Official Flat Pads Thread
Sep 30, 2003 at 2:15 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 56

grinch

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probably a tad bit premature about saying when they've arrived, but i figured we could all post comments and thanks to todd. i'm fairly excited about this, as i really think it will help team grado finish off the silly hd600 infestation that seems to live around here.
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i hope these pads are identical to the two sets of joseph grado pads that i have, and i will be posting a comparison as soon as i receive my new pair.

anybody else excited?
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p.s. congratulations on your forum, todd, and i seriously hope your business takes off and booms (or continues to boom).
 
Sep 30, 2003 at 2:26 PM Post #3 of 56
Hi Guys,

It looks like the pads will be in stock in about 2 weeks. As soon as they are in I will be a shipping madman getting them out to all of you. I do want to thank everyone for their pre orders as it helps me offset the initial costs of getting them in.

They are the exact same pads from the exact same manufacturer that Grado Labs used. I was given permission to order them on my own so I will have plenty of them for a while and I can re-order if need be.

Sorry vwap, I didn't mean to hurt the sales of your pads! I was just trying to fill a void for the originals.

Be talking to you soon,

Todd
 
Sep 30, 2003 at 2:53 PM Post #4 of 56
Quote:

Originally posted by Todd
Sorry vwap, I didn't mean to hurt the sales of your pads! I was just trying to fill a void for the originals.


Hey.. That's totally cool.
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Now I can just refer people to the flats, since, with classes having started (as of yesterday), I'm finding myself with a lot less time on my hands to cut pads
wink.gif


Best of luck with the flat pads!
 
Sep 30, 2003 at 6:28 PM Post #5 of 56
Quote:

Originally posted by Todd

They are the exact same pads from the exact same manufacturer that Grado Labs used. I was given permission to order them on my own so I will have plenty of them for a while and I can re-order if need be.



This to me is the best news of the year....seriously I'm sooo stoked.
 
Sep 30, 2003 at 8:07 PM Post #6 of 56
Quote:

Originally posted by grinch
i'm fairly excited about this, as i really think it will help team grado finish off the silly hd600 infestation that seems to live around here.


[size=medium]ROTFLMAO ![/size]
 
Sep 30, 2003 at 8:44 PM Post #7 of 56
Yeah, I'm sure that no matter what, Todd will forever be known as the man who resurrected the Grado flat pads.

Now, Todd... about the HP-1s....
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- Chris
 
Sep 30, 2003 at 9:12 PM Post #8 of 56
Yep, Todd, I'm one of those who had made a pre-order on the flat Grado pads. Though I'm happy with the bowl pads on the SR-225's, I'm suspecting that the flat pads would sound better with the somewhat overbright SR-325's.

Happy listening (and hopefully to vinyl with your favorite Grado and Sennheiser headphones),
Eagle_Driver
 
Oct 1, 2003 at 3:07 AM Post #9 of 56
Yes, first flat pads, now on to the HP-1s!
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(actually, I'm half serious.. the HP-1 would fit very nicely in the Grado line if they sold for $800-900.)
 
Oct 1, 2003 at 4:01 AM Post #10 of 56
Quote:

Originally posted by eric343
Yes, first flat pads, now on to the HP-1s!
biggrin.gif
biggrin.gif


(actually, I'm half serious.. the HP-1 would fit very nicely in the Grado line if they sold for $800-900.)


Oh yeah, please sign me up for a pair or two!
 
Oct 1, 2003 at 4:18 AM Post #11 of 56
The HP-1’s sold for $595 originally.

I love the HP-2’s. All metal and solid feeling. They are probably pretty labor intensive to make since there are no stamped parts. No sheet metal.

I bet they’d have to sell for at least twice what they did originally. And remember Grado was in the Red when they produced the HP-1’s originally.

Easily 50% more than the $695 the RS-1’s sell for. But in reality probably closer to twice the cost.

It would be a good exercise in manufacturing theory to get a quote on making a new pair.


As a side question: on the inside of the chambers of my HP-2’s behind the drivers it appears to be tacky almost like it’s coated with something. Does anyone know if it’s just crud? Or could it be a coating to reduce resonances/standing waves? I know they coat drivers in speakers. I took mine apart over the weekend to look at the construction.


Mitch
 
Oct 1, 2003 at 5:02 PM Post #12 of 56
Quote:

Originally posted by grinch
anybody else excited?


Absolutely. I finally placed my order.
wink.gif
 
Oct 3, 2003 at 7:00 PM Post #13 of 56
I just ordered two pairs over the phone with Todd.

Very nice person, very pleasant to deal with.
 
Oct 3, 2003 at 7:10 PM Post #14 of 56
Quote:

Originally posted by Beagle
Very nice person, very pleasant to deal with.


Oh yeah, had a great conversation with him yesterday myself. In addition to the flats, I ordered a pair of Ety 4S (felt like I was stealing the price was so good) and believe it or not, they were delivered this morning... can't beat that ! Not at all...

smily_headphones1.gif
 
Oct 3, 2003 at 10:52 PM Post #15 of 56
On my SR-125s, I took off the bowls and used pads from my old Nakamichi headphones. They worked OK, but were a bit too thin; the grille would touch my ears.

I've since put on the flats that came with my SR-60s a long time ago. These are the right balance... just thick enough, but still close enough to maintain very strong bass and warmer midrange.

The flats also increase the volume enough that a portable such as the iMP-550 can work without an amplifier (although I prefer to carry my supermini).

I'm not that fond of Grado's up-front, aggressive, over-emphasized upper mid through lower treble band, which imposes itself on every recording. (My home headphones will probably be the HD650.)

These flat pads help warm up the sound a bit, so that the tonal balance is a bit closer to normal. But I still am bothered by how the sound hardens, for instance, as the violinist moves up the scale onto the upper string. It changes character significantly, losing transparency and grace.

The bowl shaped pads that now ship with Grados do help reduce the annoyance of this problem, but at some cost of warmth in tonal balance and in volume. May depend on the fit with your individual ears.

I have pre-ordered two pair of flats, one as a spare, one for a friend who's been teaching me more about classical music every week... his old ones are falling apart from daily use. (Thanks, Serge!)
 

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