[JonnyBoy]

The design and simplicity of Grado phones make them so conducive to modifying. I was on a bus on the way home from school and was thinking about some possible upgrades (I'm going to be an industrial designer, thinking about this kind of stuff is like my job).

I took a step back and basically thought about what I didn't like about my Grados. I arrived at the following list.

1. Stupid, thick, tangle-prone cord.
2. Hard plastic headband
3. They're stylish, but they don't shine as much as they could in this department.

Now, after doing some searches here, I found a couple mods that I want to do for sure.

Firstly, I want to apply a new headband. I have a friend who could knit me a nice fitted cover and I could using some padding behind it. I could also go the premade route. Do you guys have any suggestions as far as premade aftermarket bands go?

Nextly. The tangle problem. I think I know how I want to alleviate this. If I use a smaller gauge wire, I could sneak a wire from one driver, underneath the headband, to the other side. I could then combine them both into a single outlet jack, so I could have one detachable cable coming out.

As far as this mod goes, could you recommend any smaller wire that I can discreetly sneak behind the headband? Also, some of that nifty cloth covered wire for the main run, where could I get that? I also need to keep this affordable, I'm not a real audiophile or anything, so super expensive cable would be illogical for me.

Wiring is my other issue. I know my way around a soldering iron, but I know little to nothing about audio related electronics. How would I hook this all together?

What do you guys think though? It's feasible and logical right?

 

[jgonino]

For the headband, head-fi member Fatman makes some really nice leather ones with padding. Also, you can just get a beyerdynamic snap-on one. It fits nicely. There was a thread somewhere i saw about a grado re-cable and jack install. do a search i guess.

 

[JonnyBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgonino /img/forum/go_quote.gif For the headband, head-fi member Fatman makes some really nice leather ones with padding. Also, you can just get a beyerdynamic snap-on one. It fits nicely. There was a thread somewhere i saw about a grado re-cable and jack install. do a search i guess.

Where can I get the beyerdynamic one? Do I have to fax them an order or something?

 

[Punnisher]

I'm also thinking about having the right channel go over the headband, but I'm not sure about aftermarket headbands.
The swiveling nature of the cans make it a bit difficult, however.

 

[NiceCans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBoy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nextly. The tangle problem. I think I know how I want to alleviate this. If I use a smaller gauge wire, I could sneak a wire from one driver, underneath the headband, to the other side. I could then combine them both into a single outlet jack, so I could have one detachable cable coming out.

This can work, but I found it to work only fair IMO.
The problem is that after you dremel out the material to get the wire to go out/in through the top of the earcups and run the wire you may find you have severely limited the movement of the earcup regarding top-to-bottom pivot. This means they may have difficulty sitting flat on your ears thus increasing the overall discomfort.

Another reason I reverted to the two-sided cable was with only one cable the headphone felt less stable on my head, resulting in a need for more tension on the headband, again increasing the overall discomfort.

So I suggest you use a real flexible wire or try to locate it so it exits the earcup without interfering with the pivot. Or just use a two-sided cable that suits you better.

 

[JonnyBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans /img/forum/go_quote.gif This can work, but I found it to work only fair IMO. The problem is that after you dremel out the material to get the wire to go out/in through the top of the earcups and run the wire you may find you have severely limited the movement of the earcup regarding top-to-bottom pivot. This means they may have difficulty sitting flat on your ears thus increasing the overall discomfort. Another reason I reverted to the two-sided cable was with only one cable the headphone felt less stable on my head, resulting in a need for more tension on the headband, again increasing the overall discomfort. So I suggest you use a real flexible wire or try to locate it so it exits the earcup without interfering with the pivot. Or just use a two-sided cable that suits you better.

I'm going to open up my SR60s to take a look at my options. Could you recommend any flexible cable or a good supplier?

 

[bobby001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnyBoy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Where can I get the beyerdynamic one? Do I have to fax them an order or something?

you can see the Beyer head band on this picture but I don't know how to get it, I bought the MS2 like that

 

[goober-george]

wow, were your MS2's modded?

 

[bobby001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goober-george /img/forum/go_quote.gif wow, were your MS2's modded?

just the C-pad from headphile and a beyer head band

 

[JonnyBoy]

So, yeah. Curiosity bump.