[jeffrocc]

Aluminum gimbals. Definitely. ....In for a penny in for a pound.... Although they have no effect on sound quality whatsoever, they are the one thing that just feels right. They give you the durability, but more importantly it is a satisfaction that you finally have rid yourself of that itch, that voice in The back of your head that keeps saying " how the heck have you invested so much money into a set of headphones that have such a totally crappy, cheap, and unreliable mechanism for holding together all the rest of these lovingly custom made parts?

 

[MrFaust]

Friday, I went to Radio Shack and bought a pair of the folding Auvio headphones that were on sale for $15. I took them home, removed the POS drivers and cable. And then put the drivers from my SR80's... The headband is very comfortable.
 

 

[MrFaust]

Does anyone know if it is possible to re-cable a set of Grado's with an inline mic?
 
I ask this because my phone is very active. Being in IT and running a helpdesk, I can't afford to miss a phone call, email or text message. 
 
As I stated in my previous post, I bought a set of the Auvio folding headphones to use the headband. But I kept the drivers and cable, hey you never know. The cable had a nice braided sleeve over it. It has an inline mic. Now I don't have a whole lot of faith in the mic since the drivers sounded like I was underwater literally. But it gave me the idea of seeing about recabling a set of Grado's to have an inline mic that would work with my phone. I am not as concerned about volume controls, but having a button for answer and disconnect would be nice.

 

[kugino]

so i finally completed my sr225 woody project. the turbulent headband arrived today and i have to say that it really makes the headphone look a lot more elegant. if there's one thing grado could do to make their headphones appear more mid- to hi-fi is to put better headbands on there. i know, the top of the line grados do come with padded leather headbands. i'd like to see a bit better headbands on their sr-series as well.
 
anyway, i posted an earlier build a few pages back. since then, i re-cabled it to a thinner mogami cable and also put a 3.5mm jack on there instead of the balanced plug i had before. these headphones don't need to be balanced...i was deciding between the brown and black turbulent headbands and decided on the brown just to give it a bit more contrast...i thought it might match some of the tan/grey streaks in the wood. it doesn't match as well as i had hoped, but it still looks ok to me. 
 
so the total cost of my project (just for reference since i know a lot of people wonder how much their projects can/should cost) is about $250. not cheap...i originally wanted to do it for under $200, which i could have met, but then i got caught up in the project and decided i NEEDED that headband a couple of things i could have done to make it cheaper: keep the stock headband and save $55. don't use the viablue splitter and save about $15 (shipping included in this cost). so i could have done this whole project for about $180. i think the sr225 is the best of the original sr-series (not including the sr100/200/300) so i was lucky to have found some drivers for pretty cheap. and i reused the hardware on my sr60 so i saved money there.
 
the sound? i posted earlier that i think it has a better soundstage than my balanced HF2, though the bass isn't as good and it's maybe not as detailed. it's certainly as good as the RS2, IMO. and i used to own two pairs of the older RS1, both a balanced and SE one...and while these sr225 lose out on detail and clarity, it's just as fun as the RS1s are and i'm pleasantly surprised at the soundstage. no grado is going to have great soundstage, but these are as good as i've heard on a grado.  my 2 cents, of course.
 
pics:
 

 

 

 

[MrFaust]

Those look great! I'm contemplating doing a wood ie project for my SR225i's. Luckily I have a family member that does leather work. So hopefully I can save a little there. I want to get a set of wooden cups made from the Indonesia wood that was shown some pages back. Plus I need to learn how to build a proper cable.

Once I get my headband I will post pics. I'm sure if she can make them in a reasonable time for a reasonable expense, then she might be willing to make more. More to come on that.

 

[kugino]

Those look great! I'm contemplating doing a wood ie project for my SR225i's. Luckily I have a family member that does leather work. So hopefully I can save a little there. I want to get a set of wooden cups made from the Indonesia wood that was shown some pages back. Plus I need to learn how to build a proper cable.

Once I get my headband I will post pics. I'm sure if she can make them in a reasonable time for a reasonable expense, then she might be willing to make more. More to come on that.

Thanks. And good luck with the build...go over to the DIY cables thread. Wealth of information and a lot of helpful people there. We'll help you through your first cable build.

 

[crazyface]

TL;DR version: I have 225's and I want NON-FOAM pads but I'm not a DIYer....
 
Yo! I've got a pair of 225's I bought more than ten years ago, they're still going strong, but I really need to finally get some mods done and I'm definitely not a DIYer so it's got to be something easy or something I can mail them off to somebody for (but who?)

I live in one of those muggy corners of the earth where it's never less than 80 percent humidity and I'm just tired of the foam pads. It's not worth the cost of a single variety you'll find on any of the "grado pad comparison" threads, because they all just start falling apart at 3 months tops. Just don't care for how they feel either. I haven't tried the HD 414 pads though, but what I Really want is a permanent leather/fabric/anything-but-foam pad that will wear comfortably, durably, and without changing the sonics too much.
 
FWIW the pad "sound" I've liked best so far is the big donuts, flipped around backwards so the squared off edges are the side on my ears. You basically get the drivers right on your ears that way. Not much soundstage but super super detailed, and the bass was lacking but still enough for me.
 
I know there are some DIY projects but I really need something super easy, no soldering or taking the headphones apart, or I just need to know somebody who I can mail them to do the modding for me, but in the end I want pads totally unlike "stock"....  Any ideas?  Thanks!!!!

 

[elmoe]

  TL;DR version: I have 225's and I want NON-FOAM pads but I'm not a DIYer....
 
Yo! I've got a pair of 225's I bought more than ten years ago, they're still going strong, but I really need to finally get some mods done and I'm definitely not a DIYer so it's got to be something easy or something I can mail them off to somebody for (but who?)

I live in one of those muggy corners of the earth where it's never less than 80 percent humidity and I'm just tired of the foam pads. It's not worth the cost of a single variety you'll find on any of the "grado pad comparison" threads, because they all just start falling apart at 3 months tops. Just don't care for how they feel either. I haven't tried the HD 414 pads though, but what I Really want is a permanent leather/fabric/anything-but-foam pad that will wear comfortably, durably, and without changing the sonics too much.
 
FWIW the pad "sound" I've liked best so far is the big donuts, flipped around backwards so the squared off edges are the side on my ears. You basically get the drivers right on your ears that way. Not much soundstage but super super detailed, and the bass was lacking but still enough for me.
 
I know there are some DIY projects but I really need something super easy, no soldering or taking the headphones apart, or I just need to know somebody who I can mail them to do the modding for me, but in the end I want pads totally unlike "stock"....  Any ideas?  Thanks!!!!

 
http://www.headphile.com/page15.html
 
I had found some roughly the same but much cheaper, however I lost the link. It should be either in this thread somewhere or the Grado Fan Club thread.

 

[JoeDoe]

Hi,
 
Anybody willing to sell their unused Grado Stock Cups of SRi series, and willing to ship to India?
 
Regards

If you'll pay for shipping you can certain have my SR60 cups

 

[kugino]

i put a wanted post in the FS forum, but in case people here don't check it that often, i'm looking for a pair of TTVJ flat pads. if you have a pair you'd like to share with me, i'd be happy to give you some money or some things in trade. whatever...thanks!

 

[MrFaust]

I'm looking to re - cable 2 sets of Grados in the near future. I've never re-cabled any headphones so I'm curious if anyone can suggest which wires and terminators would serve best to really get as much out of the drivers as possible without going user crazy on price. I'm trying to keep the re-cable for each set under $50 if possible to get the most out of them without an amp or dac. I'm also curious about the y splitters that are available before I have one custom made.

 

[kugino]

I'm looking to re - cable 2 sets of Grados in the near future. I've never re-cabled any headphones so I'm curious if anyone can suggest which wires and terminators would serve best to really get as much out of the drivers as possible without going user crazy on price. I'm trying to keep the re-cable for each set under $50 if possible to get the most out of them without an amp or dac. I'm also curious about the y splitters that are available before I have one custom made.

here are some useful links:
 
all about y splits: http://www.head-fi.org/t/537117/the-y-split-thread
find questions/answers about recabling: http://www.head-fi.org/t/676402/diy-cable-questions-and-comments-thread
 
the first page of the recabling thread is especially helpful with links to supply stores, tutorials, etc.
 
first thing to do is to find cables that you like and then you can go from there to figure out how to make it. some like thinner cables, some like thicker. some like braids without coverings, some like braids with covering. etc. etc. etc. if you find some cables that you like, i'm sure people here or on the recabling thread will help you along...good luck.

 

[kopral 21]

first step... disassembly .. 

 

 
and than.. cange   stock cup with indianrosewood cup..
walaah.. Allesandro Ms2i mod 

 

 

[MrFaust]

  first step... disassembly .. 

 

 
and than.. cange   stock cup with indianrosewood cup..
walaah.. Allesandro Ms2i mod 

 

How are you extracting the drivers so cleanly without destroying the cups much less the drivers?

 

[kugino]

Yeah, nice liberating job. I had an unbelievably hard time extricating my sr225 drivers...the housing was in a hundred pieces by the time I was through.

Ps. Love those rosewood cups!