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Modding the Grado SR80s

I've had my Grado SR80s for about a year and a half now, and they have been no less than awesome since I got them.  Unfortunately, the tip of the 3.5mm TRS plug broke off when I tried bending it back into place.  This was a good excuse for an overhaul on the headphones because I have had a lot of modding ideas brewing for a while, especially after I saw this article about adding 2.5mm sub-mini jacks to the earcups.  I also just recently got the sen 414 earpads and did the reverse quarter mod... which added a bit of color, so I figured, why not more?

So let's get started.  All these pictures were taken post-mortem unfortunately, but I will try to explain the process.

First, we start after removing the earcups from the headband, and removing the earpads.  We have to open up the earcup which isn't that easy.  Some things I read suggested submerging in hot water, or using a blow dryer or just simple prying it apart.  None of them worked so well, so I figured out a better way to do it.  It requires two larger flat-head screwdrivers (the lower one seen in the picture could probably be substituted for a butter knife)

What I'm doing in the above picture is using the larger driver as a base and rotating the smaller one clockwise which creates sufficient force to separate it.  The lower screwdriver allows the upper one to rotate without scraping the plastic.  Once I figured this out it took no more than 30 seconds per earcup to separate.

Now is a good time to paint or mod the outer enclose if you desire.

After opening I clipped the the cable about 7mm after the zip tie and then stripped the outer insulation.  Then I soldered the inner wires to the 2.5mm jack.  I had to make the jack fit in the earcup, so I hadto file the slot down vertically so the jack's enclose wasn't higher than the plastic for the earcup.  I then screwed it into place with the set screw (I didn't even need to hot glue it, but it most likely is dependent upon the jack.

After that, I added the 2.5mm sub-mini plug to the other end of the cable that I snipped.  Blue is ground FYI.

Repeat for the other earcup.

The outer enclosure will require some modification to make the 2.5mm plug connect flush to the jack, as well as it fit over the set screw for the jack.  I recommend using a file and exacto knive.  My worksmanship isn't top notch, but I will probably give it another coat of paint eventually.

After that, you can put the cover back on.  It might look something like this.

Since my original problem was the plug, I also put a new plug on the end.  I filed it down to be able to fit into my iPhone.  It's a little ugly, but it gets the job done and I hate those iPhone adaptors.

Here are some more photos of the finished product.

I plan on making a new cable or two for them once this fancy stuff I got from eBay arrive.  I'll update the post once it comes.  I ordered most of the parts from mcm electronics.  They seemed to have the best catalog and selection of 2.5mm plugs/jacks.