[wje]

Quote:

Im just saying they might not exist. Im mean all the trips hes making to the post office daily they might "be in the mail tomorrow"
 
 

Here's an individual who did receive his cups, but has put the headphones up for sale: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/558392/woodied-grados-with-sr80-drivers  - and, I should state, has the balls to run the sale like an auction where he's holding out for the best price above $100.

 

[wje]

Quote:

Thanks man! I might just get a dollar coin and cut around that to get a bigger hole. I also read that bowls do sound better but may not be as comfortable, was going to buy them with the headphones but decided to wait for a bit. 
Can't wait to get off work!
 
 

I might try the Canadian "Loony".  It seems like it's about the right size.  

 

 

[chrislangley4253]

Quote:

Thanks man! I might just get a dollar coin and cut around that to get a bigger hole. I also read that bowls do sound better but may not be as comfortable, was going to buy them with the headphones but decided to wait for a bit. 
Can't wait to get off work!
 
 

The main thing that will affect the comfort of the bowls is the shape of your ears and how large they are... If they fit entirely within the size of the driver, bowls are going to be terrible for your ears, if you rears are larger than the outside of the driver(which they should be unless you have way small ears) you will be just fine. Personally my ears fit very nicely with the bowls sitting just on the outer edges of my ears, no parts of my ears stick out from the pads and none of it touches the grills. Now, if your ears are big enough, it will then become a game of adjusting the clamp force by bending the headband (very easy to do) and breaking in the pads so they gain a bit of softness. A lot of people clean the pads with some soap in water to help break them in and then clean them about monthly so that they last longer. Basically, so long as you have relatively normal ears and take the time to bend the headband and break-in the pads, I think you will be very happy with bowls. They sound superb.
 
Tell ya what, I'll also pm you a website and a code to get them for cheaper than msrp and shipped for free if you want a pair.
 

 

[KneelJung]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko93101 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Quote:

Marko - see this
 
http://thewoodshed.ecrater.com/p/6174899/black-walnut-blocks-1-2-boards-9-x-3-8-230mm#
 
ps congrats on the purchase - well worth it 

That's a nice looking wood! Bit of stain or something of the likes and it would be amazing D:

That's some awesome looking wood. Looks sort of like the African Blackwood shells that I had made. I did some googling and apparently the tonal characteristics of Black Walnut are similar to Rosewoods or somewhere between Rosewood and Mahogany. I just put up an impressions thread on the 225's I woodied in an effort to get a discussion going on wood and the tonal characteristics of various woods. Eclein another contributor to this thread put up a nice post. How stuff looks is one thing but it's how it sounds that's more relevant. BTW I finished my cups with Tung oil and they look amazing.  I just had an opportunity due to the generosity of one of the contributors to this thread pbstfefandwhich, to spend a week with his MS Pro's. The thing I really liked about the MS Pro was how earthy and woody sounding it was. I really liked the tone or timbre it presented. Which IMO is due to the type of wood Grado uses and the construction of the cup. Anyway that's my 2 cents.
 
Woodied Grado Review and Impressions Thread
 

 

[chrislangley4253]

I'm poking another hole.. They aren't bassy enough for my punk music
 
-EDIT- I messed up and tore off the cloth off of 3 holes on the right side. I'm gonna cover this one up and Leave them at two. They are perfect at two with wood. I'd say 4 with plastic.

 

[Cheeznuklz]

Quote:

On a related note, is there any proven/convenient way to make sure that the quarter modded hole is more or less (read: absolutely) centered?
 
 

What you might try is getting the quarter sized hole pretty close to center and then reversing the pads.  By reverse I mean threading your newly made hole over the cups.  The result is that the factory-made perfect circle is the one by your ear and the one people can see.  This hole is also the size of the whole front grill so you're not going to get any better sound than this with the comfies.  Comfort is lowered, but you can truck on, cowboy.
 

 

[wje]

I think I've already posted it before, but I've read of people using a socket instead of a quarter to perform the quarter mod.  The socket will keep your fingers up and away from the craft knife so you don't cut them, plus, you can apply some good pressure on the socket - compressing the foam to make a good cut.

 

[marko93101]

That will be handy!
I want woodies, but dont want to pay some ridic price to import them :/
Quote:

Marko yeah probably will just not this month need to find someone with the cutting skills or a lathe.

 

 

[JamesMcProgger]

Hello guys, long time no posting here.
 

 
this is how I quartermod, I have one of this ^ I select the desired socket size, put it over the foam and proceed to beat the crap out of it with a hammer. never fails and its always a perfect circle.
 
brute force!!

 

[kongmw]

so yeahhhhh, not being able to find anything better than a one dollar coin, I just went with it. apparently i also underestimated how easily the foam cuts as well as my wooden desk scratches. now im left with a pair of quarter/dollar modded comfies and a circle carved into my desk lol.
kinda messed up the first pad as i sort of directed the razor blade side ways at some point and strayed away from the circular shape of the coin, but the second one was much better and just as centered as I wanted it to be 

 
maybe i shall also wash these and soften them a bit as suggested!
 
can't wait to actually take the cups off and punch some holes in the back of the drivers. thanks to all you guys with overwhelming amount of helpful advice. 

 

[wje]

 
Ladies and Gentleman,
 
I present to you the famous Cabillas' cups + MS-1i headphone.
 
List of modifications:
 

1. 3 holes were opened one the rear of each driver
2. Dynamat was installed to add mass to the rear of each driver
3. The drivers were "liberated" from their plastic "cup" housing with a chisel and hammer
4. The end openings of the cups were inserted with aluminum screen that I painted black to make it more "invisible"
5. The comfy pads were replaced with the donut pads
6. The complete task took about an hour (total) to accomplish

 
I started to break in this set of Alessandro MS-1i headphones last evening.  This evening following dinner, I somehow found a "2nd wind" in order to proceed with taking on a task such as this.  Keeping in mind, I'm still using the stock head band, and stock cables and I'm reusing some donut pads from another set of Grados, I have about $160 invested in this set of headphones.  The cups are made from Sapele.  I'm currently powering everything with my Sony Walkman player and FiiO E11 amplifier.  The sound?  I figure I have more time to allow for a break-in cycle to work its process.  However, at this point, things are sounding really, really nice.  The bass, the clarity ... it's all there.  My Grado SR-325i "goldies" have been sold, so they were boxed up for shipping - not allowing me to perform a direct comparison.  However, from I can recall of the SR-325i "stock signature" that remains somewhat in my memory, these MS-1i modified headphones are probably in a very good position to overtake them when it comes to sound quality.  Tomorrow evening, or Saturday, I'll compare these to my SR-225 "woodies" to see how the sound compares and post some observations here - as well in KneelJung's "wooden observation" thread.
 
So far, I have no disappointments.  The Callibas cups are really made with precision.  Since you "liberate" the driver by removing it from the plastic "cup" housing, you essentially just have a "disc" that you solder the terminal wires to.  However, the liberated drivers fit into the cups with such precision - no glue or adhesives were required.  I just started to press one edge of the driver into place, then slowly went around the perimeter of the driver setting it into the wooden cup housing.  About the only other thing I can equate seeing such precision is would be installing a grease seal on a car.  For those of you who are mechanics or have done mechanical work before, you know how essential that "right" fit is.  Well, when the liberated drivers go into the wooden cups, the fit is just like one of those "moments".  Impressive!!
 
Sorry for the horrible photography skills.  I hope to get some more natural light pictures of most of my headphones taken this weekend, where the grains and finishes can be better made out vs. yellowish, flash-ridden picture that has been provided.
 
 

 

[chrislangley4253]

Quote:

Hello guys, long time no posting here.
 
 I select the desired socket size, put it over the foam and proceed to beat the crap out of it with a hammer. never fails and its always a perfect circle.
 
brute force!!

I absolutely despise this method. 


Quote:

so yeahhhhh, not being able to find anything better than a one dollar coin, I just went with it. apparently i also underestimated how easily the foam cuts as well as my wooden desk scratches. now im left with a pair of quarter/dollar modded comfies and a circle carved into my desk lol.
kinda messed up the first pad as i sort of directed the razor blade side ways at some point and strayed away from the circular shape of the coin, but the second one was much better and just as centered as I wanted it to be 

 
maybe i shall also wash these and soften them a bit as suggested!
 
can't wait to actually take the cups off and punch some holes in the back of the drivers. thanks to all you guys with overwhelming amount of helpful advice. 

 
one... or two at a time Don't get carried away and stop when you are satisfied with the bass. When you find yourself wanting more bass on multiple recordings, poke another hole. but, don't until then.
 
 

 

[JamesMcProgger]

very freaking nice Wje, how did you like the MS1 stock compared to SR60 and SR80?
cups looks sweet, are they light?
 
 
the back grill loos deformed, or is it the photo?
 
 

 

[chrislangley4253]

Quote:

very freaking nice Wje, how did you like the MS1 stock compared to SR60 and SR80?
cups looks sweet, are they light?
 
 
the back grill loos deformed, or is it the photo?
 
 

+1 on the stock comparo.
 

 

[Nightslayer]

Quote:

 

1. The drivers were "liberated" from their plastic "cup" housing with a chisel and hammer

 
So far, I have no disappointments.  The Callibas cups are really made with precision.  Since you "liberate" the driver by removing it from the plastic "cup" housing, you essentially just have a "disc" that you solder the terminal wires to.  However, the liberated drivers fit into the cups with such precision - no glue or adhesives were required.  I just started to press one edge of the driver into place, then slowly went around the perimeter of the driver setting it into the wooden cup housing.  About the only other thing I can equate seeing such precision is would be installing a grease seal on a car.  For those of you who are mechanics or have done mechanical work before, you know how essential that "right" fit is.  Well, when the liberated drivers go into the wooden cups, the fit is just like one of those "moments".  Impressive!!
 

Looks professionally made, the descript of the driver fitting into the shells sounds.. too good to be true, almost. I've been wondering how the drivers fit in the shell, and if glue is used how is a good seal maintained/does it affect the sound of the drivers. Just a question, did you desolder the cables before extracting the driver disk, or can you just leave them there and set to work? Also, is there any risk of the chisel damaging the driver? I'm planning on carrying out the extraction process with a hammer/phillips screwdriver.