[kontai69]

I wonder if the sloppy lettering will start to show up on the GS1000 as well.

Quote:

But the off-centered lettering sure s_cks, as well as the new font.

I think the "new" font is still the same "Courier" that has been used for almost a couple of years now. TMK, Grado switched the font on all their woody headphones from "GARAMOND" to "COURIER" late 2005. I say this because I bought two brand new RS-1's in Dec 2005, one had the classic Garamond font and the other one had the current Courier font. The latter actually was the infamous "Late Friday RS-1" that has been discussed before.

I speculate that Grado must have changed the contractor for the wooden cups or at least the contractor and/or machinery used for the engraving since the engraving was fine (bold and aligned) until most recently.

Edit: new Grado font is Courier, not Times New Roman as I said before.

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salt Peanuts /img/forum/go_quote.gif I personally like the no-button look as well - I've never liked the buttons in the first place. It's the rest of the re-design that I don't like.

I'd could go button/no button without issue, but from the pictures we've seen so far the craftsmanship has taken a huge step back. It almost looks like a cheap knock-off grado to me now and certainly not a ~$700 flagship headphone. I've seen better woodwork in my basement.

 

[eduj]

In one word they look like they are fake

 

[M0T0XGUY]

Has anyone considered that, rather than redesigning their headphones to cut costs, Grado has instead switched wood suppliers to a company that doesn't have the ability to produce the buttons and old lettering? Evidence suggesting the legitimacy of this theory comes from the fact that the new wood has a more apparent grain and seems to be darker; but why would Grado switch wood-types 10 or more years into production when the older style has worked perfectly well for them for an equal amount of time? Also, the lettering seems to be exceedingly off center with these new models, yet, among many quality control issues, Grado has rarely produced (in the past) an RS-1 or RS-2 that exhibits this strange, unsightly problem. In other words, if Grado has been able to produce RS-1's and RS-2's with near perfect lettering for the entirety of their respective production runs, then, even with a redesign, I don't see any reason why the new wooden models should be suffering from this issue; unless, of course, Grado's new wood supplier simply isn't as skilled (or as used to working with the RS-1 / 2 cups) as their old supplier.

EDIT: Kontai69 (and many others in this thread, I assume, for I haven't really read through it all) beat me to it.

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M0T0XGUY /img/forum/go_quote.gif Has anyone considered that, rather than redesigning their headphones to cut costs, Grado has instead switched wood suppliers to a company that doesn't have the ability to produce the buttons and old lettering? Evidence to this theory comes from the fact that the new wood has a more apparent grain and seems to be darker; but why would Grado switch wood-types when the older style has worked perfectly well for over 10 years? Also, the lettering seems to be exceedingly off center with these new models, yet, among many quality control issues, Grado has rarely produced an RS-1 or RS-2 that exhibits this strange, unsightly problem. In other words, if Grado has been able to produce RS-1's and RS-2's with near perfect lettering for the entirety of their respective production runs, then, even with a redesign, I don't see any reason why the new wooden models should have off centered writing; unless, of course, Grado's new wood supplier simply isn't as skilled (or as used to working with the RS-1 / 2 cups) as their old supplier.

Re-design or not, from the pictures I've seen, craftsmanship looks cheap and shoddy.

 

[M0T0XGUY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salt Peanuts /img/forum/go_quote.gif Re-design or not, from the pictures I've seen, craftsmanship looks cheap and shoddy.

Oh I completely agree with you (I'm extremely glad I bought my RS-1 a month earlier), but I just don't see any reason for Grado to make such a drastic change in the look of the RS-1's, unless they were forced to do so by switching wood suppliers. Change has simply never been John Grado's style, especially when such a change involves a "redesign" rather than an addition to or a subtraction from the product line, so I don't understand why he would start now simply by "cheapening up" their near top of the line series with a different wood style, lack of buttons, and new writing.

 

[Rav]

I agree that the off centre text is pretty inexcusable, but it's not a new problem. Saw a couple of old style RS2s on the F/S forum over the past month or so with very misaligned text...

 

[HiWire]

bleh

 

[lmilhan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eduj /img/forum/go_quote.gif In one word they look like they are fake

And a BAD fake at that!

 

[Anarchy965]

Does anyone actually like this redesign. I think the old ones looked a lot better.

 

[unclejr]

Well, I don't want to sound like the Grado Apologist, but once all the kinks are worked out, I think it will look fine. I think the new ones will look better than the ones with Courier. But I kinda want to see them in person before making that final judgment.

-GA

 

[FunnyPhunny]

Wonder if this will trickle down the line...

(the extinction of buttons that is)

 

[n_maher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I don't want to sound like the Grado Apologist, but once all the kinks are worked out, I think it will look fine.

No offense man, but that's pretty weak of Grado to put out a product that doesn't already have all the kinks worked out, if that's even what they did. We, the public, aren't beta testers. For my money I want a finished, polished, professional looking product for my premium dollars.

And the repeated cries of "handmade" don't sit well with me wither, that's no excuse for sloppy, which is exactly what these first examples look like to me. Honestly, a well executed example of the redesign may in fact look better than the original, (I like the no-buttons look) but so far so not good.

 

[unclejr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher /img/forum/go_quote.gif No offense man, but that's pretty weak of Grado to put out a product that doesn't already have all the kinks worked out, if that's even what they did. We, the public, aren't beta testers. For my money I want a finished, polished, professional looking product for my premium dollars. And the repeated cries of "handmade" don't sit well with me wither, that's no excuse for sloppy, which is exactly what these first examples look like to me.

Who can argue with that?

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I don't want to sound like the Grado Apologist, but once all the kinks are worked out, I think it will look fine. I think the new ones will look better than the ones with Courier. But I kinda want to see them in person before making that final judgment. -GA

IMO, all the kinks of re-designs should be worked out before going ahead with production and selling the re-designed cans. I highly doubt Grado will re-call and replace the re-designed ones with "kinks."