[seeberg]

How goes it everybody? It's been a spell or two or three since I've posted on the forum, and I've had quite the intermission to say the least. But that's another topic yet to discussed perhaps at another time

So this story goes, yesterday I received a pair of well-worn SR-225's from the era of flat pads in trade for my SR-60's. I think the trade was fair, all things considered. My pair had the stock cable replaced with that of my HD-580's and its 1/4" adapter, that aside it was a complete package with box and contents. The SR-225's had missing relief mounts and the adjuster pegs mounted directly to the ear cups, the wiring at the base of the cable was opened at some point to check for intermittent sounds on the left side, and no pads to be found.

I'm thinking SCORE! But wait....

Turns out the intermittent sound on the left ear cup wasn't in the cable at all; it was at a point on the solder plate inside the ear cup! I suppose the hair-fine wiring that was normally covered by ABS epoxy (I'm assuming that's what they'd use, I could be wrong) was cauterized by a soldering iron when the headphones were worked on before I got them.
Sort of makes things bittersweet, but considering what I want to now rebuild and the awesome ear cups I have on hand to replace the stock cups with, I think I got a screaming deal.

And now a request- and this I may re-post as a WTB thread in the headphones section of F/S forums if it is appropriate: I'm much in need of a single working SR-125 or SR-225 driver. I will also attempt to contact Grado labs and see if I can purchase a replacement driver, though I imagine repairs not to be available a la carte. Any help or PM is greatly appreciated!

I will try to post a not so great image or two of the driver rigor mortis shortly.
(Oh and not to worry, they weren't planned to be my main listening 'phones, that remains a proud duty of the HD580's, which have aged like a fine violin

There will be Project 225 pics as well!)

It's great to be back!

 

[Germancub]

Welcome back! It's rather unfortunate what happened but my only question now is if you were to buy the extra driver from another person, how could it possibly be matched to the one that's in there? Forgive my ignorance.

 

[seeberg]

No worries! My ignorance surely trumps all others

As far as I'm concerned, the vintage of the driver shouldn't matter, and I'm sure the matching will be good enough- my SR60's had a replaced driver and it didn't seem to affect much of anything (and if it seems to, i can always use the new driver as a PC speaker for about say, 200 hours oughta do it for a good fast burn in). I sent an email to Grado Labs on Sunday afternoon to request purchasing repair service or a replacement driver. Hopefully I'll hear something back from them soon...

Images of the goods- pardon the size; I recommend full-HD resolution where available:

Hair thin wires. Gotta love 'em.

Dead driver, we hardly knew ye.

Oh sweet ultra hi purity copper, its mucho shiny:

The new cups, they weren't difficult to form. I imagine they will impart a unique transparency to the signature sound.

In the image below you can see a crease in the epoxy, moving diagonally from lower left to upper right, this crease is a hair thin wire and the weakest point in a Grado, aside from the occasional frayed cable.

 

[seeberg]

Update: I successfully contacted Grado Labs and they quoted $40 for repair service and shipping; I think they deserve at least $50 considering the state of the dead driver and the fact that Grado is very much FTW across the board in my book.

I'll ship them out as soon as I can afford the repairs and then the project cups are going to be installed. A new thread on the matter will follow