Just listened to some Fostex T50RPs today... WOW! - Page 238

I'll keep the Pawstex as they are then will do RP2 with the T40RPs for A/B

 

(Firstoff apoligies for in inchoherency of this post. I just woke up (still a hitch dizzy..) Maybe I'll fix it later.

 

Extactly! The plasticine is for mass loading / stopping vibrations or resonance from the plastic of the baffle housing.

 

The acoustic foam over it is for! ^ What LFF said. While without the acoustic foam over the plasticine which is already -over and on the baffle- the sound is excellent, at or near the LCD-2 level, (As in at this point it's identical).

 

The acoustic foam on top of the mass loading clay baffle then...;

 

It only amplifies it and makes the most purist voices I've ever heard. 5/5 Stars. Actaully the only things that come close to mind are the way the Orpheus reproduces voicing and the Audez'e LCD-2. This is the largest sound I've ever heard out of the T50. It's so neutral (super flat)... It also reduces bass distortion and cause me to turn up the volume (as my brain is not sensing any distortion -that is acknowledged as 'loudness.' Also, the crispness of the intonations and nuances is pristine. And again - lastly the foam on top of the plasticine baffles increased the fullness of the sound along with all of these things > Soundstage was noticably improved.(WHILE not changing any of the frequency response before the foam was applied on top -marvelous!)

 

In shorter form, the foam on the clay in the baffles took the Fostex T50 from sounding like a hifi headphone just under or around the LCD-2, a Hi-fi headphone which is already superb! > to something that is altogether better. Becoming rivetingly real. Never has anything sounded so 'real' throughout the spectrum. And I've heard most of the contenders (except for 3-4 STAX). Coherency -or- realness here is outstanding.

 

Our modding sets are exactly identical > EXCEPT..

 

                                                         >Akasa vs Silver stone in mine

                                                         >Dynamat in Mrspeakers baffles! Mine does not have this yet. Only the acoustic foam! (You do not want any black plastic cup left to be visible. But throughout the isolating process and adding each mod one-by one- and then listening for day or so, I am pretty well able to envision the further boost the mass loading dynamat for the cups will bring!

                                                         >O2 pads to stock. I can see... These are the holy grail realized (+1) with pads such as the O2. (And then you get to have "RastaPants 2, STAX O~T50's" anyways.. I like the name.)

 

Please, please take into mind. These are Mrspeakers mods. I am not the creator here. Only the beneficiary and an intelligent and curious gerbal (who just so happens to have a good ear, is good at describing things, and enjoys modding). While my part was not completely useless, it was very minor in the grand scheme of things.

 

Hennyo ~ Michael

 

Edited by Hennyo - 10/7/11 at 8:50pm

A Dog Bow To MrSpeakers

Man!  I come in here to talk about how the monster studio replacement cable works, and saw what Mr. Speakers and Henyo did!  These guys are awesome, and I am definitely going to try these mods out on my next pair of T50RPs

 

As for the monster cable, didn't work as well as I wanted it to.  There is a right angle plug and a straight plug, with my original plan of plugging in the right angle plug to the headphones.  That didn't work as the plug itself is not long enough, so now I have to plug in the straight plug on the headphones, and have a piece of cable sticking out more than I wanted.

 

Still works though.

 

Sounds, at least from what I can tell, has no difference, but the portability is much much better.

This is awesome! I was wondering why no one was covering the plasticine with Paxmate; I was going to give that a go on top of the RP1 mods when I got my pair. Glad to hear it works! Awed, I am, mrspeakers, you've done something truly fine here. :D

Great work mrspeakers (and Hennyo, LFF, & others for the input).. this is truly a phone the HeadFi community improved on and made our own.. all that's left to do is get some custom etching or decals!

Anyone know if the replacement pads from JMoney Audio would work?

 

Check out: http://www.jmoneyaudio.com/denonpads.php

that silverstone acoustic foam looks like the lian-li foam I have here - but I used felt to line the cups.  

 

Has anyone compared felt to acoustipack?  Ordered small amount from UK anyway...  Reviews of the Lian-li foam tend to suggest its not the most effective foam.

 

Will have to remove the felt when I apply dynamat knock-off.

 

Meh maybe thunderpants will be for the next t50.

Congrats to mrspeakers for Rastapants 2. That is the way to go, since he is applying same concepts as in speaker building.

 

I start doing the same things yesterday, when my Paxmate and Dremel arrived, except for a few details that make my Fosteximus slightly different. I keep the stock white felt in place with a plastic bumper in the center of it and I have shaved the 4 columns of the cups with the Dremel.

 

With the Paxmate inside and outside, the change in the bass department is like night and day. Very defined, totally subwooferesque without any bleeding in the mids.

 

Currently waiting for the O2 pads finish my Stage 3. With a little luck, I will get them on Monday or Tuesday.

First, concerning the Rastapants 2, great news! One thing is unclear, how do you appy dynamat/plasticine to the back of the cups. A picture of coverage and approximate depth would be nice.

 

Second, my next try to mod my cursed Fostex). On BMF advice I've replaced closed-cell hard acoustic foam with soft, open-cell acoustic foam. This material is made of foam-rubber, soaked in bitumen, closest thing that looks to Paxmate that I've found.

 

Here goes the picture:

 

White is the glue remains of the old dumping foam. Unfortunately, I've failed once again - sound has sharp midrange spike/resonance.

 

I've given up and ordered some Akasa Paxmate from Ebay. When it arrives I will do the sacrifices to head-fi gods and try to mod again, will follow the Rastapants 2 scheme. 

 

Strange, but I've started to think that, maybe my plasticine is the culprit.

Put one layer of plasticine of any thickness between 1 and 4 mm, you should try different layouts. It won't need any glue, because it's a bit sticky and will remain in place over the time. If you use Dynamat, it will be self-adhesive.

 

Have you tried a plastic bumper in the center of the driver? It will affect the mids and the highs, maybe you will like it or not, but it will surely change the midrange spike. I think that your spike is caused by the foam.

 

At this time I don't have any frequency spike and the response is utterly flat, exactly how I like it.

 

A spike is almost always a reflection or standing wave. It won't be the plasticine, it will be poor absorption. You need proper foam all through the interior to really get the mids optimal. The plasticine won't cause it, that is certain. However, you may want to put foam on the plasticine a la the rastapants 2. Also, since your butyl foam is an "unknown" it is hard to say if the foam you used absorbs energy at the right frequencies, so it may contribute.

Does anyone have any idea of what the best portable amp is for these? I know I won't be getting the best sound quality with only a portable amp, but I'm going to use these while I'm traveling, without my computer to power a desktop DAC and amp.

 

 

It depends on how much you are willing to spend. I'm going to buy a Fostex HP-P1 and an iPod classic to drive them on the go.
 

 

A "Re-Sounding" cheer for mrspeakers and his Rastapants v2 mods!  They look awesome and I look forward to making a set of my own to compare their sound to my evolving BMF.

 

I don't remember who posted a week or so ago about applying Paxmate to the baffles (LFF ??) and to the outer ring of the cups (??), but thanks to you both.  I added these mods to my set-up currently configured as follows:

 

Baffles

Paxmate donut under ear pads

baffle equalization vent open 

plasticine in the baffles

Paxmate over baffle plasticine

 

Cups

Paxmate in the cups

2 layers of 3M Transpore tape in place of the white driver felt 

Paxmate over the stock black bass port felt covering from 1 to 4 of the slots (inside the cups); I prefer closing 3 slots

 

I am impressed by their extended sub-bass complexity, no bass bleed into the midrange, better midrange clarity, and more detailed treble.  Many thanks to all forum members who have developed and shared ideas that deliver amazing SQ out of these modest studio monitors.  

 

I have been away for the past 5 days and will post pictures when I return home in a few days.  I also plan to try this same set-up with 3M Micropore vs. felt vs. melamine in place of 3M Transpore tape.