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The Koss ESP950 thread (ESP owners, please contribute! :) - Page 7

post #91 of 346
10/22/07 at 4:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AudioCats View Post
Any possibility of a comparision impression on ESP9/E9 vs. SR-001 system from some of you that own both? I will guess the baby stax will win, but by how much ? I think alot of people will be interested in such review since these two are about the only common and affordable non-leaking electrostatics available. ( There are also 6,7 and 4070, but the 6 is too heavy, the 7 is too rare, and the 4070 is way too expensive for most of us) Thanks
I don't have the S-001 system but I do have the SR-003 and a SRM-Xh and the ESP9 doesn't stand a chance. The SR-003 is clear and dynamic and while the top end is a bit laid back and the bass can be overpowering if they sit wrong they are one of the best headphones you can buy. The ESP9 on the other hand sounds like there is a veil over everything. The stock damping material makes this even worse so I put in some of my own and that made them open up a little bit but also showed up some of the box resonances. The topend is rolled off, the midrange isn't as sweet as the 003 and while they have more bass it is due to the thicker membrane and larger radiating area so it doesn't have the speed of the smaller phone.

The ESP 6-10 would have much more potential if the drivers were modified by installing them in a much better housing with better earpads and if some of the plastic surrounding them was removed. It's hard enough to deal with the internal driver reflections with out most of the driver covered with plastic.
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post #92 of 346
10/22/07 at 5:25am
Thread Starter 
Any idea what the diaphragm thickness is on the ESP6/7/9, birgir? Are the 9's, like the Stax pro's, use a thinner memberane than the low bias models ?
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post #93 of 346
10/22/07 at 5:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AudioCats View Post
Any idea what the diaphragm thickness is on the ESP6/7/9, birgir? Are the 9's, like the Stax pro's, use a thinner memberane than the low bias models ?
I've never seen any Koss documentation on what the thickness is and it is impossible to measure it but it should be 6-4um when you factor in the age. I'm not sure they used mylar as it is white-ish in color and mylar is clear. The reason why the Pro phones use a thinner membrane is because they are younger and the really thin stuff didn't arrive until in the late 70's. There are even thinner membranes available now (0.85um) but thinner isn't better.
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post #94 of 346
10/23/07 at 9:42am
Thread Starter 
Put the ESP10 on my head last night (without cabling, still waiting for silver), man they are heavy.... comparing to the 950 they are...... Looks like if we want to do any kind of ESP repot for comfort we will need a light chassis that can support some weight, open housing cups, and large enogh baffles to mount the ESP6/7/9 drivers.

It seems that the UR40 with the mesh headband and shiny open housing will be the prime candidate (and still within the Koss family).

ericj, what do you think, is the UR40 robust enogh and big enough for the task?
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post #95 of 346
10/23/07 at 1:23pm
hm. It might be workable to repot them in a ur-40. my concerns are that it might be a tight fit, and i'm not certain about the distance between the screw posts in the ur40 housing
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post #96 of 346
10/23/07 at 4:49pm
Thread Starter 
and you do have both UR-40 and ESP9, right some measurements maybe?

By the way, any updates on the E9 zener voltage yet?
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post #97 of 346
10/23/07 at 5:13pm
Yeah, i even have a gutted UR40. Or rather, the UR40's non-folding Radioshack brother.

it might be a near-perfect fit. or it might be close enough to perfect to make it impossible.

wiring will be interesting. Are you envisioning the circuit boards still in the earcups and single-entry cable?

I was real tired when i got home from work yesterday. something about going to bed at midnight sunday and waking up at 4am monday. May have a look at the zeners tonight.
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post #98 of 346
10/23/07 at 6:59pm
Thread Starter 
Probably no circuit board, no original wiring, just ESP6/9 drivers in UR40 housing. Stock dampenning taken out, and install just a fine mesh screen to protect the back side of the drivers, (kind of like in the 950, since the UR40 cups are fully open too).
cables will probably be dual entry, wire to a Stax like push/pull configuration, and the phones will be driven by a modified Stax box (that is why the bias/zener measurement is important).

Maybe this fully open push/pull 9 have a chance to rival the mighty O' SRXIII.....

So who is gonna give it a try? (preferably somebody already has both the 9 and UR40, and has the skills to "reconfig" them together) I need to get a pair of 9 first, but it is gonna be a while since the ebay ESP prices are all pretty high right now.....
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post #99 of 346
10/23/07 at 7:15pm
Aint gonna be me. Other fish to fry.

My ESP9 / E.9 combo has a lot of squeal to it these days, and i could swear that I get some tiny tickles of electricity from the cable - but it's not a project I'm interested in right now.
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post #100 of 346
10/23/07 at 7:46pm
I'm out as well. While I do modify the phones to single standard I don't touch the looks as that will change the sound too much. I did something similar to this with my spare Magnavox and it sounded horrible, much worse then stock.
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post #101 of 346
10/24/07 at 6:13pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by spritzer View Post
I did something similar to this with my spare Magnavox and it sounded horrible, much worse then stock.
Really? maybe I should concentrate on making 100% DIY phones intead of modding the ESP9's....
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post #102 of 346
10/24/07 at 6:19pm
Thread Starter 
My 950 had developed a severe case of channel imbalance, instead of having the balance dial at the normal 12 o'clock, I had to turn it to almost 9 o'clock to make it sound right....

Then I saw one of birgir's recent posts in the Stax thread, so I unpluged the phones and shorted the pins..... yay, the problem went away! Thanks birgir!

Guess I won't keep the bias plugged in all the time from now on



.
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post #103 of 346
10/24/07 at 7:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AudioCats View Post
My 950 had developed a severe case of channel imbalance, instead of having the balance dial at the normal 12 o'clock, I had to turn it to almost 9 o'clock to make it sound right....

Then I saw one of birgir's recent posts in the Stax thread, so I unpluged the phones and shorted the pins..... yay, the problem went away! Thanks birgir!

Guess I won't keep the bias plugged in all the time from now on



.
My mojo sure is strong today...
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post #104 of 346
10/25/07 at 2:43am
When I touch the right cup the static noise appear and disappear only when unplug the phones cord from amp.
How can I resolve this problem?
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post #105 of 346
10/25/07 at 3:15am
Thread Starter 
In the worst case, sent them back to Koss, that is what the lifetime warranty is for
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