Grado SR80i Modifications - What Have I Done???

[Jason36]

Well I have been waiting for these since before Christmas and they are now finished and on their to me :dance:

These headphones are the Grado based Magnum V4 Drivers from a company called Symphone in Canada.

Cable is Stranded Silver Coated Copper 22AWG.

The cups are custom made by Martin Custom Audio in the USA - these are Hawaiian KOA.

Machined, Polished Aluminium Gimbals.

So How do they look?? Well take a peek 8)

 

[eggontoast]

They are nice.....So how do they sound ?

 

[Jason36]

Dont know yet...they haven't arrived :O

These are the pics Marty took prior to posting them out yesterday......should be here by early next week at the latest though.

From what I have read and discussed on that well known Headphone forum...the Magnum driversdo take a while to get in to things....I have even read 300 hours by some modders. When I get them I wil have a listen but will probably just be attached to something and left playing for abou a week or so before I try any critical listening.

Not too worried though as I also have a set of Beyerdynamic T70p on the way.......and will be fitting my Grado SR80i drivers and cable into my Bocote wooden cups

And on top of all this I am also looking at building my own PC Music Server which will be completely silent and have no moving parts (Fanless Motherboard, Solid State Disk, Off board Linear Power Supply etc).

 

[eggontoast]

Dont know yet...they haven't arrived :O

sorry didn't read it properly

 

[Jason36]

OK the final instalment of my Grado SR80i Modifications.......for now :roll:

I recently ordered and received these wooden Bocote cups from the USA

I spent a little while this morning getting ready to put my Grado SR80i drivers and cable into these cups. Firstly I needed to liberate the drivers from their Plastic Housing:

Both drivers liberated

I then desoldered the cable from the drivers (being carefull not to apply to much heat, as this can damage the voice coil), threaded the cables through the new cups and then resoldered the drivers. These are the drivers in their new home

Having applied a cable tie to the cable inside the cup (this ensures if pulled too hard the soldered cable does not come away from the solder plate) I fitted my standard Grado ear pads (new L cush style will be bought and fitted as this provides a more airy and open sound)

Finally I reattached the Grado Headban and gimbals.....and this is the finished modified Grado SR80i

:dance: :dance: 8)

 

[Anonymous]

..........and how do they sound?

 

[Jason36]

..........and how do they sound?

Well the Grado SR80i's in the Bocote Cups with pre mentioned mods (now having Blutack replaced with Dynamat) sound excellent! They have more extended bass and very little harshness or sibilance. They still retain the Grado forwardness and detail but without being fatiguing over longer periods of time. The drivers have five holes punched into the back of the driver membrane and the extended bass makes them excellent with Indie, Electro Jazz and Female Vocals. Accoustic Based Guitar music sounds exceptionally good with these. Light / slow rock sounds good as well.....however heavy / thrash and fast rock can get a bit muddy and muddled, mainly due to the mods and the fact they are in Wooden cups. Luckily I dont really listen to any of the latter. These are now my main office based cans

The Grado based Magnum drivers in the Hawaiian KOA cups and the silver coated copper cable are in another league completely. These sound more like RS2 / RS1 headphones and have an excellent and well rounded sound. Bass extension is good and the mids are just fantastic (again good with vocal based stuff). These are probably my favourate headphones at the moment and the bonus is....not only do they sound good.....they look s**t hot too (well in my opinion). These headphones although being used in the office at the moment, will become one of my main home based listening sets, alongside my Beyerdynamic T70p.

:cheers:

 

[drummerman]

I had a pair of Sony MDR-XD200 for some time and really enjoyed them, slightly 'modded'. Dirt cheap and comfortable. Then I made the mistake and read some Headphone reviews and fell over some weirdly called Creative Aurvana Live(!) ... yes really ... and got some. Liked them for a while and thought; Great, 'more' detail, more bass, more treble and so on. After a while I started to dislike the bass which was to warm, the midrange a little to recessed etc. . For a while I used my sony's again and once again enjoyed the natural, fast paced and spacious sound. I then took a drill, cotton wool and superglue to the Creative's with the end result of me liking them again. Oddly enough, they now sound similar to the sony's and look like a swiss cheese.

What have I learned from it; Any frequency anomalities will get troublesome in time. If the midrange is ok and sounds good, most of the battle is won. Perhaps part of the reason why some people fall in love with the infectious Naim sound.

regards