should i get the grado sr125 or....
Oct 23, 2002 at 11:35 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9

mikey

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hi, i dont know what has hit me but im just itching to try something new, which in my case is the grado 125. i already have a senn 600 in my main rig and a grado sr60 in my desktop rig. but now ive been reading quite a lot of reviews on the 125 and how they offer a much bigger window into the sonic picture compared to the 60 that i am tempted to plonk down the money. i guess i just want to be sure im doing the right thing. am i? or should i just stick with the 60. if i do get the 125 it will be used in the desktop rig. although i listen to a variety of music, jazz and classical seem to dominate. oasis, u2 and the like only when i want to bop my head
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Oct 23, 2002 at 9:58 PM Post #2 of 9
mikey...

...I can't speak for the 125, but the step from my SR 80 to the SR 325 was an important one. Over-all refinement, more impactful and extended bass, more natural mids and more accuracy at the upper end. I suggest to use flat pads (mine are made from Sennheisers) – sound- and comfortwise...
 
Oct 23, 2002 at 10:54 PM Post #4 of 9
Quote:

hi, i dont know what has hit me......


I do.........it's called Head-Fi!
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To answer your other question, I spent a fair amount of time auditioning the SR-60, SR-80, and SR-125. I picked the SR-80 because I felt it was a significant improvement over the SR-60 in midrange presence and bass. Soundstage was also improved. You have to remember that the comfy pads of the SR-60s have a definite effect on the sound, as do the bowl pads of the SR-80s. The SR-125s, to my ears, just didn't seem like they warranted another $50. If I had to do it again, I'd probably get the Alessandro/Grado Music Series One for $99. The debate continues over whether this is closer to the SR-80 or SR-125. Plus it looks cool without the Grado buttons.
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If you just want a new toy, you might want to pick up a pair of Koss Porta Pros. If the coupon at HeadWize is still available, they can be had for $30 shipped. Great sound for the money.......and different from what you have.
Hope this helps. Although I don't know if any of the advice given on this site can really be considered "help."
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Oct 23, 2002 at 10:57 PM Post #5 of 9
I'm a firm believer in scratch'n that itch
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I had a very similar situation, using the 60's at work and Senn 580s at home. As I was spending a lot more time with the Grados, I decided to move up the line. If you enjoy the 60s, it only gets better. Like Jazz, I can't speak to the 125's having never heard them, but it should be a substantial improvement. You also might want to consider the Alessandro Music Series One, it incorporates a few of the SR-125's features and it's only $99 delivered. Link here ->

http://www.alessandro-products.com/headphones.html

Good Luck !


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Oct 24, 2002 at 12:16 AM Post #6 of 9
why not buy a headphone amp instead of new phones?

as to the 125's, after reading all the reviews here and elsewhere, supposedly the 225's a better upgrade from the 80's.

me, i'm still breaking in my new sr80's and am planning a few modifications, like glueing a velour circular pad over the earpieces to make them less scratchy, and putting a small vase sound outlet (like the old carb intake "funnels") to improve bass response and imaging. adding a sound transparent umbrella seems to improve midrange just sightly enough (try cupping your hands over the outer headphone pieces without touching the headpiece (about 2" away from headpiece)).

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listening to Enigma, "Retrun to Innocence" on the 'Cross of Changes' album.
 
Oct 24, 2002 at 1:08 AM Post #7 of 9
hi and thanks for the replies and suggestions.


wallijohn:
i do have a amp(s) - mf xcans v1 and v2. quite happy with these and the only thing i had been planning to tweak was to replace the stock tubes with jj equivalent 6922. your mods sound interesting, particularly the funnels. how you gonna do that?


highway star:
im checking out the alessandro - they look promising
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gotta scratch the itch soon
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joelongwood:
i think you got it - i do need a new toy
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and i was trying to get some support here to justify the expenditure
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the koss portapros are on my hitlist - as i think i need a pair for listening while im in bed . hmm i will check out the 80s too. the alessandro range is not available where i am (singapore) so i have to rely on whats been said about it by users - which has been positive thus far.

andrzejpw: no cant return them im afraid - most stores in singapore do not have a return policy - unless the product is defective
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jazz - im afraid the 325s are way out of my budget
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yes the flatpads seem to work better that the 'doughnuts'

cheers
 
Oct 24, 2002 at 5:40 AM Post #8 of 9
I have owned grado sr-80/sr-125/sr-225/rs-2. The best buy is the sr-225 IMHO.If you can stretch your budget they are smooth,balanced, dynamic and are 90% as good as the rs-2s for half the money. In terms of real satisfaction, without the rs-2s to compare them with I COULD ENJOY THESE FOR YEARS. In fact ,I have. I have owned sr-225s since around 1995.They are the staple of my headphone system.
 
Oct 24, 2002 at 8:35 AM Post #9 of 9
hi, Mikey.

i'm working on the headcups right now.

i went to walmart and picked up Viking "genuine leather Chamois", in the auto department. it's a lot smoother than velour and here's what i have done:

1] took a 3" glass.
2] wetted a 7" square piece of the above chamois and put over the 3" glass and pushed in about 1" into the glass, then set a 3" candle glass bottom into that area, filled the candle glass with water, to provide weight as the chamois dries) also am trying an "Olivari" 17 oz. Olive Oil flask, and a Japanese tea ceremony teacup), put a few rubber bands about 2" from the lip of the glass, and SMOOTHED it so that there are no creases from 2" to the topof the glass. i should then be able to cut about 1.20" from the the top of the glass to match the 1" thickness of the sr80's headpads.

if everything goes right, i'll have a pre-formed leather mold. i then intend to spray the bottom of this mold with contact cement and the top of the Grado sr80 headcup, wait a minute an mate them. after drying i will then use a #2 exacto knife to cut the 1.5" hole at the correct 45 degree angle. i should end up with an sr80 headcup except in super smooth leather
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if you have seen a few of the Grado modifications here, one entails replacing the sr80 body with one that is about the sr325's demensions. it basically moves the transducer back about .25" and the distance from the transducer to the outer shell about .25". The same can be done with a .25" spacer in front of the headcup and a .25" spacer beyond the transducer shell. without the spacer the sr80 transducer touches your ear. a 2.25" x .25" rubber spacer from Homedepot should do the same thing without all that fuss and bother. and a 2.25" x .25" "extension" should replicate the tube length of the 325's.

as to the outside of the transducer, think "magnaphone". in speaker terms it'd be a laberynth port. if you could take a 12" speaker and extend the cone so that it was 12 FEET away, the sound coming out of that 12' circular hole would be IMMENSE. as this is a 1 and 21/32" hole (with a .675" transducer), to produce a 20 Hz wave, it would have to be x? .... About 1.78" in total length. the sr80 has about a 31/32" body, therefore doubling that to 62/32" or 1 and 30/32 (15/16"), or just under 2" (1.78") should extend the midbass to midrange. [put a toilet paper tube on the outside of the sr80's. cut so that it it 1" thick and overlap]. the sound is completely different. but a pure tube (like the toilet tube) turns the bass into a 'ported' speaker sound. the way to get around this is to increase the surface area as it goes out further from the centre of the transducer. this is known as a radial tube in speaker terms. (think of a flower opening with the headphone/speaker transducer as the centre of the flower).

the "speaker" therefore has no "hump", it has "many" "humps" but all smooth, it extends the bass. this is because the speaker "port" is FLARED.

the same can be done from the oposite end. if the distance from your eardrum to the headphone surface is "x", then the distance from the transducer to the outer part of the headphone should be the same (DOUBLE) |>|<| . think magnaphone. your eardrum is about a "Q-TiP" width, now the length of the Q-Tip to your outer ear, should be the same, or double to the transducer end. the outer area should be a hysterisis loop width.

to really understand what i am saying, listen to "ported" speakers, "acoustic" suspension speakers and "laberynth" speakers. a laberynth speaker is a speaker which has the "magnaphone" twisted/bent so that the length will be able to produce a low frequency which you can feel but not hear. think organ pipe. the differenent pipe lengths are 'tuned' to a certain frequency'. now think of a ram horn or a sea-shell. the different amount of air will produce a different note. this is a flared horn. a trumpet is FLARED. a trombone is FLARED. a Clarinet is FLARED. an oboe is FLARED. the flare end area decides the cut off frequency. what if you want the cut off frequency to be 20 Hz? what will the area have to be? transpose that to your headphones!

i am already thinking of taking hard foam (like the type you stuff flowers into), making the outer end like a sea shell, shellacking it, and cementing it to the sr80's circular hole (the outer is 2 and 1/8" with the inner being 1 and 21/32"), making it the same DEPTH as the body (31/32") but 1/2 greater in width at the end. in other words, a FLARE.

this should increase midrange prescense, give a smooth high end roll off, and a greater bass low end.

yeah, it's gonna look geeky...

just like your ears

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