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obscure hi-fi

post #1 of 12
6/30/09 at 3:52pm
Thread Starter 
Let's talk about obscure headphone-related stuff that noobs would never know about and even experienced peeps have never heard. These may be new DIY designs without much of a following or vintage products that, when properly dusted off, compete with the best new stuff around. I'm interested in stuff like old orthos, MicroZOTL, Moon Audio Luna, EHHA, etc...

What obscure stuff competes with the popular Summi-Fi stuff? If possible, could experienced folk compare them to more well-known standards of reference?
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post #2 of 12
6/30/09 at 4:10pm
The problem with obscure old headphone equipment is that there's precious little of it. This is still a very new branch of audiophilia.

If you want to get into obscure amp toplogies and exotic speaker types, there's much more to discuss. Personally, I've always been fascinated with plasma, or "singing arc" speakers. There's a DIY plasma tweeter out there - I've been meaning to build one. I do not think the technology would lend itself to headphones, however.
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post #3 of 12
6/30/09 at 4:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
The problem with obscure old headphone equipment is that there's precious little of it. This is still a very new branch of audiophilia.

If you want to get into obscure amp toplogies and exotic speaker types, there's much more to discuss. Personally, I've always been fascinated with plasma, or "singing arc" speakers. There's a DIY plasma tweeter out there - I've been meaning to build one. I do not think the technology would lend itself to headphones, however.
hehe, I imagine ozone created THAT close to your head would be a very bad idea indeed
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post #4 of 12
6/30/09 at 6:54pm
Ask Nelson Pass about that! He damaged his lungs at one exhibition of a plasma speaker many years ago.
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post #5 of 12
6/30/09 at 7:27pm
Frank Cooter has built some pretty amazing amps using designs from the 1930s. I have the technical knowledge of a tree stump, so I can't even remember what he told me about them, but you're not alone in that interest.
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post #6 of 12
6/30/09 at 7:30pm
I just bought a pair of Koss HV1.
They were Koss' answer to the HD414. Open backed headphones with a special very light membrane. Probably the most audiophile headphones Koss ever made.
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post #7 of 12
6/30/09 at 8:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
If you want to get into obscure amp toplogies and exotic speaker types, there's much more to discuss. Personally, I've always been fascinated with plasma, or "singing arc" speakers. There's a DIY plasma tweeter out there - I've been meaning to build one. I do not think the technology would lend itself to headphones, however.
That didn't prevent plasma headphones from being made. Audio Reference made the PlasmaSonic headphones around the 80s, and a few units were sold around Europe. I doubt they're still around, the driver needed service after 50-100 playing hours IIRC. Supposedly they sounded good.

I love plasma, it's pretty much the ultimate obscure technology - rare, dangerous, and in theory anyway potentially brilliant.

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post #8 of 12
6/30/09 at 10:29pm
Sometimes audiophiles talk about exotic cables and exotic tubes. I think that would be very cool with an exotic turntable that is very rare.

This looks fantastic brotha.

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post #9 of 12
6/30/09 at 10:37pm
Im on a cell phone browser, that table looks like a VPI.
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post #10 of 12
7/1/09 at 12:41pm
I've heard that there is an ion supertweeter that doesn't have the same issues with ozone:

Acapella ION TW 1S

However, they're over USD$8,000 per pair.
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post #11 of 12
7/1/09 at 1:02pm
Huh that ion super tweeter sounds interesting.
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post #12 of 12
7/2/09 at 2:52pm
From a source perspective, one interesting thing is you can get GREAT sound from some of the high-end Japanese Direct Drive turntables from the late 70's/early 80's, and get these for a very good price compared to current audiophile turntables.

While the cheap Direct-Drive turntables had a bad reputation that they deserved, the good ones were very good. The Denon DP-57M, 59L, 60L, 62L, and 72L; the Kenwood L-07D KD-770 and 990, and the JVC QL-Y66F - all terrific sounding, very quiet 'tables that can be sometimes had for really great prices (although sometimes they can be expensive on EBay )
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