[wje]

Here are some tips for positioning the wire as you solder the wires to the drivers (on the solder tabs).
 

 
Above, I've provided a diagram showing the view of the bottom of the driver, the solder pad areas and the two wires.  On the Magnum drivers, the positive (+) wire should be soldered to this tab and it is normally on the left side (and marked with a green dot) as indicated in the diagram.  In the diagram, I've positioned the wires to they are secured to the soldering tab from the side, so the conductor of the wire lays flat onto the soldering pad area.  The Grado headphone connections from Grado are soldered in this position, so I'm basically just recommending their method for positioning the wires onto the soldering tabs for the driver.

 

[younglee200]

I've received my drivers about a week ago, and today I tried making the Magnums.
 
The cable was GAC-4 bought from redco, terminated with a Neutrik 1/4''
 
The first driver went fine.  For the second driver, I did the exact same thing, but nothing would play out of it.
 
So I thought maybe the issue was with the cable.  So I unsoldered the cable from my broken driver side, and attached it to the working driver - zero issues.
 
I've emailed them about the issue, hopefully they'll be able to get back at me.
 

 

[wje]

   
hey one question - do the "bloom" style cups add anything to the sound/tone..? i've had RS1 model and others but all were the "pipe" style cups.

 
The "bloom" or muffin style cut of cup is more for appearance than sound.  But, when it comes to a larger cup (e.g. - the PS-1000, GS-1000, GS-1000i) their cups are larger.  In that scenario, the mass of the wood (along with the bloom) might add more towards the sound than the bloom style in the smaller cup.  Granted, the last sentence is basically speculation.
 

  I've received my drivers about a week ago, and today I tried making the Magnums.
 
The cable was GAC-4 bought from redco, terminated with a Neutrik 1/4''
 
The first driver went fine.  For the second driver, I did the exact same thing, but nothing would play out of it.
 
So I thought maybe the issue was with the cable.  So I unsoldered the cable from my broken driver side, and attached it to the working driver - zero issues.
 
I've emailed them about the issue, hopefully they'll be able to get back at me.
 
 

 
Nice work.  Sorry to hear that the 2nd driver wouldn't work.  That kind of puts a kink in the fun as you await a response and then potentially wait a few more weeks for a replacement.  Keep us posted on how it works out.

 

[wje]

A few more pics, but in natural daylight with a white back surface.  This really highlights the sexiness of these headphones and provides a truer view of the black walnut cups with the special finish.
 

 

 

 

 

[7keys]

  A few more pics, but in natural daylight with a white back surface.  This really highlights the sexiness of these headphones and provides a truer view of the black walnut cups with the special finish.
 

 

 

 

Very nice!

 

[wje]

  Very nice!

 
 
Thanks.  They actually sold in a period of less than a day.  Don't worry though, I'll be around here to assist, give pointers as well as kudos from time to time.  Or, should I say between listening sessions?  Currently, the PS-500s with the G-Cush pads have me drawn in lately.

 

[alv4426]

Does anyone know where I could find aluminum or wood spacers/chambers. I believe my new grado project is about to begin.

 

[7keys]

   
 
Thanks.  They actually sold in a period of less than a day.  Don't worry though, I'll be around here to assist, give pointers as well as kudos from time to time.  Or, should I say between listening sessions?  Currently, the PS-500s with the G-Cush pads have me drawn in lately.

 
I just saw that, whoever bought them should be happy with them at that price point.
 
I'm modding a Fostex T50RP right now, I noticed you've had some experience with them.

 

[hemipowered007]

Got antsy, did a sh@t job soldering the Sr80i cable onto my magnum drivers. Put em in the old plastic sleeves for now, through the lcush on, plugged into e17....man, so aggresive! I forgot how much I loved metal out of these!!! To used to the he and re400...I done found a good match I think. Now, to finish the actual build, and get an aube t1 to smooth these out

 

[hemipowered007]

Meant to say threw, not through...stupid me

 

[wje]

   
I just saw that, whoever bought them should be happy with them at that price point.
 
I'm modding a Fostex T50RP right now, I noticed you've had some experience with them.

 
Yes.  I've had a bit, I guess you could say.  I'll hold off my impressions until you've finished your build / mod and tried them out and provided some sound impressions.  The Fostex mod is a low cost headphone with a low cost modification.  I only got sick of the process of removing the baffles to access the cups, which has to be performed quite a few times during the modification process to tweak the sound.  After doing about 8 pair or so, I was just a bit burned out. 
 

Got antsy, did a sh@t job soldering the Sr80i cable onto my magnum drivers. Put em in the old plastic sleeves for now, through the lcush on, plugged into e17....man, so aggresive! I forgot how much I loved metal out of these!!! To used to the he and re400...I done found a good match I think. Now, to finish the actual build, and get an aube t1 to smooth these out

 
Just ensure you read up enough on the Aune before making the leap.  Some have commented on the top end still having a bit of sizzle.  There might be some good information on preferred tubes in the forum here.  This might provide you with impressions and considerations on finding the right mix to get the most out of the Aune T1.  Somehow, myself, I opted for the Little Dot I+ as I've owned it before.  There is a lot of good information on tube rolling and tube impressions in this forum.  Finally, I opted for a much better DAC, too.  The DAC is only a 16-bit DAC, but performs upsampling.  It might be getting a bit outdated, but for CD quality audio, it sure sounds beautiful.  The HeadAmp USB DAC is what I purchased.  They are $299 new, but can be found between $150 and $200 here in the F/S section.  But, I still want to reiterate, what works and sounds good for me, might not be the same for all.  
 
With that being said, I do offer my standard disclaimer.  I don't love to push or recommend a single product because it is something that I currently own.  But, when I suggest an option, it is only because I've owned a few, or actually more than a few combinations of amplification and DACification in my setups over the past 3 or 4 years.  I'm just sharing my impressions and they're just that - impressions.  Your own results might vary greatly from mine.

 

[Currawong]

I hate to ask people for favours, but I have a request for anyone who has a lathe. I asked someone a while back to make me two pairs of wood rings to replace the plastic rings in the cups of my aluminium magnums -- the ones with "The Prestige Series ... Grado Labs" on them. People keep asking me if I have Grados, which I don't now, so I thought it'd be cool to have a set of nicely patterned wood rings in each instead. However, the person who was going to do it suddenly stopped replying to me. So if someone has some spare, interesting wood of a darker, rather than lighter colour, I'll happily pay for the wood if/as required and the postage to Japan.

 

[joeq70]

Hey all, here is a quick thought for you all today: The position of the headphones on your ears is crucial. It means the difference between your Magnums sounding "Nice" and "HOLY CRAP." Experiment with headphone positions and see what sounds best to you. For me, I use bowl pads and the upper part of my ears rests inside the bowls rather than the bowls resting on my ears. I've known this for a long time but it's one of those things that I hadn't thought about in a long time, and then I noticed that my Magnums sounded a bit "off" lately. It was because I was positioning them wrong and hadn't realized it. 

 

[BizFromQC]

Just got an "Attempted Delivery" notification from Canada Post, my Magnum X are here! That means they'll be available for pickup tomorrow at the local post office. I can't wait to get the soldering iron out and give them a go... I am still waiting on my G-Cushions and have yet to make a final decision on the headband. For now, a reverse quarter modded S-Cushion and the stock Grado headband will have to do. Stay tuned...

 

[wje]

Just got an "Attempted Delivery" notification from Canada Post, my Magnum X are here! That means they'll be available for pickup tomorrow at the local post office. I can't wait to get the soldering iron out and give them a go... I am still waiting on my G-Cushions and have yet to make a final decision on the headband. For now, a reverse quarter modded S-Cushion and the stock Grado headband will have to do. Stay tuned...

The stock Grado headband / gimbals will fit with precision on those cups. The person who Cabillas used to cut the cups, did so with great precision. I never tried the G-cushion on the Magnum. I really like them on the PS-500 though. So, you bought the G-cush (the large bowls?). They are quite comfortable in my time that I've spent with them.

I placed an order earlier for the G-Cush and the L-Cush knock-offs that are made by Zonk and sold via Amazon a bit earlier today. I know some people have responded that they have had some interesting experiences with them from fit issues to other possible issues. But, I thought I'd take the plunge as it would be interesting to find a pair of the L-Cush variety with a slight be of more comfort.