[Bonthouse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by subtle /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's beyond hilarious how delusional you are. There you go with your capitalized words and four question marks again. The only one you "blasted" in that other thread was yourself, by posting a silly Gary Busey picture. I don't need to tell anyone about Grados different drivers. They can read it for themselves on their own website.

Yeah, as if a high-end headphone manufacturer will EVER post on their own website that they use the same driver in different casings and then ask $200 more just because it has a wooden casing instead of a plastic one..

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Guys, can we let the driver pissing contest drop? I suspect the truth is in the middle. Grado has the drivers manufactured for them. They have fixed tooling involved. Within the production, drivers fall within an acceptable tolerance. Some can be matched much closer than others. They would have the flexibility to change the thickness and material of the basket, the voice coil wire, and the mylar used for the cone within a range as well to still fall within the 32ohm nominal impedance. A different voice coil wire and mylar is going to tweak the sound sig slightly and cost more in lower quantity batches. These time or cost adders are passed on and command a premium for a better sound quality. After the drivers are sorted and matched, Grado does a little more tweaking and doping in house and the drivers fall into their groups for production in SR60s, 80s, 125, 225s, and 325s. The RS2s and RS1s have their own drivers run on the same tooling as the SR line except for the larger top or front flange for mounting in the larger diameter wood cups. The GS/PS are run on their own tooling due to the larger size. The same processes hold true for Grado phono cartridges, and I know this for a fact from talking directly to John about the Prestidge line of cartridges and tweaking the stylus on my Grado Green with other stylus and the differences in the cartridge blocks the styli mount into. Economies of scale really restrict what Grado or any manufacturer can do and still turn a reasonable profit and pay their employees a decent wage. That's part of the reason why only the higher end models have the dampening material on the backs of the drivers. It's why SR80s come to life when their Blu-Tak'ed and have more open screens put in. Is it equal to an RS-1 if it's in a mahogany cup? No, but it will sound better than the stock SR80 and probably much closer or better than 225s.

Please note - the above is my humble opinion based on conversations directly with John and my experiences with many, many years of working with manufactures of tiered products based on similar components, whether it's automobiles, amps, headphones, radios, or single loop PID controllers...




Quote:

Originally Posted by SpudHarris /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well this is my final couple of mods......... Reserected my headband after discovering I couldn't get a new one, I'd already taken off and destroyed the plastic slider blocks modding it for something else. Anyway a mate turned these for me when I told him what I was after, they are brass so the colour matches. The pad is just a single Senn HD25 self adhesive.

Spud,

I'm in the States, but how much would your buddy charge for a run of 5 or 10 pairs in aluminum? I have some custom work planed for my 325s and I really need aluminum instead of brass. Can he make them more angular to closely match the 325 cups? I can look into having it done here, but if he knows what he's doing already, it's easier to not reinvent the wheel.

 

[SpudHarris]

I'll ask him for you and pm you.

Brass was about £20 or £25 a pair if my memory serves but probably cheaper for 10 pairs.

Nigel

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpudHarris /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll ask him for you and pm you. Brass was about £20 or £25 a pair if my memory serves but probably cheaper for 10 pairs. Nigel

Thanks. 6061-T6 or other easy to source aluminum alloy is fine...

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoilermakerFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks. 6061-T6 or other easy to source aluminum alloy is fine...

I inquired also, but the price with shippimg was a little much. There may be some of who would piggyback onto your order for a bulk price and shipment of one package if you are interested. You might want to get pricing for 10 15 20, etc. I might be interested in 3 sets if the price were right.

.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by les_garten /img/forum/go_quote.gif I inquired also, but the price with shippimg was a little much. There may be some of who would piggyback onto your order for a bulk price and shipment of one package if you are interested. You might want to get pricing for 10 15 20, etc. I might be interested in 3 sets if the price were right. .

Cool.

Guys, if you're interested in a set, either post here or send me a PM with the quantity you would want. I need 3 pairs, and planned to have 2 spares for future use. If I went with 10, 5 would have been sold off...

As with any custom tooling work, there is a base cost just to set up the machine and run the first piece to tolerance. So it does definitely pay to have more pieces run and spread that cost over multiple pieces. Same with shipping over the pond. I have no problems being the pointman for shipments to be distributed in N.A.

 

[SpudHarris]

Guys, lets not get carried away here. I haven't even had it squared that he'll want to make loads of them and already you are lining up a bulk buy.

I was gonna help Les out and get him a set done but he never even replied once I pm'd him the price

so my buddy has been waiting for the nod which kinda made me look stupid.

He runs a small family business and slots this type of stuff in when he can to help me out. I'll ask but you may be better served getting a local engineering company to do it as the prices won't drop drastically I'm sure.

I'll post back once I've asked if he's willing to:
a) make it different to mine (more angled)
b) Use different material
c) Make bulk numbers

 

[Bonthouse]

If he's prepared to do so, I'll take a pair! I'm thinking of getting me a Grado within the next month or so, woodie it and this will be a very nice addition to it!

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpudHarris /img/forum/go_quote.gif Guys, lets not get carried away here. I haven't even had it squared that he'll want to make loads of them and already you are lining up a bulk buy. I was gonna help Les out and get him a set done but he never even replied once I pm'd him the price so my buddy has been waiting for the nod which kinda made me look stupid. He runs a small family business and slots this type of stuff in when he can to help me out. I'll ask but you may be better served getting a local engineering company to do it as the prices won't drop drastically I'm sure. I'll post back once I've asked if he's willing to: a) make it different to mine (more angled) b) Use different material c) Make bulk numbers

Sorry I didn't reply earlier. I just couldn't Justify $50 a pair. But if there was a possibility of a Bulk price, I was interested.

.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpudHarris /img/forum/go_quote.gif Guys, lets not get carried away here. I haven't even had it squared that he'll want to make loads of them and already you are lining up a bulk buy. I was gonna help Les out and get him a set done but he never even replied once I pm'd him the price so my buddy has been waiting for the nod which kinda made me look stupid. He runs a small family business and slots this type of stuff in when he can to help me out. I'll ask but you may be better served getting a local engineering company to do it as the prices won't drop drastically I'm sure. I'll post back once I've asked if he's willing to: a) make it different to mine (more angled) b) Use different material c) Make bulk numbers

Let us know, but I'll also have a local machine shop quote them for me if he's not interested. If he passes, would you care to share dimensions?

 

[jamess71]

Makes me want to pick up another set of Grados just to mod. Doooh I love this hobby.

 

[tenzip]

I PM'd Spud earlier, and suggested if his friend wasn't particularly interested, the company I work for could turn these out by the thousand in short order, out of whatever material you'd like, and it would save the pain of international shipment (at least for those of you in the US), and he said that was fine. Feel free to get quotes and/or get them made locally. According to Spud, the piece was based off of something that was for another purpose entirely, just happened to look right to him.

I was considering making some for myself, but I intended to make them more like the plastic blocks are now, but a bit smaller, instead of sticking straight out from the headband. The design can be a community effort right here, but in another thread, I think.

One piece of information I would need before I can proceed is the dimensions of the end of the headband piece, so I can determine the best way to connect the block to the band. I've never taken mine apart, and would prefer not to if possible, until I know I have a viable replacement. Anybody have a headband they are willing to part with, or take apart and measure with a caliper, and send me dimensions? One free pair of the blocks to whoever ships me a headband or gets dimensions of the end of the steel band first.

 

[RonMiller1]

Is it possible to take off the headband without breaking the L and R squares? I want to make my own headband, but want to make it reversible.

 

[limpidglitch]

Wiggle and pull the metal band out of the plastic blocks. They're glued in there, but with a little bit of muscles and a little bit of patience, it will come out.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonMiller1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is it possible to take off the headband without breaking the L and R squares? I want to make my own headband, but want to make it reversible.

You can read JMoney Audio's site for instructions or do this:

The metal headband snaps into the plastic blcoks. It's also secured with some low grade glue. So you wiggle side to side till it crunches a little and the glue breaks loose. Then pull straight out. To replace, it just snaps into the plastic block.

.