement driver to the buyer if they're having an issue as this was the case for me.  However, if an MS-Pro pair of headphones has an issue, they have to be sent into Allesandro for the repair as they will not send out the individual parts like the MS-1i.  So, essentially, the only way one could get their hands on the MS-Pro drivrs is to see if they ever shop up in the used market.  Though, I'm not sure what a person would do if the pulled out their MS-Pro drivers to install something else and potentially wreck their value of the factory, non-modded headphones.
 
 

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

 
The only issue with that is we can't directly purchase the MS-Pro drivers from Allesandro.  I sent them an e-mail asking them directly that same question.  Also, in regards to their MS-1i, they'll send out a replacement driver to the buyer if they're having an issue as this was the case for me.  However, if an MS-Pro pair of headphones has an issue, they have to be sent into Allesandro for the repair as they will not send out the individual parts like the MS-1i.  So, essentially, the only way one could get their hands on the MS-Pro drivrs is to see if they ever shop up in the used market.  Though, I'm not sure what a person would do if the pulled out their MS-Pro drivers to install something else and potentially wreck their value of the factory, non-modded headphones.
 
 

I made the comment in an answer to Strat's (rhetorical?) question on why Grado/Alessandro refuses to sell individual headphone parts.
 

 

[wje]

Quote:

I made the comment in an answer to Strat's (rhetorical?) question on why Grado/Alessandro refuses to sell individual headphone parts.
 

Correct.  However, I was also chiming in with my real world experiences through my communications with Grado and Allesandro regarding parts sales.
 
 

 

[stratocaster]

Yes, my question was rhetorical. 
You know, before I heard about the Magnums and decided I would go for them, I would have paid a fair  amount of money for any Grado or Alessandro high-end driver, I guess as much as 1/3 of the full price.Now, if you consider how much lower in price a used Grado or Alessandro is going, I think they would not have to worry about people buying their drivers and then selling his/her phones lower than a stock Gradessandro. Most people would still jump at the original.  I am not complaining. It is a fact.
Now that I can get hold of the Magnums, at a really fair price, I do not need to wail about it. Since Grado and Alessandro do not sell their drivers, they won't get any of my money. It goes to Rhydon instead. And I am very happy about how it is!
 

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

Yes, my question was rhetorical. 
You know, before I heard about the Magnums and decided I would go for them, I would have paid a fair  amount of money for any Grado or Alessandro high-end driver, I guess as much as 1/3 of the full price.Now, if you consider how much lower in price a used Grado or Alessandro is going, I think they would not have to worry about people buying their drivers and then selling his/her phones lower than a stock Gradessandro. Most people would still jump at the original.  I am not complaining. It is a fact.
Now that I can get hold of the Magnums, at a really fair price, I do not need to wail about it. Since Grado and Alessandro do not sell their drivers, they won't get any of my money. It goes to Rhydon instead. And I am very happy about how it is!
 

Perhaps we may soon see Grado offering their drivers for a fee... *cue evil laugh as I look around for the black helicopter undoubtedly monitoring this conversation*

 

[stratocaster]

I do hope that those guys who ordered the Magnum drivers will get them soon and that we can then turn over a new leaf in the once dear 'Grado mod' story together. As some people stated, there will not be much Grado left, maybe a faint and sentimental thought every once in a while. The SR60 thread got many of us started and enthusiastic, but to me, somehow sad to say, the flame was going out after I had to tell myself there was not much more to get out of the drivers and mods. Now, with the Magnum option, and with the Magnums singing into my ears at the moment, the fire has flared up. Bad news for my wallet, though.

 

[wje]

Quote:

I do hope that those guys who ordered the Magnum drivers will get them soon and that we can then turn over a new leaf in the once dear 'Grado mod' story together. As some people stated, there will not be much Grado left, maybe a faint and sentimental thought every once in a while. The SR60 thread got many of us started and enthusiastic, but to me, somehow sad to say, the flame was going out after I had to tell myself there was not much more to get out of the drivers and mods. Now, with the Magnum option, and with the Magnums singing into my ears at the moment, the fire has flared up. Bad news for my wallet, though.

Oh, I think there's ways that many of the modders will still be able to get some more mileage out of their cans.  Sure, they can look at a few more updates, but then when things are all finished, one can just enjoy them.  Use the fruits of your efforts to enjoy your music each and every day.  Reflect on how much  you've learned about modifing Grados ... and how little or how much you spent.  But, do enjoy them.  There's also quite a few of us that are using our Grados with vintage receivers to drive them.  We're finding that brands like Marantz and Sansui had some pretty spectacular gear 35 - 40 years ago.  Their gear in a lot of cases was designed to sound more like tubes than solid state.  Finding a retro receiver and bringing it into service with your Grados is another "Wow" experience. 
 
The "thin" sound of newer receivers just doesn't cut it for most people, which is whey they are dropping $300 to $3,000 on dedicated amps for their headphones.  However, there are many vintage receivers that can be had for $100 - $200 in cost.  Back in the era of 35 years ago, or so, quite a few of those receivers would cost $349 - $649 in money from that period of time.  If you take a $349 receiver from that era and adjust it for inflation, the cost today would be nearly $1,800 for that same 2-channel receiver.  Then again, a lot of assumptions would be made like the receiver would still be made in Japan and not China, the component quality would be top notch which is why many of the old receivers are still running today, etc.
 
 

 

[wje]

For the U.S. Purchasers of Magnum drivers from Rhydon, I'm assuming that his shipments go through the Toronto processing facility (which is the 3rd column on the table.)  It appears that it takes about 4 days from the Toronto facility to most major U.S. cities when using "Expedited Parcel - USA" as the shipping method - which is what Rhydon indicated on the invoice for my drivers. 
 
(Click on the table image to see a larger view)