Just listened to some Fostex T50RPs today... WOW! - Page 655

Quote:

Originally Posted by eltocliousus 

Does anyone know if the T20RP/T40RP/T50RP are discontinued? I've been told by 3 sellers now that they are and I'm near sweating here, this cannot be the case right? Hopefully I'm not fear mongering.

Still show as "available" at Amazon, fullcompass, and bhphotovideo.

shows discontinued at several other online retailers 

I might have to buy a backup pair...

Quote:

Originally Posted by onefatsurfer 

shows discontinued at several other online retailers 

 

I might have to buy a backup pair...

Which ones??

The Fostex website doesn't mention any of this :S

Though I don't know if makers usually make mention when models get discontinued.

Though I really don't remember where I saw it anymore, but I think I did see one store list a T50RP with "the new" or something in the product name. Maybe there's a revision... or I was half asleep.

Is the DBV 3 really that much of an upgrade from the original v8.1? I'm lazy; my best excuse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalbee 

The Fostex website doesn't mention any of this :S

Though I don't know if makers usually make mention when models get discontinued.

 

Though I really don't remember where I saw it anymore, but I think I did see one store list a T50RP with "the new" or something in the product name. Maybe there's a revision... or I was half asleep.

Stage 1: spread rumours of untimely demise, induce hysteria (not the "medical" kind... well maybe)

Stage 2: watch as all remaining stock are gobbled up at inflated prices

Stage 3: release a revised model and behold the masses tripping over themselves

Repeat as market dictates.

edit: In all seriousness though, I'd happily take a revision that had better sealing pads, some wad of damping inside, and some sort of wrap around the headband (anything other than that sticky rubber surface on the bottom of the headband).

or substitute a different Stage 3 :

Release secretly developed T100RP out of the blue that simply flogs the competition's at a fraction of the cost

Proceed to mod ,no need to repeat ever.

I figure posting a quick notice on here might interest some that would not have found it otherwise, but I'm trying to sell my Paradox. You should be able to find the FS posting through my profile. I think the price is good. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick n 

or substitute a different Stage 3 :

 

Release secretly developed T100RP out of the blue that simply flogs the competition's at a fraction of the cost

 

Proceed to mod ,no need to repeat ever.

Well sure that's what we would like... but it'll never happen. Smart marketing is to release a better product (well sometimes worse but labelled as better because most of the time the consumer doesn't know better), but not one so good that people stop buying new ones at all. Rotate through a couple degrees of simultaneous models of varying level so people can upgrade and perpetuate the buying cycle, then eventually refresh from the bottom up and start over again. Every once in a while, release a statement product just to convince people that you're really serious, even though 95% of your market and is the budget/mid stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armaegis 

 

Stage 1: spread rumours of untimely demise, induce hysteria (not the "medical" kind... well maybe)

Stage 2: watch as all remaining stock are gobbled up at inflated prices

Stage 3: release a revised model and behold the masses tripping over themselves

 

Repeat as market dictates.

 

edit: In all seriousness though, I'd happily take a revision that had better sealing pads, some wad of damping inside, and some sort of wrap around the headband (anything other than that sticky rubber surface on the bottom of the headband).

Haha.

Though I'm pretty sure I was looking at a Canadian site. Which hardly is ever ahead of the American market; I doubt any "new" product would have slipped past the T50RP backing for the rest of the world. And how Fostex marketed the "RP technology" as new, so maybe that was that. Still can't remember or figure out what website it is though, so let's call it a hoax on my part.

Made lips for Beyer gel earpads out of pleather, as I grew tired of tape attachment: takes a lot of tape, some time, not very repeatable - every time I reinstalled the pads, I got them placed differently, a bit messy, and is too tight - not possible to make a lot of space under the pad that way, and not really possible to make them angled.

Cut a non-rectangular stripe out of pleather, looped it around earpad and around cup, with larger side at earpad, glued using gel superglue, then, to tighten the fit, made a cut on the earpad side a few mm deep, and overlapped sides of the cut and glued them together. Glued earpad to the lip using rubber cement, inserting it into the gap by a match. Done the same with the other pad. Didn't managed to make them the same, one is a bit smaller and harder to fit, but they are quite close enough. The pleather I used is not really stretchy, which isn't good IMO - would be easier with a stretchy one.

Now the earpad space is much bigger, the earpads are angled, and I certainly feel that occlusion effect has been reduced - there is much less increase in bodily noise now, no feel of pressure on eardrum at all - if previously I felt that 'phones were on head by the ears, now they are only felt where they actually touch my head. Much more comfortable for long listening now, suspension headband is the next to be done. Scene has improved for sure - say, on some recordings I now feel that different drums originate from different places. This was present before, but to a much lesser degree, on a lesser amount of recordings.

The only possible drawback I can see I that I now indeed see the headphones by side vision a bit on the edge of FOV.

Also slightly improved my mod by adding acoustic glass wool instead of some polyfill, and made a sandwitch of an additional driver damper felt, melamine sponge and luffa sponge so that it would press against central column and firmly press the damper felt to stock damping paper well - so there would be no air between them. An improvement, but still have too much bass, have to switch to a denser microfiber probably.

So I bought a T50RP mod kit from Fraggler saving me a lot of cash. Thanks goes to him for that. And anyone thinking about doing these mods, he's your man if you want to save money on materials.

I tried following the DBV #3 mod exactly as possible. Don't know if I notice an improvement or not. I don't want to say it, but it actually sounds more muffled than it did stock. Perhaps I need more burn in.

What could possibly be holding back the treble? 

What tweaks can I make to DBV #3 to increase the bass? I poked 6 holes in the 40x40mm stiff felt over the driver, and used a piece of transpore tape as the treble reflector. But everything just sounds muddier than it did prior to attempting the mod.

Here's a photo of my mod in progress.

That's strange that it sounds worse, something definitely is not right, can you list all your modifications and/or take pictures? The more in-depth the better (weights of materials used, dimensions, layers etc).

Have you pinched holes through transpore as well? (They shouldn't work the other way anyways) Try covering them, with transpore for example.

Holes seem to provide a HUGE boost of deep bass. Mine have +25dB at 20Hz, I can't say it sounds muffled, it's more like I'm sitting inside a huge resonating cave on some bassier songs. Going to remove any holes whatsoever.

Also, it's better to use something impermeable rather than transpore for treble reflector. IMHO, the simplest way would be to use a square of electrician tape on the driver side of stiff felt ( don't attach it to stock white paper! Attach it to the stiff felt.) Make sure that felt is tightly pressed against the driver and that there is no folds on the felt, so there is no air gaps between felt and stock paper.

Does the mod include Shure or Fischer pads? With stock pads they would sound muddier anyway due to increase in bass quantity with mods.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicTheRetard 

So I bought a T50RP mod kit from Fraggler saving me a lot of cash. Thanks goes to him for that. And anyone thinking about doing these mods, he's your man if you want to save money on materials.

 

I tried following the DBV #3 mod exactly as possible. Don't know if I notice an improvement or not. I don't want to say it, but it actually sounds more muffled than it did stock. Perhaps I need more burn in.

 

What could possibly be holding back the treble? 

What tweaks can I make to DBV #3 to increase the bass? I poked 6 holes in the 40x40mm stiff felt over the driver, and used a piece of transpore tape as the treble reflector. But everything just sounds muddier than it did prior to attempting the mod.

 

Here's a photo of my mod in progress.

Did you use steps 1 thru 11 under "Simplified and Consolidated Pictorial for DBV #3" in the very middle of page 1 of the Incremental mods thread as your guide?  I followed these steps and I didn't need to open mine again to tune them.  They were vastly improved..

You should hear a significant improvement without any burn in.

First, if you're going to be working on these a bit, make your life a little easier by cutting out the four posts.  A set of side cutters does a decent job and then its easier to do a nice neat job of putting the cotton and fiberglas in and you won't have to fool with cutting so many slots in the cotton/fiberglas. 

You might need to cut the holes in the stiffened felt with a hole punch rather than just poking them in.  I made 4 6mm holes with a hole punch. My holes ended up being mostly over the magazine paper treble reflector but I still get plenty of low bass.  I also left the ear side bass vent open. 

Try a magazine paper treble reflector?  I used a 20 mm disk. It should improve the treble.

Other than what I have mentioned, I would suggest you try varying the thickness of the cotton/fiberglass.   

Keep us apprised of your progress.

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