Orthodynamic Roundup - Page 1405

Vaughn   Thanks for popping in   There will be some sort of solution for those awesome looking items you built. Things seem to go haywire when they are missing for the most part it seems.

 

If you want send me a PM I have some similar white fabrics that may do the trick for replacing the stock backing paper/materials.  I can send some out, if you want ( no pressure no pressure ) at least you can see and if none of it seems close to you then throw it out :)

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalbee 

 

 

Punched through. How? I have no clue! which is why I was unsure on it being a DIY.

 

I would imagine the only easy way to do it would be to remove metallic part from the cup, insert it backwards into the headband, and fix it to the cup again. But when I took everything apart I couldn't see any easy or proper way to removing the ball joint without minor destruction.

The other side of the headband is broken on the side of the punched hole; you can imagine how little material there is there considering how thin the headband is at that point. It is currently being held by electric tape, and it's working but temporarily.

 

Seeing as it isn't adjustable in any way, and that they can rotate freely indefinitely (kind of like Grados but on a different axis), I'm lucky it fits just perfect on my head. Though the cups are then highly angled forward.

Yeah i had to quote that picture again :)

Too cool not to.

The only way i can see they did that is countersinking where top the pin top seats in for swivelling, then right through the middle of the headband end there, then next putting the pin through and in place with a bit of glue on the very tip,  and pushing that back into the cup mounting hole.

Make sense?  Pretty good considering really.

YHONG26 :

For the recable on the HP-3, I did up an HP-50 ( same thing basically ) with I think some Koss cable because i needed to make it into stereo mode, but you might want to find something that allows you to use the stock strain relief(s) from each cup entry point.( I forget if the HP-3 is single or dual entry ) They will slide off the stock cable  and onto the new cable... This will allow you to control that area so it doesn't turn into some sort of venting and make the one side slightly different sounding. I also found it goofy without something holding the cable properly at that point since these are press-fit baffles and no screws to secure things down except the built in tabs. Just my two cents.

It sure makes it easy to do it that way rather than fighting the entry point into the cups with something else.

If you do reuse the strain relief it will mean that you can't go with a huge jumbo cable that is any bigger than the stock diameter cable.

What is it you want to recable for?  Stock one is probably fine. Were you wanting to go nuts on a silver cable or something like that to change up the impedance/capacitance and sound?  You could always sheath it in some techflex or similar covering tightly with some shrinkwrap if you don't enjoy the appearance as is...

it'll give you a nice chance to open them up and experiment with some damping though. Just make sure to post pics of that if you do  :)

WOO! Self-quoting makes me feel important!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GREQ 

My Watson Mod. 930 now has a SIBLING!
*FANFARE*  Introducing the Universum... err... SFI... uhm... there's absolutely no model number on this thing! 








So first thing you notice is the slight visual difference. Universum doesn't have 'HIFI-STEREOPHONE' written on the side, nor does it have a TONE control, only a large volume control.
The most important difference is that the Universum has a different venting scheme. Watson just has a line of grills, but the Universum has 4 circular ports and another set of grills slightly off to one side (see photo).
Also, an even more important difference is that the double foam layer you see IS STOCK - I didn't add that! 
This makes the two sound quite different (although they share the same driver and are also similar in many respects).

The Universum has far better bass response and extension, and the treble is more tame. This makes for a somewhat less 'detailed' sound, although the resolution is about the same. The bass is a little out of control at times on electronic tracks, but for an old SFI ortho it's rather good even by modern standards (compared to most consumer stuff up to $200). The mids are sometimes a little thin sounding, which combined with a medium width soundstage and slightly too much bass makes for a slightly more crowded sound, but it is still a very enjoyable 'dark' sound. 

Both of these models easily have the best 'crunch' I've heard from any headphone. It must be the combination of smallish drivers, smallish soundstage and ortho-awesomeness that makes these so much fun. Queen's 'We Will Rock You' just has the most engaging crunch and guitar solo tone. 

Ok, so this has more to do with the Watson than the Universum (despite them being nearly identical).

The 'rare' yellow foam inside the universum got me thinking. So I tried out some 'foam' mods on the Watson. 

Previously I was just using the stock foam (visible in image below)...

....with a circle of denim (visible in image below)...

... the denim actually helps the mid-bass hump massively and improved over-all tightness and focus.

The only thing really missing was the bass extension. The Universum (with the yellow foam) has a lot more.

So first I tried adding more foam (like the double layer in the Universum). So I got two old headphone foams (like those disposable ones you get on aeroplane flights) and put those between the denim and foam. Bass extension improved, but everything else died. The sound was all muddied and muffled, and distant. Basically it sounded more like a cheap closed headphone without any sort of tuning.

So I knew I had to INCREASE the amount of padding, without radically increasing the overall mass of the padding... or decrease the mass, but increase volume - does that make sense?

To cut a long story short I found cotton wool to work AMAZINGLY.

Basiclaly it's A LOT lighter than the foam, but I can pack more in as it's packed tighter together (just like the yellow foam).

I didn't think these SFI's could sound this good. IMO it now EASILY sounds better than my Yamaha HP3. I know for some of you that probably isn't a huge surprise, but I didn't go as far in modding it... so it's not the greatest comparison either.

I wish the headphone had a more open sound, and a few less little peaks in the treble, but this was such a huge step from something so ridiculously cheap and simple I had to post. 

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Yamaha-Kopfhorer-YH-1000-Raritat-ORTHODYNAMIC-HEADPHONES-/170987420555?pt=DE_TV_Video_Audio_Sonstige&hash=item27cfa4fb8b

I believe it's common practice to not post current auctions in here, but I guess the guy is expecting +1 grand as that other doofus is asking $2K for a busted pair anyway. Or are you the seller? What's the reserve price?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vaughn 
vent is on the forward edge of the cup. I've always been terrible at estimating frequencies and I haven't run any test tones through them to isolate the problem. I definitely have deep bass. I put on some very dubby Jah Wobble and my brain was vibrating I would say the sound is of the "ting-boom" variety, not very technical but pretty descriptive.

Reducing the cup vents and adding the baffle vent should decrease some of that bass. I'm guessing that longhair is adding a lot of bloom in the bottom end. Still probably want some actual acoustic foam in there to soak up the treble as well. That's just my guesses though.

I need to dig in there but I believe I lined the cups with 1/4" closed cell foam from Michaels. I think a deflector behind the driver, like the "energy dome" I mentioned previously would not be out of order.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick n 

Yeah i had to quote that picture again :)

Too cool not to.

 

The only way i can see they did that is countersinking where top the pin top seats in for swivelling, then right through the middle of the headband end there, then next putting the pin through and in place with a bit of glue on the very tip,  and pushing that back into the cup mounting hole.

 

Make sense?  Pretty good considering really.

Basically that's the process I imagined. Though without the glue; there's little to no traces of glue inside the cups. It's just that the metal mesh is pretty tight fitting so I'd have to bend parts of it to remove the pin.

I also need to get a more solid fix for the headband, seeing the non-pictured side is cracked where the pin meets.

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry 

I believe it's common practice to not post current auctions in here, but I guess the guy is expecting +1 grand as that other doofus is asking $2K for a busted pair anyway. Or are you the seller? What's the reserve price?

I believe he's reserve price is 900 euros.  Still crazy price, one might get and HE-6 or HD-800 for that amount. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffrocc 

Has anybody actually heard a pair of Yh-1000's? Almost Sasquatch or monster of the Loch Ness like it seems. Maybe they aren't even real, just a crazy late night story to scare those headphoned crazed people who will go to any length to have the cans built with unobtainium magnets and carbon fibre reinforced bands lol. How different can they really be than a venerable ol' set of Yh-100's?

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry 

I believe it's common practice to not post current auctions in here, but I guess the guy is expecting +1 grand as that other doofus is asking $2K for a busted pair anyway. Or are you the seller? What's the reserve price?

Unfortunately I am not the seller and I have just put the link for jeffrocc & as he said just to point that they do exist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta 

Indeed it wouldn't, so long as it broke up the symmetry of those aluminum cups. Remember: Wherever possible, diffuse, diffract, absorb.

Maybe mount some acoustic foam vertically so it sorta cuts the cup into chambers?