[hsubox]

Yes, I bought them new from Amazon through a third party 4OurEars. I believe that they specialize in Grado products on their website so I have no reason to believe that they're not real. The box was also sealed. The number for these are #4xxx. In the picture, I have replaced the original L-cush with the G-cush which I find much more comfortable. I was a little shocked that the jack was not 1/4" as that's the only type that I've seen in online pictures, but I'd rather have a 1/8" jack anyway.

Interesting that these also have the red-backed drivers. There was an RS1i that someone posted recently over in the Grado thread with red drivers.

My PS500 (SN#37xx) have silver/black drivers

 

[Merlyn1955]

That particular Grado PS 500 is starting to look more more like either a special order, or a Grado PS500 which was assembled during the Grado family annual Christmas party....

 

[Matro5]

  Yes, I bought them new from Amazon through a third party 4OurEars. I believe that they specialize in Grado products on their website so I have no reason to believe that they're not real. 
 

 
In my understanding, 4OurEars is actually Grado selling direct. 

 

[Merlyn1955]

4OurEars is indeed Grado selling direct which is why I am inclined to believe that this was a special order item which somehow got shipped by mistake. However it does indeed have red drivers this may be a future collectors idem. As I said before it would be a good idea with the buyer to contact Grado direct give them the serial number and question them about the story behind those particular headphones we would all love to know the answer to this mystery...

 

[Jasonsdman]

I did not know that the driver color was different from the norm. I usually figure that any small difference between headphones is just manufacturing revision. Guess I will try to contact Grado and find out what the deal is with my PS500.

 

[Merlyn1955]

Grado headphone's have pretty high resale to begin with. That being said if your PS 500 do indeed have a different color driver from most of the other PS 500's it may increase the value of your headphones dramatically as time goes by.
However at this point we're only going by photograph that we've seen posted in this web site without actually inspecting the drivers to determine if they really are indeed the fabled red drivers we can't be sure that that's what they are. So at this point if I was you I will definitely contact Grado ask them about the 1/8 connector and the possible red drivers just on the off-chance you just might have gotten lucky and got something special....

 

[schwallman]

Interesting that these also have the red-backed drivers. There was an RS1i that someone posted recently over in the Grado thread with red drivers.



My PS500 (SN#37xx) have silver/black drivers

 


I had the set of rs1is that had the red transducers. I sent them back though. I didnt like the new setup with the driver raised up out of the cup. It felt weird.

 

[schwallman]

Grado headphone's have pretty high resale to begin with. That being said if your PS 500 do indeed have a different color driver from most of the other PS 500's it may increase the value of your headphones dramatically as time goes by.

However at this point we're only going by photograph that we've seen posted in this web site without actually inspecting the drivers to determine if they really are indeed the fabled red drivers we can't be sure that that's what they are. So at this point if I was you I will definitely contact Grado ask them about the 1/8 connector and the possible red drivers just on the off-chance you just might have gotten lucky and got something special....

 


i actually think they just ran out of drivers and were waiting on the usuals to be restocked. My rs1s also had red dots marked on the outside oif the box. not sure why though.

 

[schwallman]

Yes, I bought them new from Amazon through a third party 4OurEars. I believe that they specialize in Grado products on their website so I have no reason to believe that they're not real. The box was also sealed. The number for these are #4xxx. In the picture, I have replaced the original L-cush with the G-cush which I find much more comfortable. I was a little shocked that the jack was not 1/4" as that's the only type that I've seen in online pictures, but I'd rather have a 1/8" jack anyway.
 

 



are the drivers flush with the cups? my rs1s were not. if yours are, maybe the new drivers dont perform the way the old ones did and they moved them closer to the ear??????????? i dont know

 

[Merlyn1955]

]Like I said it could be a special order idem, it could be that for whatever reason,that they decided to start putting red drivers in all their future PS f500's from now on, or could just be they just ran out of the right stuff that day and decided to use whatever they had just sitting around. That being said, people who collect love to collect items which for whatever reason are different from the others. So therefore if those headphones are indeed different from the rest of the 500's then overtime they may increase in value due to the possibility of collectibility... Now I'm not saying that one day those phones will be worth a million dollars, but 10 years or so from now when Grado in its wisdom desides for whatever reason that the PS500 should be replaced by something else, then those headphones should the very least command a premium over the other PS 500 out there on the used market.....

 

[Jasonsdman]

I'm curious about the differences myself. I've e-mailed Grado already so hopefully someone will respond. I don't really know what to look for about the drivers being flush with the cups so I'm posting some more pictures. In the mean time I will still continue to enjoy listening to them. I'm really liking the Grado sound. Almost made me pick up the GS1000 on the sales forum.
 

 

 

[schwallman]

I'm curious about the differences myself. I've e-mailed Grado already so hopefully someone will respond. I don't really know what to look for about the drivers being flush with the cups so I'm posting some more pictures. In the mean time I will still continue to enjoy listening to them. I'm really liking the Grado sound. Almost made me pick up the GS1000 on the sales forum.


 





 

 


your drivers are flush with the wood. The rs1s i got were raised up out of the wood. it made wearing comfies feel strange. they also moved and made crackling noises like the glue wasnt going to hold them in for long

 

[Merlyn1955]

Grado's are like Morgan automobiles, an Anachronism, a relic from another age, which has somehow made it to the 21st-century.. Dr. Dre will sell more Headphones in a day then Grado will sell in a lifetime. If you measure success by sales alone, than Dr. Dre's are a success, and Grado's are a failure... But Grado owners don't measure success by sales figures, we measure success by the quality of sound which we hear in our ears. Grado owners do not buy headphones because we are told by celebrities that they sound good, or we think that our friends will look at us in awe and wonderment because we have spent our money such expensive fashion statement's.. No, Grado owners are different from other people and that's a good thing.....

 

[fenderf4i]

The red drivers don't mean anything, it's just a simple color change.

 

[hsubox]

Grado's are like Morgan automobiles, an Anachronism, a relic from another age, which has somehow made it to the 21st-century.. Dr. Dre will sell more Headphones in a day then Grado will sell in a lifetime. If you measure success by sales alone, than Dr. Dre's are a success, and Grado's are a failure... But Grado owners don't measure success by sales figures, we measure success by the quality of sound which we hear in our ears. Grado owners do not buy headphones because we are told by celebrities that they sound good, or we think that our friends will look at us in awe and wonderment because we have spent our money such expensive fashion statement's.. No, Grado owners are different from other people and that's a good thing.....

True.
Thus, the headphones in my household...