[Bilavideo]

 

I want to get myself wood cups soon for my SR80i, but I am still not sure if I want to do the venting and damping of the drivers because I actually love the way the SR80i sounds right now with the simple reverse quarter mod on the comfies. All I want is more clarity, separation, and detail. Will putting wood cups on my SR80i do that? Or should I also poke some holes and damp the back of the driver? Thanks!

Woodies will help you with clarity by replacing the plastic that causes spikes at certain frequencies.  Aluminum will give you more detail retrieval (due to the faster decay rate) and more soundstage but you may find the presentation colder.  In that event, you'd want to vent the drivers to adjust the balance between highs and lows.  Typically, when someone is finding the SR325 too sparkly to live with, I tell that person to vent the drivers and the result is typically quite positive.
 
You don't have to vent your driver if you're happy with the quantity of bass you're already getting.  In the meantime, three free or near-free mods will add greater clarity to the presentation:
 
1.  Quarter-mod the comfies. This gets rid of one layer of filtering.  It sounds like you've already done this.
 
2.  Damp the back of the magnet plate with Dynamat.  You can get this stuff from Best Buy.  Anything that provides the same solution - damping what you don't want to hear rattling about - is a major improvement.  Before I'd damped the back of the magnet plate, I thought the talk of this was just hype and water-cooler talk.  When I tried it, it blew me away.
 
3.  Remove the grill cloth.  This will add sparkle to the presentation.

 

[sysfail]

Quote:

 

Woodies will help you with clarity by replacing the plastic that causes spikes at certain frequencies.  Aluminum will give you more detail retrieval (due to the faster decay rate) and more soundstage but you may find the presentation colder.  In that event, you'd want to vent the drivers to adjust the balance between highs and lows.  Typically, when someone is finding the SR325 too sparkly to live with, I tell that person to vent the drivers and the result is typically quite positive.
 
You don't have to vent your driver if you're happy with the quantity of bass you're already getting.  In the meantime, three free or near-free mods will add greater clarity to the presentation:
 
1.  Quarter-mod the comfies. This gets rid of one layer of filtering.  It sounds like you've already done this.
 
2.  Damp the back of the magnet plate with Dynamat.  You can get this stuff from Best Buy.  Anything that provides the same solution - damping what you don't want to hear rattling about - is a major improvement.  Before I'd damped the back of the magnet plate, I thought the talk of this was just hype and water-cooler talk.  When I tried it, it blew me away.
 
3.  Remove the grill cloth.  This will add sparkle to the presentation.

Thanks Bill! Now I know exactly what I should do now. By the way, I'll be sending you payments for those woodies soon!

 

 

[Saintkeat]

i'm working on finding some comfies locally, and i think i won't do the quarter mod. have a new theory.. my ears feel hot because the quarter mod lets all the heat from the driver directly in to my ears.. not sure if others feel the same way.. thats why i think not quarter modding means the foam might absorb some of that heat and disperse it... i might be very far off base though..

 

[lawrywild]

I did a de-anodising test run on the spare bits of my jaben cups... hmm make them silver or keep them red... sooo hard to choose =/
 

 

[apatN]

Easy. Silver.

 

[Saintkeat]

make it gold! Iron Man style

 

[mcgsxr]

If it is red vs silver, I am with the silver.
 
If there are colour options, well, now that starts to get interesting!

 

[lawrywild]

Self-anodising is too expensive and dangerous and sending them away costs too much too, plus there's the problem that the metal grill is attached to the cups, otherwise I would make them black I think. That's always a possibility in the future if I get bored too.
 
I'm leaning towards silver too, will basically look exactly like a PS1000 without the writing. I need to wait for Bila's cocobolo inners to arrive first though.

 

[eclein]

Silver

 

[JamesMcProgger]

if it is between silver and red, Id say silver too.
 
Im not gonna start to fully moding my grados until next month, right now i dont have any material, and its hard to get them while you are in a mountain surrounded by ... more mountains. But i think i'll start step by step, removing clothe and maybe punching holes (one by one) althought according to what I read those are the least noticiable mods. Im in a place with big electrical and mechanical workshops, tho i know nothing about those, i might get me a metal grill around here. too bad we mostly work with steel, which is kind of heavy.
 
 
BTW Bill i read you are trying some Hondurian wood? I am in the country and surrounded by craploads of trees, of course i have no idea what are they or  how would they sound...

 

[eclein]

James-- punching the holes is a pretty effective mod, you'll see, or should I say you most definitely hear the difference. Here's what I suggest to our newest modder and mountain guy.
 
 1) Take off the white linen grill
 2) Take the shells apart and punch the holes, I did 4 then later 6 and now 10, you'll be ok if you start with 2-4 otherwise the changes will be so subtle you won't notice them and think you aren't doing anything. 
 3) When you take the shells apart try and get the grill out in one piece for options down the road if you like them. The little button with the model# on it actually effects the sound so if you want to take them off try it-apparently the button is attached differently sometimes depending on the model and all, mine were glued on so they had to be removed by force.
 4) You got options my friend..enjoy!!!!

 

[JamesMcProgger]

"Mountain guy" 

 
 
 
Quote:

 2) Take the shells apart and punch the holes, I did 4 then later 6 and now 10, you'll be ok if you start with 2-4 otherwise the changes will be so subtle you won't notice them and think you aren't doing anything. 

 
so i dont have to get the driver/driver housing out to punch the wholes? that is good news.
 
 
Quote:

 3) When you take the shells apart try and get the grill out in one piece for options down the road if you like them. The little button with the model# on it actually effects the sound so if you want to take them off try it-apparently the button is attached differently sometimes depending on the model and all, mine were glued on so they had to be removed by force.

 
I actually have a set of shells from a SR80 (not i) and dont have grill. Once i remove the sr80i shells Im gonna put those one, and maybe i can get a grill by then. I also have a sr80 headband and the cup holders. 
 
 
 
Quote:

 4) You got options my friend..enjoy!!!!

 
changing something for the better is always a joy!
 
Thanks eclein
 
 
 

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

"Mountain guy" 

 
 

hahahaha

 

[eclein]

JamesMcProgger-1) You have to take the shells apart to punch the holes there is a video somewhere in this thread showing you how. I'll try and dig it up for ya.....

 

[bensan]

Ack! Just received my Jaben Alumod cups today. The quality is fantastic and the service from Jaben was amazing - very fast shipping. My SR-60's are about 10 years old and needed a recable anyway so I thought I might as well add spacer cups and mod the drivers while I was at it. The outer cups came away from the driver housing with very little force and no heat required, I guess the glue was too old to work. Unfortunately one of the C clamps broke while getting them on the Jaben cup. Presumably the plastic broke under the slight stress as it was very old. Any one have any of these lying about from a broken pair perhaps? Not sure if super glue will hold and I've heard Grado doesn't send out small parts like this any more. btw, this is one of the most informative threads I've ever encountered on a message board - love the community spirit around here!