post your grado mods....
Jun 10, 2019 at 5:52 PM Post #8,656 of 8,992
Ok so this was unbelievably easy to do, in fact I now have a near mint set of cups and sleeves from an sr80e if anyone wants to purchase them. I used 2.5mm mono jacks inside the headphone to make them detachable. Currently running them with a Dyson audio Gotham GHC balanced cable. The cups are walnut, from Vibro Labs, they are incredible looking. Liberating the driver was easy and soldering isn’t hard either, having done that too many times before. I’m using a Turbulent Labs headband. I added some dynamat to the backs of the driver magnets and there are four holes vented from the factory on the sr80e drivers that I used. Well I’m very happy with how this all turned out and and absolutely blown away by how good these sound now. What do you guys think of my first time woody? :wink:

Really very cool!
 
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Jun 10, 2019 at 7:57 PM Post #8,657 of 8,992
Really very cool!
EAAE0999-DBC8-4EE8-93AD-924141C0ECE0.jpeg
Thank you very much! I am also using a balanced cable running off a Nano iDSD BL, pretty impressed with that little dac and amp, perfect for this Grado!
 
Jun 11, 2019 at 5:58 PM Post #8,659 of 8,992

Thank you very much! I am also using a balanced cable running off a Nano iDSD BL, pretty impressed with that little dac and amp, perfect for this Grado!

Ah, this one pic just made our day this much better. Enjoy!
 
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Jun 11, 2019 at 8:01 PM Post #8,660 of 8,992
So did you use the uncure stuff by Bob Smith (I use his CA btw, and its pretty damn good)?
I did not use it to separate the sleeve, used an exacto and light pressure for that. I did, however, use it to clean off the excess glue around the drivers and sleeves. It worked great for that and didn’t discolor anything. Stuff worked great for that purpose!
 
Jun 11, 2019 at 11:34 PM Post #8,661 of 8,992
I did not use it to separate the sleeve, used an exacto and light pressure for that. I did, however, use it to clean off the excess glue around the drivers and sleeves. It worked great for that and didn’t discolor anything. Stuff worked great for that purpose!

Good to know...thanks :)
 
Jul 8, 2019 at 4:24 AM Post #8,662 of 8,992
Hey guys, been a long time since I posted again on this thread, just wanna share my own grado 60e mod

So I; sanded the cups and rod blocks (removed the L and R) to a better and smoother surface (1200 final grit) changed the grill and added rubber stopers, made my own leather headband (purchased a set of leather crafting tools for this lol), purchase a much much better third party earpads, which is this (https://bit.ly/30eML1U) better than those original grado pads, tried all of them and will sound better after a few months, I really didnt belived in pads burn-in thingy till I ordered a new pair and it sounded different.
On the inside, Ive added 2 separate rubbery foam layers all around the plastic cups and also the drivers to greatly reduce resonance with a regular thin foam right below the grills (adds treble spark). Ive tried using magnets, Initially liked it, but the sound signature changed overtime and that I didn't liked. And finally replaced the stock horrible cables to mmcx-type cable (had a hard time soldering those tiny connectors).


P_20190707_172827_SRES_1[1].jpg P_20190707_172934_SRES_1[1].jpg


The bass on this is not like the one on stock, it now vibrates on my head maybe because of that rubbery foam I applied on the cups although 20-40hz is still lacking( bcoz grado), resolution I would say improved a little, and the treble quality is on the level that I want it to be, significantly reduced the 2khz peak, vocals on males are great, but not on females as I tuned it to have a warmer sound. Even though I had other headphones that are more superior in terms of technicality, grado still remains my go to headphones when Im casually listening to my library or playing games, and that openness that only grado headphones can deliver, love em.


Happy listening to everyone!
 
Last edited:
Jul 8, 2019 at 5:23 PM Post #8,663 of 8,992
Hey guys, been a long time since I posted again on this thread, just wanna share my own grado 60e mod

So I; sanded the cups and rod blocks (removed the L and R) to a better and smoother surface (1200 final grit) changed the grill and added rubber stopers, made my own leather headband (purchased a set of leather crafting tools for this lol), purchase a much much better third party earpads, which is this (https://bit.ly/30eML1U) better than those original grado pads, tried all of them and will sound better after a few months, I really didnt belived in pads burn-in thingy till I ordered a new pair and it sounded different.
On the inside, Ive added 2 separate rubbery foam layers all around the plastic cups and also the drivers to greatly reduce resonance with a regular thin foam right below the grills (adds treble spark). Ive tried using magnets, Initially liked it, but the sound signature changed overtime and that I didn't liked. And finally replaced the stock horrible cables to mmcx-type cable (had a hard time soldering those tiny connectors).





The bass on this is not like the one on stock, it now vibrates on my head maybe because of that rubbery foam I applied on the cups although 20-30khz is still lacking( bcoz grado), resolution I would say improved a little, and the treble quality is on the level that I want it to be, significantly reduced the 2khz peak, vocals on males are great, but not on females as I tuned it to have a warmer sound. Even though I had other headphones that are more superior in terms of technicality, grado still remains my go to headphones when Im casually listening to my library or playing games, and that openness that only grado headphones can deliver, love em.


Happy listening to everyone!

Black paint instead of wood on both cups looks really good! Nice work!
 
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Sep 23, 2019 at 5:14 PM Post #8,665 of 8,992
...more experiments in new shapes. I really like having a curved entryway into the outside of the cup (like a trumpet mouth):

20190923_052624_resized.jpg

The wood is a mystery to me. It was part of a larger pile (mostly Oak) that was given to me. Its hard enough, and turns well. Has a nice green tint to it in person as well.
 
Sep 24, 2019 at 4:14 PM Post #8,669 of 8,992
On a side note, how much time did it take you from start to finish?

A normal pair of cups can take, altogether, about 2 hours, staggered over a few days (drying between coats of finish, etc...)...
 
Sep 24, 2019 at 4:19 PM Post #8,670 of 8,992
A normal pair of cups can take, altogether, about 2 hours, staggered over a few days (drying between coats of finish, etc...)...

Thanks. We figured it takes some breaks between coating layers. But again, pieces you did look very good!
 
iFi audio Stay updated on iFi audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
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