Orthodynamic Roundup - Page 736

Not a bad price, wish I would have seen that YP2.

Actually no, I am getting the HP-2s which precede the YP-2 and are the second tier from Yamahas first set of orthodynamic's offered.

Naa he got my HP-2s Don

And I actually followed damping instructions based on your instructions albeit with a couple of variations (a small disc of Smeggy felt which is not present in Don's). I compared the two at the February meet (mine with Don's) and they were very very close. I of course preferred mine to Don's.

I just wish I had the tough leather that cetoole was saying he would send to me to replace the kinda broken headband..make is look nice you know..oh well..it still sounds fantastic and doesn't affect comfortability at all.

Damn. Just put on my HP-2s before I packed them off to charlieX..man they sound sooo good.

Have half a mind to refund him and keep it

How's your new souce?

Well, in my never ending quest to find the perfect dampening for the YH3s, I gutted them last night and started over. It improved, but is still underdamped with a little suck out in the mids, at least more than I like. Dampening ATM, was the Moorbrook on the driver with a "yolk" disc of the open synthetic right behind it. Then another full disc of the synthetic at the back of the cup covering one layer of cotton batting with another "yolk" of the denser white felt at the very back of the cup. Vents are completely open.

I think I'll swap the synthetic and Moorbrook, then use a little of my surgical tape for a reflex dot on the back of the driver to bring the mids up more.

Oh, and the density or thickness of the felt ring on the front bezel under the ESW9 pads did effect the sound stage and bass too, so I went a new ring of the thinner white felt over the Smeggy felt to "release" a little bass and open up the stage a bit.

Man, there are so many variables to tweak!

I think it was a more a deficit in the dampening mods of the T50RP, but the midrange on the T20s was definitely glazed in more sweetness than the T50s. But I didn't get a long listen on the T20s due to the bad wiring so the right channel and both channels kept cutting in and out. Also, I listened to them with the YH100 pads nested inside the stock K240 Sextett pads too, so I know that made a HUGE difference, but I liked it so much I'm planning to either reuse the front bezels of the T20s or replicate them in wood or fiberglass/wood veneer/fiberglass/Dynamat/CF composite with woodie cups and a new headband. The composite should look sweet, but acoustically dampened as I'll leave the CF less saturated so it can absorb some of the treble reflections in the back. Actually planning to try the same design with the SFI drivers too as their close in size to the T20s, though I'll use leather wrapped felt for the ID ring inside the K240 Sextett pads.

I have replacement Sextett pads from KT88 that are oval and they improved the K240s but I haven't tried them on my T50RPs with the YH100 pads or Smeggy felt nested inside either. I know the T50s have the potential and I planned to put them in woodie cups with a new custom headband, but I'm actually trading them off to malldian for his K240DFs. As you can see by my sig, I am a certified AKGoholic. I do plan to buy a new set in the future for my woodie cups, but it's just been bumped down the project list considerably.

I'm referring to the T40RPMkII(n), though I am definitely interested in buying another pair of T40v1, should the chance arise..

I don't quite like the thought of having mids "glazed in sweetness" since that sort of implies some sort of coloration, but I do think they are more euphonic/agreeable on the T20v2 than on the T50RP. Coming from AKG myself, I'm a firm believer in good mids.

I'd be interested in the 200-300 dollar ortho from Head-Direct if it garnered more than an insubstantial amount of praise, but I guess that's a year or two down the line.

i got those.

i'll try to post some opinions/impressions of the sound after some listening.

Nah, they weren't really colored, but perhaps they just aren't flat with the pad combo I demo'd. I guess I should have said they were more forward, without being harsh. I wouldn't call them polite compared to the Yammy's mids either though.

I'm going to solder the fsma cable on the T10 driver'ed Kenwoods this evening and see what they need dampening wise, then I'll swap in the T20s in the coming weeks.

I changed the dampening on the YH100s again last night and now they're still a little underdamped, but sound remarkably like my KT88 padded Sextett MPs with a little deeper bass, but more recessed mids and highs. Like my Sexttes are being played with a 3dB boost at 30Hz and -3dB from the 1KHz up for lack of a better description. Pretty wild.

The YH100s sounding like my Sextetts is a good thing, IMHO. The Yammy's are obviously much faster and better controlled, but they sound remarkable similar right now. A little tweaking on the dampening and teh Yammy's will pull ahead with those sweet mids and highs, but I think I can keep most of the low, tight bass too.

The Kenwood KH-83s are alive! They definitely need more dampening, or perhaps just pads right off the bat...

Pics later as I have fsma's demo cable on them that I modded a bit to fit in the cut off strain reliefs. They look good now and will look awesome with custom leather headstrap, y-split, and strain relief at the Jack.

you mean that cans on this thread ?
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/4992715-post1.html

yes, i guess it can...as long as you got the "right recipe" on damping & sealing, you might achieve lot of bass & lot of highs with SFI...prefer the SFI's 120Ω than 32Ω, still... dont forget to seal the upcoming driver on the baffle, i ussually use tack-it around the driver...a variation of blutak but with green colour, made by FaberCastell...

Well, the T10 drivers were short lived, or at least the right channel one was... The positive ring had pulled away from the mylar. Tried using DeoxIt to clean it and reassemble it, but it would only work with the driver in free air and the screws on the back loosened up considerably. Any attempt to tighten the screws or mimic the pressure of felt against it resulted in almost no sound output. Wualta, Eric, and Don; any ideas how I could possible repair the driver so it will work under higher clamping pressure?

So The T20v2s were gutted and one T20 was swapped in. Well, you can definitely hear a difference between the two sides. The T20 sounds louder, with those mids very forward, but the T10 had better highs and much lower bass.

Thought about trying to use the T10 magnets with the T20 driver, but the T20 magnets are recessed in the center for the little raised dot in the very center of the T20 driver. So I guess I need to swap out the other driver tomorrow night and remove the felt off the back of the other T20 driver and just use the stock material that is on the back of the drivers to see if I get more bass. Pad changes will be required to get the highs up on the T20 driver in the Kenwood wrapper.