[anothertwilight]

Grado SR60s and a pair of Alessandro MS1s with Sony MDR7506 headbands and detachable cables.
Headband 'pleather' replaced with leather outer and lambskin lining. Grado grills removed and replaced with steel painted to match headband/cable (same hole/spacing as originals).

Red and white are the SR60s and were both gifts. The black is the MS1 and was a 'prototype' (tried newer 'mushroom' cups and PX100 drivers, learned to trim leather to better fit plastic headband etc.).

 

[anothertwilight]

Magnum v7 drivers in mahogany cups in Grado style (from e-bay seller tech_-mania). Gimbals and heaband custom made from brass bar and rod.

I'd been asked 'did you _make_ those' with reference to previous builds and was tired of saying 'well, it's more just assembly - this part I bought, this part I made ...'.
I was looking for wood cups, saw the mahogany on ebay and decided to try to make the headband, rodblocks and gimbals from brass. Design is with a nod to the original GP1000s.

With the first few mods, I made the headbands with a regular sewing machine (turned by had to better regulate the stitch length and to help the needle penetrate the leatrher). With the Sony bands, I bought an awl and hand stitched the leather.
I prefer this finish and did the same on this band. Same leather outer and lambskin lining with some foam to pad.

The cups came with a very fine stainless mesh. I picked up some brass mesh, but the spacing was too coarse. I tried the brass over the stainless, and liked the result, so that's what I went with.

I prefer the sound of these to the 325/v7s, above. Given that I do _not_ have golden ears, I suspect that it's entirely subjective and a result of my liking of the finished project.

 

[DavidA]

@anothertwilight , nice work and very creative use of spare parts.

 

[anothertwilight]

I suddently found slanting cups to be a good idea. Tried 6 mm on top, 8 mm on bottom, but 8mm seems better to me.
I'm feeling slightly ashamed of not measuring the depth prior to disassembly. I hope somebody would measure a set of lower end Grados just to find if they're tuned differently. I did readjust SR-80 cups with similar resuts, but it was long ago and no measurements were made back then as well.

Some measurements. All are from 2nd hand headphones so I can't guarantee that they haven't been modified, but from visual inspection, they seem stock*
Measurements from top, left (next to gimbal hole) bottom (beside cable entry) and right (next to gimbal hole) as you face the driver; all are in mm
MS-1 - left (6,7,8,6), right (7,8,8,7) (newer, wider style cup, possibly an e or i equivalent)
SR60e - left (7, 7.5, 8, 6.5), right (7,8,8,7)
SR60 - left (9, 10, 10, 9.5), right (7,7,7,8)

The newer MS1 certainly seems less regular. There's a visible difference with the pads off, even while the cups are still in the gimbals. The 60e certainly looks more regular.

*The last only arrived the other day, and I'd not yet looked closely at it. Now that I come to take these measurements, the left cup is loose and looks like it may have been worked on or modified. I'd consider those results to be suspect. The right appears untouched

 

[Shoewreck]

@anothertwilight these values look pretty random to me, but this is no wonder, as I've seen no alignment tool on factory video. This also explains huge channel mismatches usually measured on Grados.

 

[anothertwilight]

@anothertwilight these values look pretty random to me, but this is no wonder, as I've seen no alignment tool on factory video. This also explains huge channel mismatches usually measured on Grados.

Single measurement at each location, plastic ruler, by eye. I'd put my accuracy at about .5mm, tops. These are 2nd hand and may have had rougher lives than they have had since I got them - including, perhaps, hot-glue-softening temperatures inside a car in summer.

I'd use these numbers as a very rough guide - I'm not sure conclusions about conditions as they leave the factory can be drawn from this.

 

[DavidA]

I just got a 325i and its 8mm all around, but this is to be expected since there is a inner sleeve of the outer cup that will match up with the inner cups so it is a constant depth every time you open and close them.

 

[wildcat46734]

Hi all, I apologize because I'm sure this gets asked a lot but I can't find any recent information. Does anyone know of any stores or users that are still making/selling wooden cups for Grados?

 

[DavidA]

Hi all, I apologize because I'm sure this gets asked a lot but I can't find any recent information. Does anyone know of any stores or users that are still making/selling wooden cups for Grados?

Try @fleasbaby
Rholuplat: http://www.rholupat.com/grado-parts?page=1
Elleven Acoustica: http://www.ellevenacoustica.com/products

 

[WoodyLuvr]

I, also wholeheartedly, second Wabi Sabi Headphones made RS1 clones ( @fleasbaby )

 

[larry piencenaves]

can u guys help me on how to remove these plastic grills on grados without damaging it? hairdryer seems to be not working at all

 

[DavidA]

can u guys help me on how to remove these plastic grills on grados without damaging it? hairdryer seems to be not working at all

I don't think you can remove them without damaging them since its plastic and part of the cup.

 

[anothertwilight]

can u guys help me on how to remove these plastic grills on grados without damaging it? hairdryer seems to be not working at all

They look to be glued in, but with something that welds the plastic together. Definitely not the same glue as keeps the shell and liner together. The grills will melt, from heat, before the glue holding them in does.

 

[Jazmanaut]

Yeah, there definidely is no way they come off in one peace. I use small plyers and small crafting knife, to peel those off.

 

[larry piencenaves]

alright thanks for the reply guys..I just replaced my plastic mesh with metal one...poor plastic tho total rekt