post your grado mods....

[MrFaust]

I started a different thread for these but thought I would put it here as well.

recabled of course...

wonder what those "bumps" are...

hmmmmmm, little blue micro switches...

What, headphones plugged into the INPUT port of a PRE-AMP

Ok what was done here, I got hooked up with some really nice and rather pricey OMNI directional mini microphones and a nice pre-amp. The mics and pre-amp were made by a super nice guy by the name of Chris Church. Met him on another forum. www.tapersection.com and found his stuff on ebay. After ordering the mics and pre-amp I spoke with Chris about an idea I had. He liked the idea and came up with some of his own. So I sent him my pair of used Grado SR-60's that I had bought from another head-fier just a couple weeks before this. I had already completely dismantled the cans and even changed out the plastic grill and replaced with a nice wire grill mod that I had read about in this thread here. Originally I was going to have Chris mount the mics in the cans and just resleeve the mic cable along the Grado stock cable. Chris came up with the idea to completely recable the headphones and install some micro switches so that the mics and the drivers could share the same cable. When the switch is engaged the mics are hot and when the switch is disengaged the drivers are on. Now we did sacrifice the sound quality of the drivers since they share a rather small space with the mics, but I wasn't too worried about that. I just wanted the drivers to be operational incase they were ever needed to be

Main thing to remember is to never have the switches engaged and plug the headphones into a headphone amp. That would be extremely bad for the mics.

The mics...

The Pre-amp

bought here

 

[Audiofiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BowerR64 SS60 street style, cheap mod.

I love this one..I recall hearing the rumors back when that this was perhaps close to the SS Grado intended to release, and recall that thread being deleted or removed...glad to see these cans again, how did you do this? What wire for the headband was utilized? You can PM me if you wish, this is a sick mod..well done

 

[EFN]

MrFaust: That's a neat looking SR60! what's the material that replaced the grille? looked like foam to me.


I have posted my mod in another thread, but hey for those who love to mod Grado, my MS-1 undergone some serious surgery

The 3.5mm Stereo Jack (Japanese) converted into Dual Mono:

Imprerssions after modded:

I have always been a great fan of Canare StarQuad, I yanked off the StarQuad from my PortaPro and started converting them into Dual Mono cable. Pretty easy because I have been tinkering a lot with DIY Interconnects. That done I began the most difficult part of installing 3.5mm stereo jacks into each driver enclosure - even trickier is the part converting those stereo jacks into Mono for 2 channel operation but somehow I got away clean. Uber careful solder work is paramount here because I would not want to sacrifice any Sonics when I am done. The most difficult part was to get the driver enclosure opened. Based on guides from HeadWize forum, the Spoon Wedge method worked well for me. And then came the heart wrenching part of cutting a sizable about of gap for the Stereo Jack to fit in. A lot of knife work and filing work have to be done to get a perfect fit - not for the faint hearted - to see my precious MS-1 all cut and scraped. But thank God it all ended well and the surgery was a great success!.

Now that I have them all fixed, I plugged them in to my DAP directly without any amp. As expected, my ears told me that my MS-1 sounded even more reserved now - an attribute introduced bt 21AWG Canare StarQuad. Next, tests with my CMOY Amp.........Call it Placebo or whatever you like, but I swear that the sound is a lot crisper and sterile now, with amplification the overall timbre/tonality has escalated to a new depth - chimingly musical and relaxed yet sterile. I was a bit dissapointed tough that Soundstage has not improve much if there's any at all.......then came another insane idea,

I reopened the driver enclosure and grabbed a pair of Plantronics holed foamies, trim them nicely and snugged them in to the inner chamber of the enclosure - seal them back again and another marathon of tests (the very idea behind this is to introduce dampening of sound emitted from the rear of the transducer)

How it fares? LOVELY!!!. Despite the look the foamies did not interfere with the openess that is a trademark of all Grado cans, but the most apparent result is that there's abolsutely no ill sounding resonance and reverb - what was already a clean sounding cans now sounds heavenly (on the neutral side that is). There's no chance at all for bass to overwhelm the rest of the sound spectrum because the foamies damper will absorb all stray "after effect" efficiently - it's a very-very tightly controlled bass in all area now - this mod spells bad news for Total Basshead. And yes, the foamies has also took the sound slightly out of "in your head" feel and a certain degree of Soundstaging is apparent now. Overall I would rate my MS-1 as a very mellow Grado if compared to the Prestige Series. This mellowness is perfect for analytical marathon listening. Before the mods, it's like being in the studio with the musicians standing beside them, after the mods it's like standing 3 feet away - which is very appealing to me.

Circling trough my favorite tunes, I am still awed by the prowess of Grado cans with guitars. Sonic Youth's twin guitar attack (different guitars each channel) never sounded sooo good, and Kim Gordon's vocals is drug to the ears! Churning through New Order's Bizzare Love Triangle & Shell Shock brought synthpop experience to another level with musically accurate synthesizers and percussions reproduction - there's no BOOM in your face kind of experience here - just plain liquid electro pleasure, I could not ask for more

For the ultimate test, I played the heaviest tune I have in store - GODFLESH's Anything Is Mine from Selfless album - this tarck is so heavy laden with chunky bass attack that it will distort almost all of the cans I ever listened to them before - but my MS-1 handled that very well, there's still the sign of slight distortion but it does not interfere with the song anymore.

On the other hand, now that my PortaPro is naked without cables, I recabled her with the Grado hahahaha. Another surprise there, now my PortaPro runs very well unamped and drivability has become somewhat Gradoey LOL! - easy and effortless. In contrast, my recabled MS-1 will not drive well without an amp - so if you plan to use your Grados with direct DAP and no amps, avoid using Canare StarQuad. I have to move up the volume up 2 notch to match the same level of volume before recabling.

PS:
Upcoming mods:
- HD414 Pads (once I am done dying them hahahaha)
- 75OHM Resistors?
- Extended Barrel?

Stay Tuned!!! and keep the mods rollin.

 

[MrFaust]

the metal mess grill is still in there holding the omni mics in place. the foam is there to both cover the mics from being seen but also to act as a wind screen.

 

[Fangmasterflex]

does anyone know where i can buy (cheaply) the grille mesh found on the ms2s? Ive found some places but they make you buy hundreds of feet or charge 10+$ for a 3" sample

 

[Fangmasterflex]

oh yeah and my alessandro mod~
just a simple recable with starquad, techflex nylon covering, a switchcraft plug, and a 9mm bullet casing for the y-split

 

[reivaj]

can someone inform me the purposes of recabling? im still headphone noobasaurus

 

[EFN]

Fangmasterflex:
VERY WICKED!!! I gotta try techflex on my StartQuad

reivaj:
Why recable?

- It's a fetish for exotic wires & exotic plugs

I love fat cables
- Grado Y joints tend to twist a lot and it splits with age
- SQ wise, Grado cable are good, but if you seek refinement recabling might help

 

[EFN]

More mods: This one for comfies. If you happen to have small ears and you have gone for the "quarter mod" and holed them comfies too big until you earlobes touched the driver, well here's a fix for it. Trust me, having small ears and having the drivers touching the drivers is insanely sore!

As can be seen from the side, that plush bump helped to create confortable distance from the driver unit

I used coarse 3mm foam sheet and cut them to size

Have to say that I am very happy with this mod. The plush feeling does help with marathon listening and I get to keep the benefit of Quarter Modded comfies

 

[VR6ofpain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFN I get to keep the benefit of Quarter Modded comfies

Not really, since you are recovering the driver partially again. You should buy a new set of comfies and nickle mod them (smaller hole), then you will be set. Though the added height from the stacked foam you got might actually increase the highs like the bowls do (more distance from ear). Did you notice a difference other than comfort?

 

[EFN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VR6ofpain Not really, since you are recovering the driver partially again. You should buy a new set of comfies and nickle mod them (smaller hole), then you will be set. Though the added height from the stacked foam you got might actually increase the highs like the bowls do (more distance from ear). Did you notice a difference other than comfort?

Yes actually, because I tested a few material of foam and the inner ring that I used right now offered the least restriction because it's very coarse in density. The reason I holed them so big the first time was because I want to get every extension in highs as possible, now that i can hear them clearly i would not want to shut them again hahaha. But that big hole is a big sore to the ear and the ring cshion helped a lot to compensate - no loss in highs and comfortable!. You are right about that distance between driver and ear, i got that bowl effects too, spatial improved and with that comes audible soundstage - i could not ask for more

 

[Genocide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFN More mods: This one for comfies. If you happen to have small ears and you have gone for the "quarter mod" and holed them comfies too big until you earlobes touched the driver, well here's a fix for it. Trust me, having small ears and having the drivers touching the drivers is insanely sore! As can be seen from the side, that plush bump helped to create confortable distance from the driver unit I used coarse 3mm foam sheet and cut them to size Have to say that I am very happy with this mod. The plush feeling does help with marathon listening and I get to keep the benefit of Quarter Modded comfies

for a moment it looked like gs1000,congrats for that mod btw.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFN More mods: This one for comfies. If you happen to have small ears and you have gone for the "quarter mod" and holed them comfies too big until you earlobes touched the driver, well here's a fix for it. Trust me, having small ears and having the drivers touching the drivers is insanely sore! As can be seen from the side, that plush bump helped to create confortable distance from the driver unit I used coarse 3mm foam sheet and cut them to size Have to say that I am very happy with this mod. The plush feeling does help with marathon listening and I get to keep the benefit of Quarter Modded comfies

I was thinking about doing this with TTVJ flats, to help space the drivers out to retain soundstage & treble.

 

[EFN]

Hey Kramer, go ahead and do it! you will love the results. The trick is to find a loose density foam with the thickness of 3mm. Once you have them, cut them to size and use thin double sided tape sparingly on the edges avoiding the holes and it's done!

 

[Lazarus Short]

...with something better (i.e. Senns) count as a Mod? [Ducks] OK, OK, I'll go quietly, I guess that answers my question...[backs away slowly, then runs]

Laz