Question regarding Grado SR80i modifications

[Jason36]

Hi guys,
 
I currently have a pair of Grado SR80i headphones which I love......however find they can become a little fatiguing over longer listening sessions. To this end I have been looking into potential modifications, whilst I can find a lot of these, I seem to find little information about how this changes the sound and presentation of Grado's. 
 
For instance if I modified the casings and changed them to wood from plastic and also recabled my SR80i's what sort of sound difference / improvements am I likely to hear.
 
the reason I ask this is because from somewhere like headphile you are looking in the region of $300+ to do the mods (probably somewhere in the region of £170.00 That's more than the original Grado's cost.
 
Just trying to get an idea as I say before I mod the cans so to speak.
 

 

[Jason36]

So with 1800 posts in the Grado Mods section and god knows how many in the Grado appreciation post, there is no one out there that can comment on how these mods change the sound of the Grado's.
 
In the UK the SR80i cost £110.00, the modifications of sodden earcups and recable cost nearly £170.00 and that excludes post and packaging to and from the US. 
 
Is this just really a case of wanting to "bling" Grado's or is there any major sound benefits??

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

So with 1800 posts in the Grado Mods section and god knows how many in the Grado appreciation post, there is no one out there that can comment on how these mods change the sound of the Grado's.
 
In the UK the SR80i cost £110.00, the modifications of sodden earcups and recable cost nearly £170.00 and that excludes post and packaging to and from the US. 
 
Is this just really a case of wanting to "bling" Grado's or is there any major sound benefits??

 You've missed the whole point of Grado modding ~ 
 
 "The satisfaction of improving an SR60i or SR80i yourself to achieve a better sound"
 
 Paying someone else to swap the cups, recable it etc ~ you've missed the point 

 
 Just buy an RS1i, RS2i, PS500 or 325i and be done with it.

 

[slaw slaw]

some mods:
Hole mod ( punching holes in the back of the driver housing) - Alot more bass
Remove plastic grill - Tame the sometimes harsh highs
recable - Increase imaging and overall sound quality
replacement cups - ??

 

[Jason36]

Thanks for the feedback guys,
 
So far this morning I have had a play with my Grado SR80i's and in an hour have undertaken the following mods to them:
 
1. Removed the cloth covering the front of the driver on the headphones.....from what I can hear this has slightly opened up the music a bit.
 
2. Opened the cups (using the spoon method, they came apart really easily) and have punched four holes in the rear of the driver housing....this has definately increased the bass. I may actually look at putting a couple of more holes in each of the drivers.
 
3. Cut holes into the stock Grado earpads - again this seems to have made an improvement, providing a sligthly more airy sound by not having the drivers covered.
 
I am currently enquiring into the possibility of a new length of cable to improve overall dynamics and sound....not sure whether silver or silver covered copper would be best though at the moment?
 
I have seen the details regarding moving the plastic grills at the back of the cups and replacing this with wire mesh.
 
I am also looking at the possibility of getting some wooden cups shipped over to me from Martin Custom Audio in the states and then fitting the unliberated drivers into these. I now understand that wooden cups should provide an improvement in sound because the woods used are Tonewoods as opposed to Plastic. I also believe that the Wooden cups come fitted with wire grills on the back. 
 
I must say this modification lark does seem to be very addictive
 

 

[slaw slaw]

Quote:

Thanks for the feedback guys,
 
So far this morning I have had a play with my Grado SR80i's and in an hour have undertaken the following mods to them:
 
1. Removed the cloth covering the front of the driver on the headphones.....from what I can hear this has slightly opened up the music a bit.
 
2. Opened the cups (using the spoon method, they came apart really easily) and have punched four holes in the rear of the driver housing....this has definately increased the bass. I may actually look at putting a couple of more holes in each of the drivers.
 
3. Cut holes into the stock Grado earpads - again this seems to have made an improvement, providing a sligthly more airy sound by not having the drivers covered.
 
I am currently enquiring into the possibility of a new length of cable to improve overall dynamics and sound....not sure whether silver or silver covered copper would be best though at the moment?
 
I have seen the details regarding moving the plastic grills at the back of the cups and replacing this with wire mesh.
 
I am also looking at the possibility of getting some wooden cups shipped over to me from Martin Custom Audio in the states and then fitting the unliberated drivers into these. I now understand that wooden cups should provide an improvement in sound because the woods used are Tonewoods as opposed to Plastic. I also believe that the Wooden cups come fitted with wire grills on the back. 
 
I must say this modification lark does seem to be very addictive
 

I would recommend keeping back from punching anymore holes, the bass can be a bit too much for some and it's difficult to undo.  Unless your into bass 

 

 

[dirkgently]

^ I have to meet the person for whom an SR80i would ever have too much bass.  Even completely vented, mine are still a little "meh."  And yes, that's a technical term.  But I agree that the TS should incrementally vent his drivers and then give them a test run.  I went up to six holes before I said "screw it" and did all 10.
 
Another thing that will help cut down on the resonance and increase your bass response a bit is removing the back screen and lining the inside of the can with some sort of deadening agent -- usually adhesive felt pads, blue tack (rubbery adhesive strips), or an automotive sound deadener such as Dynamat.  Bowls fabricated from wood or metal (or a combination thereof) is also a solution, but I'm cheap and like doing things myself, even with my limited resources.
 
These are the mods I made to my SR80i's; since I already had a drill and soldering iron, total cost of parts was about $17.
 
- Punched all 10 holes in the drivers
- Removed the back screen
- Lined the walls of the cans with blue tack
- Quarter foam mod
- Got rid of the Y cable; replaced it with a single-sided removable wire.  For this task, I used the four-conductor garden hose, the stock right driver wires (blue and white), and a length of 24 AWG copper speaker wire.
 

 
 

 

[Blue Boat]

Quote:

some mods:
Hole mod ( punching holes in the back of the driver housing) - Alot more bass
Remove plastic grill - Tame the sometimes harsh highs
recable - Increase imaging and overall sound quality
replacement cups - ??

IME,
 
Hole mod increases bass. More than 1 hole on each side (L/R) makes the Grados sound too muddy.
Removing plastic grill reduces the very slight "honking" sound present with the stock grills. Cover the cups with your hands, you'll see what I'm talking about.
Recable: Didn't do it.
Replacement cups: Dno. Non-i cups look super aesthetic though.
 
Also, some people over at headphile can make grado wood cups for you for quite cheap. $100+++ ish.
 

 

[Kerry56]

Changing the pads has a  big impact on the sound of Grados.  If you've been using the S-Cush Comfies, go to the L-Cush pads.  Its not very expensive, and many prefer this pad on the less expensive Grado headphones.  You can also wrap the outside of the L-Cush pads with tape to give them more bass

 

[Jason36]

 
Quote:

Changing the pads has a  big impact on the sound of Grados.  If you've been using the S-Cush Comfies, go to the L-Cush pads.  Its not very expensive, and many prefer this pad on the less expensive Grado headphones.  You can also wrap the outside of the L-Cush pads with tape to give them more bass

Funnily enough I ordered a pair of L-Cush pads yesterday, hoping for delivery early next week.