Grado SR-60 ModifiedI bought my first set of
Grado SR-60
in 2004. It was the set you see in the picture on the left. I used them stock for three years and then decided to modify them.
Did I hear an improvement?
First things first: I went on ebay and ordered some Sennheiser HD-414 headphone pads which, quite surprisingly, they fit well on Grado. On top of that, the yellow looks amazing (to me). Then I went to the local Home depot and bought some metal mesh screen. (One of the claims from Grado as to why the SR-225 sounds so good is the more open-air, metal screen.) It was a shame to have to buy that much screen when I had to use only less than 1/2 of a square foot. (Another option is to use modeling clay support screen available at the local art supply store.)
How To Do It:(
Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk. It voids the warranty. It may ruin your headphones. Etc. Etc. Etc.)1. Remove the original pads.
2. Plug in a hairdryer.
3. Remove the headband (lightly pry with your fingers or a soft, plastic utensil).
4. Heat the sides of the earcups with the hairdryer (careful not to heat the drivers on the front or back - please, just heat the sides of the cups).
5. When it gets hot enough, with a gloved hand, twist and pull the earcup off of the driver housing.
6. While still hot, or reheated, push on the plastic cover to remove.
7. Trace outline of plastic earcup cover onto the mesh.
8. Use shears or tinsnips to cut out the mesh.
9. Install newly-cut mesh onto the earcup.
10. Install earcup onto driver housing.
11. Repeat for other side.
12. Install HD-414 pads.
13. BONUS: take a small, dime-sized dab of
Blu-Tack
on the driver magnets before reinstalling the earcups.
Does this make a difference?Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yes, but it is not life-changing or earth-shaking. The SR-60 are already one of the best budget headphones on the market. It is hard to beat them. But these modifications take a great headphone and make it better. And because you have 'rebuilt' them, it allows one to feel a solidarity with ones own headphones. The best tweak for SR-60 I ever came across was to install bowl pads from the SR-80 headphones. That was a big difference. They are available
here.
Is the modified Grado SR-60 the ultimate budget audiophile accessory?Yes, but only because the original SR-60 was already the ultimate budget accessory. For many years, the SR-60 has reigned supreme in the under-$100 category. It is just really hard to do what it does for $79 [
Link
].
If I had $200 for a stereo system that had to be purchased new, I would buy Grado SR-60s ($79), build or buy a CMOY amplifier ($35; see eBay), and a digital audio player - a
1st Generation iPod Nano
can be had for $79.