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Grado RA-1 amp is a piece of crap!  

post #1 of 106
Thread Starter 
Daniel and Tomo are right. This amp is a waste of money. I listened to it last night with a couple of different sources and realized that this amp is doing absolutely nothing to the sound! It's like a secretary who just passes the information on to you without improving it or changing it. What a fool I've been. $350 for an amp that does nothing to the sound? I mean, it should at least add it's own opinion or effect to the signal, otherwise what is the point? I mean, it's neutral. All it is doing is putting out what goes into it. It has no sound of it's own. You'd figure for $350 it should at least boost the bass or treble, romanticise or excite the sound, do SOMETHING!

I am going to take the good advice and build a DIY unit that will blow away this Grado amp, blow away it's neutrality and uselessness. Enough throwing good money after bad neutrality.
post #2 of 106
Hmmm....I got the RA-1 because I WANTED a neutral amp to use with my Grado SR-325's. Even though the 325's sound great on their own, I can hear an improvement with the RA-1. Maybe it is just more suited for use with Grado phones. What phones are you using with it?
post #3 of 106
You are right Beagle, neutral amps have no place in Hi-Fi! What the heck were they thinking? The stupid thing doesn't even have bass boost or crossfeed or a loudness button, I mean a amp with a loudness button!!! And where the hell are the tubes?!? And why the hell did Grado labs use such a simple design? I want my amp to be as complex as possible and I want it to completely change the sound, not this neutral tripe!
Also, btw where the hell am I suppose to plug in my $2000 power cord???

oh and chriscu1, don't forget :
Neutral amps are for loosers!
post #4 of 106
Beagle's having some fun with us :-)

Come on, nobody was faulting your personal judgement or saying the RA-1 was no good. Most people say it is great, and most people said it was great in the "Amp" thread. All we're saying is that it's silly to pay so much when you can DIY for much less. If you fail, you can buy a Grado and you've wasted little money but you've learned a lot.
post #5 of 106
Thread Starter 
KR: Exactly. I should at least get some background noise. But no, all I get is the music, unchanged, untampered with. This amp is sonically invisible. I've been ripped off.

I think I'll write a nasty letter to Grado and advise them that their amp is horribly uncolored.
post #6 of 106
Unlike this thread, however, the price is still not funny.
post #7 of 106
I've seen the pictures of the inside. The Grado Amp is nothing more than a cheap cmoy. The circuit is basically identical, and the components are cheap as hell. When you get the RA-1, all you pay for are the looks. Beagle's right, the RA-1 is a piece of crap considering the price. It would be a good amp for $20.
post #8 of 106
I don't find it amusing to pretend to bash a great product in a public forum, even if you think it is a great joke or something. As you can see many people are taking your comments seriously not understanding your intent, and I'm sure Joe Grado doesn't find your post amusing, especially the title of this thread.

I have no problem with constructive criticism, or humor used in posts, but common sense should be used so other parties are not hurt.
post #9 of 106
I also agree with Beagle. $350 for an amp that only runs on 2 9-volt batteries that comes with .20 cent battery snaps,a cheap on/off toggle switch and a cheap headphone jack. Why didn't they design this amp to work with an AC-Adapter??The Creek OBH-11 is only $199 and works with AC power.The OBH-11SE has a regulated power supply and is the same price as the RA-1. Well, this is also just my personal opinion. If you have the RA-1,which I I did, and you like it,that's fine. But,I feel it is incredibly overpriced for what you get.
post #10 of 106

Well those people got their own personal issues, and most likey never heard the RA-1, so who cares what they think.

and one more thing, Hi John!
post #11 of 106
Thread Starter 
Oh he's probably laughing his ass off, considering he retired years ago and this is not his product.

On the other hand Joe was an intelligent person, a good singer and listener and probably noticed the irony of it all right away.
post #12 of 106
darkangel, the people that designed this product know that they put out a ****ty amp. Their feelings haven't been hurt, instead they're probably pissed that this means less sales. Some products need to be criticized harshly so that we, the buyers, can get a higher quality product. Do you also feel bad for Bose?
post #13 of 106
Are you people taking the piss? Isn't neutrality what's it all about? If you want Bass boost, get an EQ! The whole point of HiFi is to listem to music as close to the orginal as possible, not ADD or MINUS anything from the orginal recording.

You will NEVER see any tone control on a $20,000 HiFi amp, why? because it get's in the way of the signal. You want a as direct route as possible. A perfect amp would be a "Wire with Gain", because that's what amplifier do. They increase the volume, not add anything into it. If you want more bass and character for your music then you are looking at the wrong end of the stick. Sorry to be so blunt but adding character to the music isn't what HiFi is about.
post #14 of 106
Well, I'm confused. Some people seem to be joking, others are serious. Please state your intentions...
post #15 of 106
I think the original intent was joking, then it got hijacked into a serious critique of the parts' quality of the RA-1. My favorite (non-serious) quote was "I think I'll write a nasty letter to Grado and advise them that their amp is horribly uncolored."
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