[utarch00]

So I was fortunate to get a pair of the HF-1s on the last Todd sale. I was so stoked.

Anyway, I have been burning them in for about a week and a half now and this past weekend, I changed out the cds I was using for some ones with more bass. The other night I spent about 30 minutes with them to hear their progress and noticed something disturbing. On the really bass heavy songs there seem to be a crackle in the right ear. I did not really notice it at lower
volumes, but did notice it at lets say an upper medium volume.

Then two nights ago I checked in with them again and there was no sound out of the right driver at all. That morning we did have a power outage. Could this have caused the problem? This sucks. I have an email into Gradolabs. I hope this is covered under the warranty.

On a side note, the first response email back from Gradolabs said,

Quote:

Sounds like you ruined the drivers with the "bass heavy music" that you used. Grado Labs

I took this as them being a little snobish. Is it just me or am I reading to much into this. Has anyone else had this kind of response from them?

 

[warubozu]

Try getting in touch with Todd to see how he may help you, he's a pleasant and great guy to deal with IME. While I haven't dealt with Grados directly I don't think their response was meant to be a smart @ss response to your question.

 

[jbloudg20]

Oh boy. If their driver's can't take the heat...

How loud were you playing these? If you had them cranked to the point of speaker like levels, well then I'm not surprised. However, I doubt you did that right?

As long as you used them as they were meant to be played, then I would not take no for an answer, and make Grado repair them. There is always Todd, who from what I hear is quite an upstanding guy!

First things first, Stay on top of Grado.

 

[mulveling]

Their response is hilarious. Usually companies lock up employees like that and keep them as far away from the customer as possible, but at Grado Labs, they have him/her answering emails

There have been other equally amusing Grado Labs responses posted before. Someone should start collecting them and post a reference thread for all to enjoy

You're not alone.

As for your problem, I find it surprising that you were able to damage the headphones with music. Usually transducers are pretty robust; they should be able to take a lot of abuse without issue - unless they really are defective. Maybe (hopefully) it's just a hair touching the driver?

Can you give us an idea how loud you were driving them? What source & amp were you using and where was the volume dial? Were you using CD or gain adjusted MP3s? Good luck with your problem, and I guarantee you Todd will prove more helpful than Grado

 

[kramer5150]

It takes LOT to cook a coil. I did so on my EX51, the outside plastic was hot (physically to the touch). How loud were you playing them? IMHO you dont need to play them excessively loud, just slightly louder than you would normally listen.

 

[lmilhan]

Ouch that sucks.

As others have mentioned, talk to Todd. He is a good guy and will do what it takes to take care of you as a costumer. As far as interacting with Grado labs is concerned, I have found that email can be hit or miss with them. However, calling them has always resulted in a pleasant experience for me.

In the end it will be worth the effort to get them fixed, they are sweet phones for sure.

Good luck!

 

[braillediver]

“I took this as them being a little snobish.”

Why? They are stating the obvious. You destroyed the headphones in your misguided effort to “burn” them in. In all honesty the warranty shouldn’t apply in a case like this since the headphones were not damaged by “normal” use.


Mitch

 

[tattoou2]

Really hope you didn't have the volume turned up all the way. All things in moderation...even headphone burn-in.

 

[Vkamicht]

The original poster has yet to tell us just how loud he was playing music on his headphones, so let's not go overboard with assumptions yet.

 

[jbloudg20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vkamicht The original poster has yet to tell us just how loud he was playing music on his headphones, so let's not go overboard with assumptions yet.

Exactly

 

[utarch00]

I was using my stereo reciever with a CD player. The volume was between 1 and 2. Mostly at 1.5.

Quote:

Why? They are stating the obvious. You destroyed the headphones in your misguided effort to “burn” them in. In all honesty the warranty shouldn’t apply in a case like this since the headphones were not damaged by “normal” use.

I did not krank up the volume. I may not have over 3000 posts, but I am not that stupid. I would not think that at the level I was listening to should have done this. I definitely do not feel that I was misguided in my efforts.

As for talking with Todd, he told me to call Grado.

Thanks to all that have been helpful.

 

[redshifter]

sounds like the op gave todd and grado enough rope to him him out to dry with.

 

[PeeeMeS]

Looks at Sig...
Thinks...
Sounds like I'm staying away from anymore Grados

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

While I haven't dealt with Grados directly I don't think their response was meant to be a smart @ss response to your question.

Actually my experience with Grado's customer service is exactly like this - they are smart ass, and try to blame the customer. I think their CS stinks.

 

[rocktboy]

sorry to hear that. this is one of the cases where you volunteered too much information. they totally have the right to refuse warranty repairs after what you told them, even though you said you didn't play them loud enough to damage it. If you had simply said "I bought it a few weeks ago and suddenly the right driver has no sound coming out", then it will most likely be covered under warranty.

regardless, Grado people aren't unreasonable. Politely explain the situation to them again, maybe speak to a different person or the same person hoping he/she is in a good mood. even if they won't fix it for free they will fix it for a "reasonable" $$ amount, from my experience.

best of luck.