[pbandstefanwich]

A splice job would be possible, but I think it would be extremely difficult. You'd have to be very very good at micro soldering to make it work. It is possible to unwind another loop from the voice coil, but you have to be very careful with it. I believe the wires go in opposite directions (at least they have on the drivers I've played with), and make sure to unwind only a little bit less than one turn. From what I've found, when you're unwinding the wires and get back to the place the originally started from, the wire is stuck much more securely and will snap under the force required to pull off more loops. Make sure you're very delicate while unwinding it too, because the wire can split while unwinding it, or pull off part of another coil underneath it. It's hard to do right, and should definitely be a last resort. The varnish/glue holding your voice coil together might be more fragile than a new one given the age, so that would work in your favor.

I would definitely check the resistance across the two tabs first, though. If you get a reading around 32 ohms I think it's safe to say the whole voice coil assembly is fine. Your first task after you verify that should be to reattach the coil to the diaphragm. After that you should secure the diaphragm to the plastic base. I wouldn't use super glue at first just in case you have to take it off again to do further repair. You can always put some more permanent glue on later if you want. Hopefully all you'll have to do is glue everything together and it'll work again!

Edit: when you are checking the resistance, make sure your multimeter isn't connected to anything when you turn it on. I know that, at least with my DMM, if I have it connected to a resistor when I turn it on it doesn't measure the correct resistance. Not sure if that applies to all multimeters, but just something to keep in mind.

 

[mlantinen]

Well...I think I'm going to have to give up.  
 
I purchased a cheap multimeter and tried both drivers.  It didn't even move.  It just sat at 1.0.  Nothing.  I tried a couple old busted Audio Technica drivers and at least it jumped around before settling at .7 ohm each.  The TPants jumped around then measured around 50-55 ohms.....but nothing on either of the RS1 drivers.  What.   
 
I looked at my still intact driver and saw that the voice coil was, IN FACT, still glued to the mylar.  I couldn't tell yesterday.  So I soldered it up (trying each tab in reverse too) and absolutely nothing.  Not even a hum.  Nothing!  So I said F it and removed as much solder as possible from each terminal and peeled up the whole brown tab to see what was underneath it. Nothing was.  The coil leads are laid on top of the brown tab, glued into place and then solder is run over it to attach the cables.  So I at least learned alittle something.  
 
Then I peeled away the black gunk and found both copper leads but they're so gunked up that you can't possibly peel off the gunk to expose the leads.  There's no way on earth you could tell if one or both of the leads would have been severed.  So I decided to dremel off the top which I successfully accomplished and the mylar was glued into place on the edges and the coil was still glued into place.  I carefully tried to scrape both leads free from the underside of the mylar but was unsuccessful with one of them.  So I popped off the mylar and the voice coil and all.  But then as I was carefully brushing off the mylar and of course the coil fell off leaving one lead intact and the other broke off at the coil.  The other end was still stuck to the underside of the mylar.  Awesome and wonderful, I know.  
 
The glue holding together the coil is preventing me from peeling off another lead and frankly I don't know if I could find it.  
 
I may try monkeying with the other driver still but there's a good chance that the leads underneath the gunk are busted or something.  
 
I am a defeated man.  
 
A $400 life lesson I guess.

 

[Maverickmonk]

It really sucks for the drivers. But even inspite of that:
 
You created absolutely beautiful headphones. The shell housings and rod blocks you made are stunning. Perhaps It doesn't have to be a $400 lesson. I understand Grado drivers are not identical in sound signature, but nonetheless lower-end drivers will fit in your shells. I have no experience with the reference series Grado's, but perhaps someone else could indicate whether an sr225 or sr325 driver could stand in as a reasonable replacement sonicly speaking? (at a lower cost).
 
Again: Top notch woodwork. Absolute top notch.

 

[pbandstefanwich]

I am so very sorry to hear about your drivers! What a disaster. I suppose technically it might be possible to unwind another turn if you use tweezers and a microscope to locate where the wire snapped off. Would be extremely difficult though.
 
If you weren't reading anything off the MM, then something wasn't connected somewhere. I really wonder where that could have been, because everything looked intact from the pictures you posted. Would you mind telling me exactly what you did to remove the drivers? Did you just use a razor blade and cut off more and more glue until the driver popped out?
 
As Maverickmonk said, though, you should probably find another set of driver to stick in there because you've put so much work into the cups, and they look absolutely stunning. Don't want to let that go to waste! Maybe as a side project, since you don't have the RS1 drivers anymore, you could try playing around with getting a set of cheaper Grado drivers and applying Bud's Enabl process to them. I believe I recall reading that someone tried it with their Grado drivers and housing and got very positive results. I am going to do that to my drivers eventually, just got too much on my plate at the moment.
 
I suppose if you just want to be done with this project you could list your shells and block on the FS forums. I'm sure someone would grab them for a nice price and you could recoup some of your investment.

 

[spork42]

Ouch!
 
Well, I wouldn't say this is a complete loss.  As others have said, you DO still have an amazing housing to play with or sell.  Also, if a major factor in drivers is the coating on the diaphragm, and since your problems are with the coil and not the diaphragms, you could always pick up a pair of 60s and try your RS1 diaphragms with the 60s' coils?
 
Heck, the 60s and RS1s might have the exact same coils; maybe you can count the number of turns in a 60's coil and compare it to the RS1s.
 
Edit: Looks like the 60s' coils use a different copper in their construction than the RS1s.  You might need to go a bit further up the chain, maybe a 125i.

 

[mlantinen]

Hey guys.  Thanks for the pep-talk....yes, I agree it's not a complete loss.  I really think I learned alot about the drivers themselves and yeah, maybe I can salvage at least one of the drivers down the road or maybe both if I can somehow get that lead of the coil.  The one driver still has both leads, so if I were to somehow splice on additional lead out of magnet wire, I should be able to re-solder the leads to the brown tab on the other side again.  Then glue the coil to the mylar and glue the edges back down and voila...it should theoretically work.  Or at least it should show resistence on the multimeter.  Oh!  I just had an idea.  I've got both the leads still intact on the one coil, right....so I should try the multimeter on the leads!  At least I can see if there is a break in the coil somewhere. 
 
Guys...guys...guys........It would be criminal to put anything other than RS1 drivers in the housing.  

  I may---May--- decide to experiment with another cheaper driver in the housing, but they won't be permanent.  I will be on the lookout for another set of vintage to semi-vintage RS1's to complete my now $900+ set of RS1's. 

  Crazy...I know. 
 
 
Quote:

 
Would you mind telling me exactly what you did to remove the drivers? Did you just use a razor blade and cut off more and more glue until the driver popped out?

 
To remove the black plastic face of the driver, I used a dremel with a circular reinforced disk made for cutting plastic.  Be very cognizant of where the terminal is so that you don't cut the coil leads.  that wrap around the outer edge.  If you keep the cut toward the face of the driver or in other words keep the cut closest to the speaker side of the driver then you shouldn't have any issues.  Just work your way slowly around.  I used a small vice lined with cardboard to hold the driver just tight enough not to move when working.  I also held it in my hand as I worked for some of it. 
 
To remove the mylar diaphragm I used the exacto knife with a small pointy razor to very, very slowly peel up the mylar and the glue. 
 
Does that answer your question?
 
 
Quote:

 
Edit: Looks like the 60s' coils use a different copper in their construction than the RS1s.  You might need to go a bit further up the chain, maybe a 125i.

 
Sporky, that's a great idea, just to see what happens.  It might turn out to be a pretty nice hybrid sound.
 

 

[schwallman]

I have some hf2 drivers in my rs1 shells now. There definitly is a difference somewhere in the drivers. both sets of rs1/hf2 drivers sound completly different in the rs1 shells. when I first took them both apart, the hf2 driver had a factory punched hole in them. The rs1s didnt. So I put a hole in the rs1 driver to match the hf2 and the hf2 still produces more bass than the rs1 with the whole in it. I ended up putting 4 holes in each driver of the rs1 and they are now as bassy as the hf2 driver.
 
So you might actually be able to pick up some lower end drivers and still get the same satisfaction out of them as you did your older rs1 drivers.

 

[mlantinen]

@schwally,
Hmmm....that's some good news. 
 
Where was the hole at on the driver?  I'm not following.
 
Also, the main two thing I'm concerned with is the quality of the bass (strong and defined) and the mellow highs of the RS1's.  Most Grados have too much sibilance and lack the strong defined bass that the SR200's and the RS1's have.  Even my pinky SR60's are bit sibilant and lack that strong, defined bass. 
 
 

 

[schwallman]

Here is a pic of the hf2 driver. Grado already had the one hole in it. What I did with the rs1 driver is I started out matching the placement of the hf2 hole on my rs1 driver. The red is where there are holes in my rs1 driver. They now are as bassy as the hf2.

 

[LugBug1]

All is definately not lost! Not only have you created some beautiful unique shells but you've also given me and others a lot of pleasure watching and reading your journey.
 
How about experimenting with different drivers now? I know a lot of people are happy with their SR60 woodies? I'm sure you could pick up a battered pair of 60's to use the drivers from for now.
 
Or you could send them into Grado to be fixed and say.. "you'll never guess what happened" ha ha 
 
Cheers Mlantinen, It's not the end.. just the next chapter! 

 

[mlantinen]

 
@ schwally, I might have to give that a try with my replacement RS1's some day.  I was stunned by the quality of the RS1's bass, so not really looking for more.  Just focusing on finding a replacement pair for the time being. 

 
 
 
Quote:

 

All is definately not lost! Not only have you created some beautiful unique shells but you've also given me and others a lot of pleasure watching and reading your journey.
 
How about experimenting with different drivers now? I know a lot of people are happy with their SR60 woodies? I'm sure you could pick up a battered pair of 60's to use the drivers from for now.
 
Or you could send them into Grado to be fixed and say.. "you'll never guess what happened" ha ha 
 
Cheers Mlantinen, It's not the end.. just the next chapter! 

Hey Luggy, well said and thank you.  Yes, I'm going to try to pick up another set of 60's to monkey with. 

 

[mlantinen]

Well speaking of buying a replacement pair of RS1's.....I need to sell some headphones and stuff to help fund them.
 
Please see my sig regarding this.  I might even sweeten the deal for any of the souls that may have helped me or supported me along the way. 
-Marty 

 

[kite7]

I really hope you find a replacement pair that sounds as good as the one you had; just remember to stay away from the RS1i. It would probably be a good idea to look for one pair with a similar SN# or some clues to hint they are about the same age as the ones you have. Good luck with your sales

 

[mlantinen]

Yeah, I'm trying to go vintage as much as i can.  Mine were older because they didn't have the serial number.  Goody.  
 
Nope, no RS1i for this guy.  
 

 

[mlantinen]

Some good news!
 
Found an RS1 set on Audiogon.  Still confirming the deal....but I'm pretty sure they'll be mine.  So yes, at the risk of my wife finding out how much I've spent.... my expensive set of custom and semi-vintage RS1's are almost complete.  Muah-ah-ah-ahhhh.

 
Also, I don't think I'll need to mess with the cups, drivers, screens or button.  They appear to be Vintage B or Classic's in outstanding condition and here's the kicker- they have been recently recabled by  Moon Audio with 15 foot Black Dragon and had visited Grado Labs for a checkup.  I think all I'm going to do is take the cups and stick them in my new housing.  Not going to tempt fate on these ones....especially since they look to be in perfect condition.