[scaramonga]

Hi guys, thought I'd come here and pick your expert brains into solving an annoying problem I have.
 
I have a pair of Grado SR80's which worked great until the left channel started cutting out intermittently. I thought it may be a loose connection somewhere, so I tried fiddling with the wires and changing connections i.e direct to soundcard, front panel on PC, through speaker connection etc. nothing made a difference.  Tapping slightly on the left side made the sound come back but not permanently so, it was erratic and distorted.  I read somewhere that hairs could get trapped and that blowing or sucking might release them, which I did but to no avail.
 
I gave up and bought the SR80i's last year, and again they worked for a few months, but guess what?, the exact same problem with them has occurred.  Left channel acting just as before.
 
I only power these with my soundcard, a PCIe Creative Fatal!ty Pro in my PC.
 
I love these cans, but am I just unlucky and its pure coincedence, or is there something else that could be causing this?
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Many thx.

 

[dizzyraider]

I'm not sure what is causing you issue, but I do know that if you get hair or other things stuck in your headphone, what you would get is a rattling sound and not sound cutting in and out intermittently. I sounds like bad wire connection, either a break in the cable or the connection to the driver is loose.
 
I think Grado will do repairs on headphones for a small fee, or if you know someone in the forum that could check out the connection for you.

 

[scaramonga]

Hey, thx for the reply
 
Such a shame as I love these cans, but I'm gonna go with something else, as that is now both pairs with a blown left channel.  Just tested on another system and it is the cans
 
I am at a loss to see how a soundcard can blow 2 sets of cans in 3 years?  I do have them loud, but same channel?  I ain't risking getting them repaired as it seems I'm out of luck with this combination.
 
Many thx for your help anyway.

 

[Yoga Flame]

If your soundcard has a DC offset problem on the left channel, that might have done it. But usually that blows the headphones much more quickly than in a matter of months like you experienced. Still, it might be good to get that checked out before trying another pair of headphones with it.
 
http://www.rock-grotto.co.uk/dcoffset.htm
 
 
Say, do you still have your old SR80 lying around? With a little work, you could cannibalize its working driver to replace the blown one on your newer SR80i.

 

[sumathias]

I experienced a similar problem with my IEMs before. It could just be that the plug has become loose or bent (even slightly is enough to destroy the connection)
 
Try using your warranty. If not, perhaps you can find a replacement cable.
 
I'm not too sure about DC offset problems and what not, but that sounds like a far more serious problem. You can try plugging in some cheap earphones into it for a couple of days and seeing whether they blow as well though.

 

[scaramonga]

Quote:

Say, do you still have your old SR80 lying around? With a little work, you could cannibalize its working driver to replace the blown one on your newer SR80i.

Well, you know, as clever as I am lol, I never thought of that!

 
I did just the thing this afternoon.  Used the hairdryer method to get the driver units off, although the SR80 one was a bit more stubborn than the SR80i, they both slid off eventually
 
I did try to get the transducer out to see if I could repair, but after breaking off the lugs and making a mess lol, I gave up.
 
However, swapped them over with my limited soldering skillls, wrapped the driver housing with a bit of tape and closed it back up, hey presto!! - a working set of cans lol
 
Mighty awesome and work fine, but I suspect it won't last long.
 
I must thank you though for suggesting the above, and if it gives me a couple of months so I can grab some cash to get a decent pair of cans, it was well worth it.
 
Many many thx Yoga!!!!  I owe ya one

 

[Naqash]

I had more or less the same problem, I bought sr60i they work perfectly until after 30 days the left speaker start giving vibration sound when low frequency music is played, I returned Sr60i and bought Sr80i, then guess what!! same problem happened to SR80i's left speaker after 7 days of normal use.
First I thought this could be a problem with my sound card, but I think it is not the case, because I also have Sennheiser HD280 and I am using them reguraly from last 2 years, they work perfectly fine.
 
I love the sound of Grado but sadly the poor build quality is a big turnoff, so I am leaning towards Sennheiser HD595 or 598.
 
 
 

 

[koolkat]

There was a similar thread on the forums, and people suggested blowing into the earpads to .. I'm not sure.
I couldn't find the link on this one.
 
here are some links for other methods to solving the problem.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/205641/help-my-grado-hf-1-left-channel-stopped-working
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/507699/mystery-of-the-90-ohm-grado-driver
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/560904/left-channel-dies-occasionally
 
You could try asking the guys over in the Grado modding thread, maybe they've experienced similar things.
 
 

 

[Chris_Himself]

You know Grado will fix them for like 25 bucks right?
 
Grados cost 10 dollars to ship, 25 includes the driver and return shipping.
 
You'll then have two pairs of SR-80's!
 
Do you notice the difference in the "i" models? I couldn't quite detect any. But yeah you can sell the SR-80 you get back and have a little bit of spending money or you can just sell them as-is and I'm sure someone crafty will have a great purpose with them!

 

[Willakan]

I found the cables tended to work very slightly lose with my Grados, even with excessively careful treatment (we're talking dust covers and being very careful not to twist the diaphragm chambers). A blob of superglue at the spot where the wire enters the headphone on each side attached them firmly in place - now I can enjoy them without worrying about dodgy connections.

 

[wje]

Quote:

You know Grado will fix them for like 25 bucks right?
 
Grados cost 10 dollars to ship, 25 includes the driver and return shipping.
 
You'll then have two pairs of SR-80's!
 
Do you notice the difference in the "i" models? I couldn't quite detect any. But yeah you can sell the SR-80 you get back and have a little bit of spending money or you can just sell them as-is and I'm sure someone crafty will have a great purpose with them!

 
When I sent in my SR-225 (non - i) model to Grado for a new cable and drivers, they sent back the headphones with the newer driver mod - or how they're building the new "i" drivers in place.  Essentially, if you send your headphones into Grado, you list out the issues.  For the money, they'll replace the cable and the drivers for the said price - probably $25.00 for the SR-80i.  My SR-225 Grados were $40.00.  My SR-325i Grados were $45.00.  However, you'll then essentially have the newer "i" model with the exception of the revised cups that they've started to use on the "i" series.
 
 
Quote:

I found the cables tended to work very slightly lose with my Grados, even with excessively careful treatment (we're talking dust covers and being very careful not to twist the diaphragm chambers). A blob of superglue at the spot where the wire enters the headphone on each side attached them firmly in place - now I can enjoy them without worrying about dodgy connections.

Actually, if one wants to take the "fix" one step further, they could use a small amount of heat from a heat gun or hair dryer.  All one needs to do is get the inside glue softened as it is essentially just craft glue that they use with a hot glue gun to assemble them.  Once the glue has been softened, hold the cup and the driver "lip" where the pads attached, and slightly twist and pull to separate the parts.  Once open, you'll see a small wire tie that they've put in place to keep the cable from pulling out of the cups.  Actually, the wire tie is a bit too small, so one could either install a few other smaller wire ties to build up the thickness, or go to the next size of wire tie, or zip tie.  Once in place around the cable and pulled tight, just snip the end off.  Then heat the glue on the cups again with your heat gun or hair dryer to get it soft and push the cups and the driver assembly back together after you've made sure the cable and cable tie is inside of the groove of the driver casing.  You'll then have a connection that will be there for a very long time and the cable should never pull loose once again.