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See how Grado headphones are made in Brooklyn (pictures)

The Audiophiliac drops by Grado's Brooklyn factory to see its headphones being made.

Steve Guttenberg
Ex-movie theater projectionist Steve Guttenberg has also worked as a high-end audio salesman, and as a record producer. Steve currently reviews audio products for CNET and works as a freelance writer for Stereophile.
Steve Guttenberg
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1 of 23 Grado

Grado SR60e

The tricky part about documenting how a Grado headphone is made is they don't make them from start-to-finish in easy-to-follow steps. John and Jonathan Grado did their best to slow down the process to give me an opportunity to illustrate as many of the steps of building a Grado SR60e as possible. Grado doesn't just build its expensive models in Brooklyn, NY, all of the "e" Series headphones are made there. I covered the fabrication and assembly of a SR60e headphone for this photo gallery.

Here's a finished pair of SR60e headphones.

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2 of 23 Steve Guttenberg/CNET

​John (left) and Jonathan Grado (right)

John and Jonathan in front of finished and boxed headphones awaiting shipment.

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Grado's front door

Grado Laboratories world headquarters; that's the front door!

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Welcome to the machine

Plastic Grado headphone parts coming off the injection-molding machine.

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5 of 23 Steve Guttenberg/CNET

Interior parts

Driver cover, left, and driver, right.

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Bonding parts

Bonding the driver cover to the driver.

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7 of 23 Steve Guttenberg/CNET

Before and after

The driver, left, after the driver has been bonded to the driver housing, right.

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8 of 23 Steve Guttenberg/CNET

Pre-soldering

Pre-soldering driver terminals.

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Soldering the cable

Soldering cables to driver.

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Listening test

Listening to check cable connections.

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Aligning cable

Aligning cable in preparation for rear housing cover attachment.

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Applying glue

Applying glue for rear housing attachment.

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Clamping

Clamping and aligning driver housing.

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Inserting headband spring

Inserting stainless-steel spring into headband.

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Aligning headband

Aligning headband for junction block attachment.

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Securing junction block to headband

Securing junction block to headband with a rubber hammer.

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Applying L and R letters

Applying L and R letters to headband.

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Putting it all together

Attaching finished driver/earcup housing to headband.

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Last visual check

The technician's last visual check.

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Fitting of the cushions

Fitting the cushions on the driver housing.

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Checking cushion alignment

Checking cushion alignment by hand.

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Boxing the headphones

At last! Boxing the headphones!

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23 of 23 Steve Guttenberg/CNET

Grado prototypes

These prototype Grado headphones are in John and Jonathan Grado's private listening room.

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