Below you can find various mods for Grado I build.

New for High End Grados

Now available, these mods for your High End Grado including... HF-2, RS-1 or RS-2, GS-1000, PS-1, PS-1000, HP2 or HP-1000 drivered Joe Grado's. Choose between the formally unavailable direct order Wide Tops or Triple Point woodies (some samples in pics below).

All available now.

Triple Point can be ordered to point upward, downward, inward or outward. Example of downward in logo and pic second down on right. Wide tops are the large round tops in pics.

In order to fit my woodies onto your drivers, I will remount them into my newly designed Korina driver holders. So whether you have metal or wood mounting currently, that will change to Korina wood. Korina driver housings will typically not show, as the pads cover them.

I will use your unaltered headband without modification.

Please choose your desired tops correctly from the Extra Options drop down menu.

Some have commented the Triple Point are the most beautiful headphone they've seen… now you can order them direct!

For a visual example on how to order, click here

I mod and or recable most Grado cans on either this page or one of my other Grado mods pages. I am the original modder who led the way for all aftermarket woodies and recables. Grado is the second headphone I "woodied", and the first recabled.

     Anyway, as far as sound goes, the cable, exclusive tweaks, my experience and the enclosure size is where the improvement is realized... wood characteristics also plays a role to some extent.

     I will modify (shorten) your forks (as seen in pics) so the woodies will fit my thicker wood walled enclosures. This helps their overall strength. The extended part that I modify has no purpose other than blocking the beauty of the wood. Woody end tips may not pass by the larger new version 325i band, thus you only have about half adjustment length of rods.

Wide tops are on High End Grado mods page now.

Locking Adjusting Rods… Adjust tight (in the vein of the old HP1000's) to steady the rods from moving up and down and that seemingly never ending Grado cable tangling and annoying swiveling. Can be finger adjusted very easily while wearing them. Available with recable or woody/recable only though…

Now available… wood driver housings! An option with just recable or with woodies and recable. Turn your SR/MS into something similar to HF1/HF2

For a visual example on how to order, click here

   

    C-Pads have an undergone an upgrade evolution over time, approx the 10th variation since I came up with them years ago.

     They are basically circumaural (the C) Beyer velour pads on adapters for adding comfort, soundstage, etc to fit onto Grado headphones. They are fronted with black sound acoustic foam, for further wild hair protection against "grattle" and soaking up reverberation from the closed pads and soundboard. Past V1-V8 models had cloth.

     New V10 I've created another new version of C-Pads. The ports are still shaped like little ears to catch and extract bouncing sound waves. The added foam helps in that respect too. No more plastic frame, all wood now.

     Silver pads are default and black pads are $10 more (not available separate). You will get silver if black is not paid for at the time of order. Eventually if the pads themselves need changing, that has been planned for and you can buy some from Beyer direct and put them on yourself (can be tricky the first time, heat inside flange with blow dryer).

     Installation and headband adjustment instructions below...

"V10 SR" fits SR-60, 60i, 80, 80i, 100, 125, 125i, 200, 225, 225i, 300, 325, 325i, MS-1, MS-1i. MS-2, MS2i.

"V10 HP" fits HF-1, GS-1000, PS-1, RS-1, RS-1i, RS-2, RS-2i, MS-Pro's, HP-1000 (and most all SR/MS too). Will not work with HF-2 or PS-1000

Adjusting Headband for Better Fit of C-Pads

I've found that bending your headband is a pretty darn easy way to get your C-Pads sitting on your head properly. In the above left picture, think of the white line as the stock band and the red as the adjusted band. There is a band of metal inside the leather (or vinyl) cover. Keep in mind you don't want to reef on it, but you do want to bend it beyond springing back to stock which does take some force. If need be, start slow and repeat numerous times.

In the right picture, you'll need to straighten this section of the metal a bit in the green dotted area. Do this by putting your thumbs in the yellow dot area and bend up where the red arrows show. This widens the band. Next, grasp a yellow dot on either side and bend towards lower arrow, then repeat on other side. Keep in mind you're going for the red shape in the left picture. In both pics, the band shown has already been adjusted, so you can also use that as a guide.

It may take a few attempts to get it right, but once you get it fitting better you'll get the idea and be able to make more minor adjustments. It's not brain surgery, you can do it if you just do it. If you don't adjust them to fit, they'll sound like monkey… So do it :-)

C-Pads Installation Instructions

V10 "SR" Series have a fitted slot for the driver face edge to fit into, opposite of ear side.

Place a towel flat on a firm table (not glass) or other suitable surface.

Remove Grado pads (bowls or flats). Don't remove the white or black fine driver face cloth.

Lay headphones upside down on towel, so driver fronts are pointing to the sky.

Fit C-Pad driver holder indent over driver face and align. Hold in that position.

Put a thumb on both sides of soundboard hole (on ear side of C-pads), across from each other and near the center opening (covered with black foam).

You should be able to press the adapter onto the driver face with both thumbs if aligned properly. It may need to snap on with reasonable, yet firm force. Since every driver is very slightly different in size, the adapters may go on easy or require a more firm pressing.

You may hear a slight snap or feel it going snuggly into place. Check backside to see if the driver face edges are fairly even all the way round in the fitted area. They shouldn't fall off on their own if put properly. However if taken on and off frequently, eventually you'll need adhesive putty for them to stay on, as the indent will enlarge past friction still holding them on.

To Remove C-Pads

Grasp back of adapter towards and near the inside (on wood, not edges) with both hands.

Put thumbs directly on driver face (through grill cloth) and push with thumbs while pulling with fingers towards you. Use care to stop pushing when C-Pad releases so you don't dislodge grill cloth from soundboard. Adapter will pull off fairly easy with this method.

V10 HP Series

These fit in a slightly different way than SR. As seen in pic to the right, I've put in two beads of "tacky tape", which is a putty that is sticky. Simply put driver faces in place and follow instructions above. Instead of snapping into place, the tacky tape holds the adapter to the driver face. It's not a permanent bond, they can be taken off and on. It isn't as convenient as snap in for taking off, but with different driver face sizes and as to not scratch the wood or metal, I've decided this is the best solution. If the tacky tape wears out from taking off and on regularly, it can be purchased at many stores in small quantities. Some call it "Blu-Tak" or "Adhesive Putty". Cut it lengthwise into spaghetti noodle size and press in as it was originally when received. Cleans up by dobbing, like when picking up gum. Takes a few moments and best to do it slow.

These are a marriage of various drivers with new Beyer DT770 Pro shells, along with my other mods for them. As with any marriage, it winds up costing more than staying single, but can be a rewarding experience!… I will also consider using any other drivers that you provide (more on that below). Denon and Grado are the most popular choice for drivers.

     When using Grado drivers, to me they sound somewhat similar to V10 C-Pads, but better… The drivers are tweaked and closer to ears in these, plus the driver housing being glued to the V3 Korina soundboard rather than pressed in. I'm now using one-piece Korina soundboards to mount them on.

Their design is open back, with domed stealth stainless steel screens. Beyer shells are both comfy and sturdy and look sweet IMO.

Drivers can either be purchased from me, or you supply them. They must be attached to the stock headphones when I receive them (I won't accept just drivers). I keep all spare parts from both headphones. COA's will have drivers listed on them, thus verifiable for all in future.

Minimum SR325i for Grado builds. New SR325i drivers are available from me for Vixens (may or may not add time to build due to availability). You could also have me use your RS-1 or 2, GS/PS1000 or Joe Grado pair. I'd love to make a pair from your HP1000 drivered pair. Other candidates for Vixen would be CD3000, Denon D2000-D7000, or whatever you have that I approve of using.
BlackCopper, BlackMax, BlackCrystal, BlackTop or BlackGold info.

For a visual example on how to order, click here