Speakers that sound like Grado headphones?

Actually, there are speakers that sound like headphones and give a similar sound. Try the older (vintage) Polk SDA Series speakers from the 80s. They acoustically subtract inter-aural crosstalk to give you a headphone like sound. Carver, with their sonic holography did something similar electronically with some of their preamps during the same era. Some really liked the sound, others did not. On certain recordings it could sound very very good.

I have been pursuing the same task for a few years. I liked my Grados enough that I wanted a sound system that had all the good parts (tonal balance) and maybe a bit more resolution. I ended up with Triangle Celius and tube amps in a near-field setup. I got it pretty close. Unlike what some have posted, loudspeakers sound way better than headphones, if your system is good enough.
The Grados made me rethink what I wanted from a sound system. I wanted all my CDs to sound good, I wanted to hear the music not my system. I'm still on the same task and having fun.

Thanx, Russ

"I must say, though, that my impression of the Grados is the exact opposite of James63's. I find them rich and warm (though not syrupy or bloated), rather than "bright and forward," as James stated (perhaps we're listening to different models)."

Alright I generally try not to argue with people on the forums (it is childish and we all heard different) and I do not mean to disrespect you with my following statements but I don't know how else to put it.

With out dancing around the subject you are wrong about the tonal balance of the Grado SR80. I have owned about 10 different pairs of "high-end" headphones and the Grados are bright with no bass extension. It has been a while sense I have owned Grados but the models I believe I had were the RS-1 ($700ish) and MS-2i ($300ish).

I would guess you just lack the experience of hearing better headphones (nothing wrong with that) that are actually rich and warm. Below I have added a link to a graph that compares the Grado SR80 to a headphone that is "rich and warm" the Sennheizer HD650.

In the graph you can see that the SR80 is up 8db @ 10,000hz, 5db @ 4khz and the bass takes a nose dive at 60hz. The sound stage is also very forward (think horns here) is comparison to the 650 (which I also own). I ran both the Grados and the Senns off of a Benchmark DAC hooked up to a mac mini. Anyway the Grados sound like they measure to me.

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID