[devouringone3]

I will repeat and clarify what it costed for me (located in Québec province of Canada): my upgrade costed 1250 USD, the pads 150 (which they are now priced at 60$), and the fully insured shipping back to Canada + included associated duty fees (Joe told me he would do an arrangement with USPS to avoid me extra customs and it worked) 200. (total: USD 1600)
 
I paid 1250 + 150 = 1400 thinking it would be all; he called me for the amount of the shipping back to me, which I sent him, and a bit more than a month later my headphone arrived.
 
Joe also asked me how much I had paid for my pair to insure that precise amount + the money I sent to him.
 
As long as his health is good I'm happy. Though I'm utterly curious to know what sort of extras your HP 1000 is going to get for more than 1250 dollars. I didn't know I had gotten only the base treatment myself.
 
 
Quote:

for this reason i sold mine and forgot the upgrade.
with new headphones, today, i think that this process is not necessary

 
People need to visualize that the upgraded HP 1000 isn't like a new headphone, but only a 101 % stock HP 1000.
 
If one sells his HP 1000, one should sell it because one isn't satisfied enough by the first 100 percents (which, in the upgrade, comes directly from the stock headphone; they remain unchanged throughout).

 

[stacker45]

Sad to say, but tamahome 77's experience is just one more reason for me to keep my HP1000 stock. I bought them because i liked the way they sound as they are, so spending a lot (for me anyway) of money, for what could turn out to be a side grade, or worse, a downgrade, is a chance that i'm not willing to take.
 
I hope that things work out for you tamahome77, and that you'll like your improved HP1000.
 
Please, keep us posted. 

 

[alota]

Quote:

 
 
 
People need to visualize that the upgraded HP 1000 isn't like a new headphone, but only a 101 % stock HP 1000.
 
If one sells his HP 1000, one should sell it because one isn't satisfied enough by the first 100 percents (which, in the upgrade, comes directly from the stock headphone; they remain unchanged throughout).

if the upgraded hp-1000 isn´t a new headphone, the situation is worst but i know a lot of persons that sais me a diferente thing.
i like the hp-1000 but, in the present day, i think that 3.000 dollars(used hp-1000+upgrade)is too much because there are alternatives(at the same price or at lowest price)

 

[abchead]

Quote:

When I first inquired about the upgrade, he told me that he was not very busy and if I send it to him quickly, he'll get it upgraded in 2-3 weeks time and send it back to me. He also asked me to enclosed a $1250 cheque for the upgrade and asked me how I wanted the upgraded headphones to be sent back to Canada and I told him I wanted via USPS express mail international.  He was fine with the shipping option at that time in March. 
 
A month later, I called and had some confusion with the upgrade process because he had asked me what I want to have done to the headphone upgrades. How am I suppose to know what I want to have done with the upgrades and shouldn't he be the one to know what  needs to be done to have the headphones upgraded?   He said depending on what you want to have done with the upgrades, the price varies.  I thought the $1250 covers the whole upgrade?  I found out later that it's not.  He isn't being very clear with the pricing and actually told me $1250 is the base price and he'll add $$ on top of that price after he inspects the headphones.  The pads will be $60 among other things that will increase the price to an extra $100 (estimation).  Well, I called him every 3-4 weeks to see how the progress was and each time he got caught up with something else.  I
 
As for shipping, after he told me that it'll cost $200 to $300 for shipping because he had shipped them to some European countries and it has cost $300.  I do not know where he got that figure from because I called the usps post office where his PO BOX is located and checked with the price.  It came out to $65 with $1000+ insurance via USPS express mail international with signature option.  The added insurance is only $5-$10.  I called him last week and he told me he had no idea that I was from Canada and things could get complicated with shipping international and he won't ship it via USPS and only have the headphones shipped UPS (picked up by the UPS driver from his home)
 
  We've conversed multiple times on the phone in the past few months and each time I mentioned that I'm from Canada and he had acknowledge it.  I was told that this week, he's going to assess my headphones and determine how much additional $$ it will cost to have the headphones upgraded on top of the $1250 I had sent him.  $1250 + ($200-$300 shipping) + $100 + bank draft ($8) + shipping the cheque to him via post ($20) = $$$$$.  I asked him if it is possible to have the headphones sent back to me if I somehow set an arrangement for the USPS driver to pick up my upgraded headphones later on and he was fine with that option.  That way, I don't need to pay him an additional $200-$300 for them to be sent back to me.

 
I myself have similar experience. Almost three months ago, as per Mr. Grado's instructions, I sent him a check for earpads, which he immediately cashed in. I thought it would take at most a month, for it's for earpads only. I checked with him twice, and he gave me an excuse (which actually sounds more like BS because he said he just made 500 pairs of earpads

). He also asked me to not call him again, and I have only called him three times in these three months!
 
If it's PayPal I could ask for a refund. Too bad it's a check.

 

[maconhel]

Quote:

 
I myself have similar experience. Almost three months ago, as per Mr. Grado's instructions, I sent him a check for earpads, which he immediately cashed in. I thought it would take at most a month, for it's for earpads only. I checked with him twice, and he gave me an excuse (which actually sounds more like BS because he said he just made 500 pairs of earpads

). He also asked me to not call him again, and I have only called him three times in these three months!
 
If it's PayPal I could ask for a refund. Too bad it's a check.

 
Joe does not answer the phone, I sent a letter also.. More than 5 months.

 

[devouringone3]

At his age I expect time to feel like it flies a lot faster than it does for us, and his priorities are set differently too... he might not care as much about getting his products out to the world anymore. Maybe sickness is involved. I've already said in this thread that he had to deal with a surgery at one point; in the period that followed his wife's death.
 
You also need to make up your priorities. Which one do you want the most: an exclusive, perfected version of the flat pads that will improve the performance of your Grado HP 1000 and that should last for a few years, or having 60 (to 150) dollars in your pockets.
 
If you ever want to get your pads, cancelling the transaction/check or asking for a refund is the very last thing to try.
 
Remember the time scale thing, for him three months might not be that much. I would not compare this to a run-of-the-mill eBay/Head-Fi headphone transaction where instantaneousness of payment (on the part of the buyer) and next-day shipping (on the part of the seller) has almost became the norm.

 

[maconhel]

I'm being ignored for so long .. drivers are cheap, less than $50, the exchange takes 10 minutes.

 

[alota]

Quote:

I'm being ignored for so long .. drivers are cheap, less than $50, the exchange takes 10 minutes.

because is joe grado, a legendary figure

 

[devouringone3]

Quote:

I'm being ignored for so long .. drivers are cheap, less than $50, the exchange takes 10 minutes.

 
Yes apparently driver swapping is easy to do once you can solder expertly.
 
But according to the most recent news, he charges $300 per unit.

 

[jjinh]

As much as I like my grados I think this so-called 'add to quality' upgrade is ridiculously expensive.

 

[devouringone3]

The HP 1000 was initially only the HP 1 model that sold for USD 595 in 1989, it was part of the Joseph Grado signature series of cartridges which were considered the finest and very best designed and made by Grado Laboratories; they were also the most expensive. (The signature series itself became a separate branch of Grado Labs called Joseph Grado Signature Products right when the HP 1000 came out; the HP 2 and HP 3, HPA-1 and Ultra-Wide Bandwidth interconnects, and then HPA-2 were the only other three products made and sold by Joe under that new branch, if I remember correctly)

 

[stacker45]

When all is said and done, the HP1000 upgrade pretty much adds up to the price of a new pair of PS1000, now there's something to think about.

 

[devouringone3]

Yeah I know where you come from.
 
For me USD 1600 was peanuts with in my mind the knowledge that it should make my HP 1000 better.
 
 
But I don't even consider myself a Grado lover anymore; when I use my John Grados / Magnums I wish I was listening to one of my HP 1000s instead, and when I do just that and return to my HP 1000, every times what I hear when I first press play with the HP 1000 on my head confirms that envy of switching that I had later on.
 
I like the HP 1000 drivers the most and Joseph Grado's products (in general, all of them very much; I would love to own his microphone, and I'm still searching for his HP P/S-1 HPA-1 and -2 head-amp power supply though I'm on my way to make myself one), second.
 
The HP 1000 driver is a marvel, and constitute a timeless technological feat of a (what could almost be referred to as a different type of) dynamic driver, that I don't think will ever be reproduced –because they don't need to, materials have gotten purer and manufacturing tools and processes better; this alone makes every dynamic driver good enough so that they can focus on either trying to re-invent it (Sennheiser HD800 ring radiator) and/or focus on the extraneous parts like the cups, headband, tuning it as a whole etc.–. Leaving behind what the HP 1000 driver has that every other dynamic drivers on earth right now (possibly), and all those left to be developed (probably) will never have: some kind of elastically moving piston on it's back that acts as a pressure diffuser, and a creased dome as part of its diaphragm. I don't understand many aspects of such features, physio-anatomically, but boy I love what they contribute to making this driver do what it does the way it does it.
 
 
But in the end it will remain for me that nothing will ever be too good for my main HP 2; if Joe has developed some kind of costly add-on to his upgrade service I'm sending him my pair again without thinking twice.

 

[stacker45]

Peanuts!!!, you and i certainly don't have the same definition of what $1600 represents, because to me, it's a substantial sum of money, even for a new pair of headphones, so spending that much to modify an exisisting pair of headphones, is just too expensive.
 
That being said, even if the mod was cheaper, i still wouldn't go through with it, simply because i bought my HP2 because i like the way they sound stock, so i'd be too scared that i wouldn't like the way they'd sound after the mod.

 

[devouringone3]

They sound pretty much the same actually (for me, it started with just the trust that they would be better; I need to return to doing critical listening to know for sure)... The thing is I still have no idea where to look (hear) for differences between the two. At least I got the issue of the upgraded flat pads out of the way; which they, on the other hand, do make up for a gargantuous improvement and clearly not a side-step.
 
Still though, I use my own specially designed tape mod on stock HD414 pads on all my Grado headphones now (because they have more bass and details [coming from the mod] and airiness, transparency, efficiency, and "volume uniformity" --sounds the same at every volume levels-- [coming from the HD414 pad] than even the tape-modded Joe upgraded flat pads)... and trying to improve from my modded pad; I don't think I'll ever look back onto any of the Grado foam offerings, most of them are jinxed.