Orthodynamic Roundup - Page 95

welcome back, orthodynamicisti

Good to be back and once again have news of the great wide world. At the moment the SEARCH function is pretty much useless and many (all?) of the links I've placed in this thread that refer to relevant topics or data in other threads will, as of this writing, take you instead to random places, so if the brave folks who have given us this website can't straighten this out, and they'd have to be crazy to even try, I'll be going back to re-establish those links, so as they say, please be patient. I do want this thread to contain, amidst the party hats and confetti and red rubber noses, an informal yet useful and up-to-date reference, sprawling as it may be.

Some minor news:

Another Sansui SS-100, the headphone that we now know to've been an OEM Fostex T30/T50 mixture and a model for the Soviet Amfiton TDS-15, came up at auction as a Best Offer and ended up going for around $205. Yikes. A German ECR-500, not strictly an Orthodynamic of course, went for a stunning 349 Euros. Doppelyeichs. In other electret news, I now have documentary "proof", in the form of a 1982 Audio-Technica catalog, specifying that the ATH-8 (aka Signet TK33) was indeed a back-electret design just like the Toshiba line.

Ericj and I found independently the hard way that the only isodynamic sold under the various Pacific Stereo brands (Concept, Quadraflex, etc.) was almost certainly the Concept CE-H. Don't ask us how we know.

Anyone made any interesting discoveries? I've discovered that while writing about the T40 I was thinking of the T50RP (!) (and good God, why?) in post 1409, which I've gone back and corrected.

And of course it is. Thanks for catching that. Your idea of grinding/drilling out the vents might give us an interesting tweak to try. Theoretically, it would allow the driver to operate in something more like free air, thus tilting the response away from the treble and toward the bass. How much, and whether it would be audible, remains to be found out. My opinion is that the effect would be small.

Yes, if I haven't mentioned this before, Fostex's online parts store is back up, and though you can't get things like T50 drivers or earpads, you can get cords and earpads for the more recent stuff.

LiteCommerce online store builder - Fostex Headphones

.

Nah, probbly not. I have deep respect for that felt. It's Mitey-Dence(TM).

24mm reflex disc, (it's a disc if it's behind the damping layer, a dot if it's on the driver itself) but if things are too bright you can probably remove it altogether. Yeah, your memory of the procedure sounds about right.

Here's that post describing the T20v2 mods.


That might do the job also. I was shooting for a real 'stattish sound, and I didn't want the AKG contingent to say they weren't getting their RDA of Vitamin Top Octave. Glad to hear you got good results.


In the Automotive dept.? I'll take a look.

No, I think you've hit about the same point I did, maybe even a little more damping. If you're feeling ambitious you can try swapping the felt for the dollar-store fake chamois and see what effect it has.

I remember having a heck of a time trying to damp the thing enough to get that midrange hump down. Dang! I said to myself, several times. EDIT/UPDATE: One way around this problem would be to glue the damping layer firmly to the back magnet, which maximizes a given materials damping ability. Of course, this falls into the category of not-easily-reversible mods.

.

.

Yay predictability! It's boring but useful. And it also means we're on the right track.

Excellent! Makes you wonder why ol' PWB didn't do those things himself.

I like the term "thickened".


The whole point of this thread, right there. Gain an understanding of the driver and the effects of the enclosure and suddenly you have control of the sound.

Any photos of the modded finality?

.

The man does not exaggerate.


That YH-1 looks like it needs to be put in traction! But the strut wasn't cracked? it was only the cup with its dodgy little locating tooth/pawl that came adrift? Lucky devil!

Certainly the cheapest at online auction in the last 2 years or so. It's been hell out there, and now, finally, we're seeing a drop in prices.

Eventually, many Orthodynamicisti will drop their beloved Orthos and find themselves in this same predicament. Here's the fix, thanks to the determination of a determined fellow HFer. Three cheers!

Sounds like a good start to me. Tweak the damping with varying sizes of reflex discs, tweak the treble with dots. Not much you can do about the bass except make sure the vent damping strips are in right and see to it that the driver is sealed to the baffle.

Yes, I was looking at your photo of the YH-2's interior yesterday and noticed the extra layers of extra-thick felt surrounding the driver.

Aha. Are you hinting that you've recently acquired an HP-1, perchance...?


Can't blame you, really. We do tend to go on about it. A one-post overview is here.