Jecklin Float Electrostatic: Refurbishment & Review (lots of pictures)

[carlwells]

This brings me to my next post, i have now sold my sony and have now taken a different root and will be investing in some new cans with a dedicated headphone amp. can anybody recomend whats worth auditioning and how much i could get for my floats. mine are the ps2 and they have binding posts on the energiser (instead of spring clip) and i will upgrade the speaker cable to nordost flatline (coz i have a load spare) thanks in advance guys and gals.

[carlwells]

oh, should of mentioned that once ive replaced the foam both the cans and energizer are in excellent condition and im only getting rid as the missus said she can hear them when in the same room. can anyone give me an idea what the senn hd600's are like and if they are too noisy for her indoors when she is watching corranation farm or whatever it is.

[apostate]

The 600s leak quite a bit though mostly depends on what you listen to and how loud. I'd put them on par with my Ergos and not as bad as the Grados. At the level I listen to you can't hear them from more than a couple feet away in a quiet room but I tend listen at very low volumes.

Ant

[carlwells]

Thanks for that, it leaves me with a problem though, although i dont listen to the floats loud they leak a lot, i have not much experience with headphones except my floats and my koss esp9, unfortunatley the koss need a service which is why i got the floats a few years ago but now i need something else which will be best suited to my environment. the only funds i will have will be from the sale of the floats and sale of the koss (spares or repair).

[Faust2D]

What a great review. This makes me want to search for a nice used Jecklin Float 2. I really want to see the look on my coworkers faces when I put them on at the office.

[apostate]

Originally Posted by carlwells

Thanks for that, it leaves me with a problem though, although i dont listen to the floats loud they leak a lot, i have not much experience with headphones except my floats and my koss esp9, unfortunatley the koss need a service which is why i got the floats a few years ago but now i need something else which will be best suited to my environment. the only funds i will have will be from the sale of the floats and sale of the koss (spares or repair).

Well, duderuud has his up for $499 shipped in the FS forum. Assuming he gets that and the market will bare another set of Floats and you could get it too that leaves you with enough to pick up something in the Gilmore Lite/MF Xcan/Headfive range for amps and a set of Senn 600/650 if you could find deals on them (probably need used amp and hp to make the 650 work).

You might want to look into something closed if the noise leakage is a problem. AKG 271s, some of the higher-end Ultrasones, Beyer 250s , Beyer DT770 , Audio Technica A900 would all be around the price range (new or used) that would leave you money for an amp and have their proponents (just to name a few options).

Ant

[carlwells]

good man, i will investigate the cans you mention. As for amps the mf would do nice as i already have a trio of mf products but i feel that it would prob eat to much of the budget, anyone have any experience with the chinese headphone amps that are often for sale on efraud

[John Buchanan]

Duggeh,
I would like to congratulate you belatedly on this review. Typically meticulous while being very entertaining. Great reading.
Interesting that my pair sounded completely different, but as I originally said, I never bothered to investigate my (not very good) amplifier's contribution to the sound (a small Rotel). They could certainly play with enormous dynamics (loud could really go much louder than the Stax and sounded much less squashed), but the total absence of deep bass worried me - there were some tracks where Tony Levin's stick playing was easily audible on any of the Stax phones I have, but just disappeared on the Jecklins. That did me in and I sold 'em. Would have been great to try them on a really high quality amp combo however. Pity the Audio Research SP 10/D79A I had was long gone - I suspect that would have really sounded magic.

[JecklinStax]

Jecklin tweak
Great review! I own a pair since 1990 and have been happy with them ever since for all the reasons you mention: wearing comfort, spacious soundstage, euphony, generous bass (though admittedly not very deep below 80 Hz) and possible loudness (very dynamic peak reproduction).
Having seen your photo's I opened them up for the first time and noticed the large open spaces inside, between the drivers and the side 'walls' of the plastic enclosures. Lots of resonating cavities and flexing panels there!
So I filled those up with plasticine clay (from a toy shop). I dared do this, having damped the underside of my Linn turntable platter with this stuff a few years ago with very satisfying results: it opened up and tightened the sound of the 'table a great deal. That plasticine has kept its damping properties up to now and it hasn't dried out, nor did it adversely affect the materials of the turntable, as far as I can see.
The Jecklin is reborn! All vagueness that you mention and I recognized in your review is gone! Localization and tightness are really excellent now. Fast peaks are much less fuzzy, cleaner and more dynamic/loud.
So it seems the limitations of the original Jecklin are primarily in its mechanical construction, and not so much in the drivers themselves, nor in the transformer box.
The phones have gained some weight by the plasticine, but they remain very comfortable. I really hope they stay healthy for a couple more years. If not, I'll have to buy something else, that is at least as good. What do you recommend, the Precide or the Omega 2?

[Duggeh]

I've been in France for two weeks so excuse my tardiness in replying.

Your adventures with the plasticine seem to support my hypothesis. That giant panel needs a damn better clamping put on it than the design of the exclosures allows. Part of the greatness of the design of the Omega 2 is its brilliant driver damping.

If (heaven forbid) that your Jecklins should go kaput on you and you are unable to repair them or find a replacement pair for a sane price. The Stax are much closer to the sound signature than the Ergos. But the Ergos have the more similar presentation obviously. Either hypothetical option has its amplification issues of course.

If I had bought the PS2, I would have done as you did, probably starting with a dense foam though. Of course what someone REALLY needs to do is to Sigma-ise a set of those panels. ;D