[joelongwood]

Well, after spending a few days listening exclusively to the AKG K340s, all my other headphones sounded "off" to me. In particular, I was struck by the brightness of some of them......in particular the Sony CD-3000s and most of my Grados. In an attempt to reduce the treble output of the Grados, I listened to them with the pair of old donut pads that I have. The sound with the donuts, which I had never really liked before, was now closer to the AKGs in its smoothness. The midrange became warmer and while the highs remained very detailed, the presentation was as up front as ever. The highs were never excessive or harsh. But since I have only one pair of these old pads, and I have 5 Grados, I didn't want to constantly switch the pads everytime........plus the pads are beginning to flake. So I put the newer bowl shaped pads under some very heavy books and squashed the crap out of them until they were completely flat. I left them there for two days and-------voila!......they now look and sound like the old donuts. I guess the foam is not too resilient......because the bowl shape has not reappeared to its full extent. It has come back slightly, but the pressure against my ears easily causes them to flatten out. In direct A/B comparison with the old donuts, I can't tell any difference.
I know that some of you have been looking to re-create the sound of the old donuts......and I think this squash mod comes pretty damned close. It works for me.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Squashing newer Grado pads? I thought I was squashing customers' loaves of bread!

 

[coolvij]

woo-hoo!!! I *think* this is joelongwood's FIRST "mod"

WAY TO GO

 

[kwkarth]

Great idea joelongwood!!

I'm gonna give it a try!

 

[DarkAngel]

Grados do sound warmer if driver is closer to ear, but by squishing bowl pad you still have rough texture of foam to deal with against your ear. The same effect is acheived by cutting out center of comfies, flipping over and installing (original/stock hole against ear) This is much more comfortable than bowl pad, and places driver/ear distance similar to squished bowl pad.

 

[JMT]

....and you told me you weren't into DIY.

 

[ILoveGrado]

Will we get the same result by installing the pad inversed?

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

Will we get the same result by installing the pad inversed?

I was using that method for awhile. The sound is very close to the donuts, but the rear side of the pad has a much larger opening and allows parts of my ear to actually touch the earcup unless I position it perfectly and don't move around. The metal of the HP-1s can be damned cold!
I'm thinking of putting a pair of bowl pads between two pieces of wood and clamping them in a vise..........I even thought I might park the wheel of my car on them to really get 'em flat.

 

[MooGoesTheCow]

hehe, great idea joe! i wonder if certain books have better effects on the sound...

 

[crk]

Oh... I'd assumed you'd finally found a use for all those school books...

crk who finds the Grado pads uncomfortable enough as they are.