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AKG K500 appreciation thread: K500 owners – UNITE! - Page 2

post #16 of 54
8/1/08 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhythmdevils View Post
I like the K701 pads on the K500, but fyi, not on the K400- it becomes too dry. The 701 pads do take away from the liquid mids of the K500 as well, but I can't stand the highs on them stock, so it's necessary. I would bet that K601 pads would be a great compromise, as many have stated here.
I tend to agree with you. But I still haven't found those K601 pads in Europe! BTW, we'll also include a K401 in the mini-meet.
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post #17 of 54
8/1/08 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iQEM View Post
just wanna share what i've found on Ebay, a new K500 !maybe someone found it a good bargain...

Vintage AKG K-500 Stereo Headphones - eBay (item 320279285575 end time Aug-02-08 07:42:07 PDT)

note: look at what the seller had add with K500 as an extra...
Just be advised that those spare drivers are not K500 drivers, but the ridiculously awful K300/K301 drivers.
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post #18 of 54
8/3/08 at 2:16am
oh my, he almost got my interest... how about the earcushion pads ? is it good (K500 made for) ?
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post #19 of 54
8/3/08 at 2:16pm
Don't know about those extra-thick ones, which I think are the ones for some VR helmet with AKG drivers... ericj would know more about them. The regular pleather pads there are as worthless as the drivers though. Typical paper-thin cheap pleather, not like the kind used on K240s.
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post #20 of 54
8/3/08 at 4:36pm
hmm...

I am actually the winner of this item. Assuming I can't get out of it, I'd like to see if I can repair the k500s myself.

How hard to find are authentic K500 drivers? Will other high end AKG drivers work?
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post #21 of 54
8/3/08 at 4:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leto Atreides II View Post
hmm...

I am actually the "winner" of this item. Assuming I can't get out of it, I'd like to see if I can repair the k500s myself.

How hard to find are authentic K500 drivers? Will other high end AKG drivers work?
I still don't see where the auction says they're broken. The low frequency distortion might just be that the seller's cranking it without suitable amplification.
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post #22 of 54
8/3/08 at 5:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by REB View Post
You're right, they're not interchangeable. My K500 has the metal gold-plated plug, while the K501 has a partly plastic plug. My K400 came to me recabled, so I don't know its original plug.
It was the metal one.
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post #23 of 54
8/3/08 at 5:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhythmdevils View Post
The only one I haven't heard is the K401, which I imagine is just where the number puts it in the scale of things.
I had both the K400 (now REB's) and the K401 together. I only listened to the K401 recabled, as I got them with a bad soldering job and decided to recable them instead of fixing the stock cable, so part of the difference might lie in the cable. But I did like them more than the K400: I'm going from memory, but they seemed livelier, with more bass, at the expense of some soundstage and details.

REB will give you a much more thourough impression, as I'm sending them for the meet up North (relatively speaking of course). BTW REB, when do you need them?
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post #24 of 54
8/3/08 at 5:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jellojoe View Post
I still don't see where the auction says they're broken. The low frequency distortion might just be that the seller's cranking it without suitable amplification.
Regardless of that, he was kind enough to bail me out with a full refund, which he really didn't have to do. So, I wouldn't hesitate to bid on other items from him in the future at all.

With my K-701, I'm probably not missing anything anyway.
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post #25 of 54
8/3/08 at 5:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jellojoe View Post
I still don't see where the auction says they're broken. The low frequency distortion might just be that the seller's cranking it without suitable amplification.
Could be clipping or a hair stuck in a driver.
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post #26 of 54
8/3/08 at 6:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jellojoe View Post
I still don't see where the auction says they're broken. The low frequency distortion might just be that the seller's cranking it without suitable amplification.
Considering this is the K500, which has a known defect on some pairs that the metal plating started flaking off the inside of the drivers and obstructing the movement of the voice coil, I would suspect there's a good chance they are broken. Not to worry about this on presently working pairs though, if this was going to happen it would've already happened by now.
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post #27 of 54
8/4/08 at 10:40am
Just got my K500's with K701 pads...

First impressions are not so good. Although they are low impedance phones, I have to set my Little Dot's gain to max to amp them properly. They are almost as tough to drive as K340's.

The sound is pretty weird. Singer sounds close but all the other instruments and small details are way back and I have to listen really hard to spot them. It sounds like the life and emotion of the music is sucked out. I don't feel the drums hitting and guitars sound so flat and dull.

K500's do sound better to me than K340's but still they aren't even close to my RS-2's. I think I have found my manufacturer and next I'll probably start exploring other Grado's.
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post #28 of 54
8/4/08 at 11:10am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ludoo View Post
It was the metal one.
Thanks!
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post #29 of 54
8/4/08 at 3:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seba View Post
Just got my K500's with K701 pads...

First impressions are not so good. Although they are low impedance phones, I have to set my Little Dot's gain to max to amp them properly. They are almost as tough to drive as K340's.

The sound is pretty weird. Singer sounds close but all the other instruments and small details are way back and I have to listen really hard to spot them. It sounds like the life and emotion of the music is sucked out. I don't feel the drums hitting and guitars sound so flat and dull.

K500's do sound better to me than K340's but still they aren't even close to my RS-2's. I think I have found my manufacturer and next I'll probably start exploring other Grado's.
Have you tried them with stock K500 or K501 pads? Because if you like the sound of the RS2 with bowls, that would be the way to go. Or the mystical k601 pad combo that few have tried...
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post #30 of 54
8/4/08 at 4:37pm
If you like the impactful way grado's deliver midrange - nothing to me ears comes close.

I have tried stock, 601 and 701 pads on my 500's. Preference is for the 701's but no pad is going to change the basic character of the 500's into anything like grado's. i m h o .
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