Grado SR-60

[daryl]

I recently purchased a pair of Grado SR-60's to listen to at work. I have mostly been into Hi-Fi speakers as opposed to headphones prior to this. When, I listened to them in the store, I was blown away by the sound qualirt. I listened on some small Yamaha CD system they had there.

Now, that I have brought them home and hooked them into my equipment, they don't sound nearly as impressive. I can still hear deeper bass and a more detailed overall sound experience, compared to my $20 pair of cans, but it doesn't sound anywhere near as good.

My equipment at home is a Marantz SR870 receiver connected to a JVC XL-PG4 portable CD player. Any idea where the bottle neck in my sound experience might be? Or do you think they accidentally gave me a pair of RS1's to listen to at the store?

I am thinking it may be the CD player. Thank you in advance.

/Daryl

 

[dngl]

THe PCDP is weak and you have no amp.

 

[Xander]

My guess is that the receiver is plenty addiquite for those headphones. It may be the cheap PCDP that's causing the sound to be less then exciting. Have you tried running them right from the PCDP? It's also possible that the receivers headphone stage isnt that great...

 

[Tim D]

Receivers have no damping factor...given the low impedance of Grados, it is non-existant.

Even your PCDP has potential to have better damping factor.

Compare the amplification stages...one is taking the line-out from the PCDP and amplifying it for speakers only to add dropping resistors. Not very ideal.

The other is energy efficient and cheap opamp stage. Also not very ideal, but could be possibly better.

 

[DesBen]

It is also possible that the demo you listened to had many hours of prior use. Your new set might just need a good "break in". I know the sound of my SR60 became quite a bit more fluid and detailed after a month or so of use.

Give them some time.

I have an antique JVC XL-P42 portable CD player. It sounds very boring. Its sound is noticeably inferior compared to my Panasonic SL-CT570. I hope your JVC XL-PG4 is better than my P42.

 

[daryl]

I did try it straight from the PCDP and there wasn't too much difference. Anyone want to recommend a better PCDP for matching with my Grado SR-60's? I think I may just go back to the store and compare their demo model with mine and check out their audio sources.

 

[carlo]

i think desben hit it on the head... give 'em a few days to break in.

 

[Matt]

...gidda Altoids amp from JMT.

I had 80s (close enough, darnit) and I was running them outta my cheapo CDP. There was a burn-in improvement, but it PALED in comparison to the improvement I got by adding an amp. I'll bet you that altoid will do you right...

- Matt

 

[daryl]

I'll leave my SR-60's plugged in for a couple hours/days, and see what that does for them. Thanks for your suggestions. I'll let you know.

 

[kajohndet]

I got mine for couple of days, but I have listened with them a lot. This thing is growing on my ears. They sound better and better. I also did a mod by removing the center of comfy pads as advised by other headfiers. It made noticable difference (clearer and more involving). I'm getting more and more in love with these cans. Two flaws I found are:

1. Uncomfortable. They hurt my ears after a while of listening. I've tried to bend out the headband, but I couldn't bend it too much coz it would be too loose and might fall out.
2. This point really made me confused. I found that when I plugged them directly to SL-CT570, I needed to turn volume to full power to get enough loud level. Grado have only 32 Ohm. They shouldn't need that much gain.

Could somebody clarify about these?

 

[DesBen]

Full volume on an SL-CT570??

With mine, 4 is a good volume. 5 gets really groovy, and 6, I fear for my hearing. Be careful! Are you sure you're not using "Line-out"?

 

[kajohndet]

I just plugged in and listen to it again. It really did require atleast 8/10 to hear every details (or I should try with rock and roll).
By the way with TA and Cmoy DIY, there's no problem at all.
why?
Opps also I don't think I have hearing impaired.

 

[daryl]

Greetings,

I talked to my audio dealer today and they said the demo models that I was listening to had atleast 2000 hours on them (this could explain things). Apparently, my Grado's should start sounding better after about 500 hours.

Are there any optimal techniques for burning in a set of cans faster? Are any types of music better than others for this process? Does the volume of the music make any difference? Is plugging them in and leaving them going off the radio or a CD for several days enough?

Thank you for all your help.

/Daryl

 

[DesBen]

If you do a search, you should find quite a few posts on burn-in on this board. People usually recommend bass heavy music, played loud (but before the point of distortion). I think the idea is to try to get as much movement as possible from the diaphragm, which should loosen it up and its surrounds. Whether repeated bass kicks (as in techno music) or sustained bass notes (as in orchestral or organ music) are better, I do not know.

I think you will be able to appreciate a change much before 500hrs. They will probably keep on getting better after that, but not at the same rate as initially.

 

[r3cc0s]

download some "pink noise" which is generally radio static
and run them loudly but not above loud listening level

loop it
and let it run for about 4 days straigth
it should help tons