RS2e Driver 'Quick Fix'?

[Clobes]

Hi, Head-Fi! First time poster, here.

I recently picked up a pair of used RS2e's for a really good price, with the caveat that the left driver is a bit messed up. It really can only reproduce the very upper end of the mids and treble. The lower spectrum is completely absent.

I've determined this to not be a connection issue. In my troubleshooting, I attempted the cupping and sucking method to create negative pressure in front of the driver until it makes a pop sound. This did not fix anything but after several rounds of this, I noticed that I could feel the fullness of the audio return when the driver was in the popped out position (while audio is playing). I'm feeling it with my mouth, so I can't say for sure if it's a 'correct' sound, but there's definitely bass in there while sucking. When putting my mouth over the other driver, it feels the same as the left driver while sucking. Never thought I'd spend my Christmas evening sucking on headphones but here I am

I don't know exactly what this says about the issue, but I think maybe something is popped out of place in the left driver, or in some way is prevented from full articulation and can therefore only produce higher frequencies which don't require full articulation of the driver.

Has anyone else experienced something similar, or can determine what is causing the issue from the above description?

I've sent an email to Grado support to see what the cost would be for them to repair it, but obviously if there's some quick fix I can do without sending them off, I'd prefer that. As it's Christmas weekend in the states, I don't expect I'll hear back from them until at least Monday.

Thanks.

 

[GREQ]

The 'sucking' method is only really useful for IEM/earbud size drivers.
On the larger scale of Grado's 45mm drivers, there will likely be WAY too many wrinkles and crinkles developing from that method which will increase diaphragm rigidity, which will eliminate bass frequencies.

Since you can't open up Grado drivers non-destructively to fix this, it most likely needs to be replaced.

 

[Clobes]

Just got an email back from the Grado team regarding my repair inquiry. $150 for a repair, plus at least 3 weeks. Seems reasonable to me so I'll probably go that route. I'd still be getting a pretty decent deal on these for that money. Plus, I wanted an older pair that I wouldn't feel bad for modifying right out the box. My plan (or hope, at least) is to convert these to both removable cable, plus wireless with a BTR5-2021. What I want to do is have a second lead coming out of the headphone (at the top) so that I can plug in the BTR5 without having the cables coming out of the bottom of the ear cups, but also have plugs at the bottom for wired use. I think it would look better that way when the BTR5 is hooked up. I'll post pics here if I ever get around to it. Don't think I've ever seen anyone else do something similar.