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I found an Orpheus, but it's broken! - Page 3

post #31 of 40
11/13/09 at 3:22am
Do you know what, specifically, is wrong with it? If it's just the amp, a local tech might be able to breathe life into it for much less than Sennheiser would charge. Even if you have to have a couple of transformers rewound or customs built, it wouldn't be that bad.

A burned out driver or two might not be worth it - the factory might charge a pretty penny to repair it.

So I'd investigate further. If the cans are good and you can sort the amp locally, it might be worth it. Look for someone who restores tube radios and TV sets - those are an order of magnitude more complex than a headphone amp, so it shouldn't be much trouble.

Also, you might want to poke around for someone local who restores Quads and other ESL speakers. They might be able to replace the diaphragms for you.
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post #32 of 40
11/14/09 at 12:18pm
On second thoughts, Monkey has a point. Offer whatever you can afford to lose. See what he says.


I'd say if the system looks to be in good physical condition so the level of abuse / malfunction would be relatively predictable, offer ~$2K. Be upfront that you're not taking the piss, but that it can cost a fortune to repair and that with it in a nonfunctional state, there's no limit to the amount of damage that may be present.
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post #33 of 40
11/14/09 at 12:56pm
How about getting an O2 and the best possible amp new, and sending me the extra money as a "thank you" for the best advice ever?
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post #34 of 40
11/18/09 at 4:01pm
Well at 9k its just too much of a risk. Servicing and repair is not cheap these days!

I had my Oprheus set serviced. New pads for the phones, a couple of valves and the odd resistor or two for the amp, and this cost $1000 plus shipping to Sennheiser Germany. So nothing very serious really.

If the set requires major work then you would be into several thousand dollars easily.

Do you know someone locally who has an amp you could test the phones on? If they work ok you could at least eliminate these costs from the repair. I would be surprised if the amp would require a lot of work, probably just cost up some new sets of valves and a service. So you might need to spend 2 to 3K dollars on this to get it fully up to new spec.

Personally I think the shop has zero chance of selling a non working set at that price. He's just chancing it!
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post #35 of 40
11/18/09 at 6:29pm
If you can isolate the problem b/w the headphone or amp, you should be able to make sound decision. If it is an amp, the repair cost would not be too expensive. OTOH, it will cost at least 2.5K to get the headphone repair. Senn does not perform any repair to the headphones, they will just replace the driver elements.
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post #36 of 40
11/18/09 at 6:42pm
Do you want a working HE90 Orpheus for 8-9k? Look no further.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f10/fs...-added-455616/
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post #37 of 40
11/18/09 at 8:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Comfy View Post
How about getting an O2 and the best possible amp new, and sending me the extra money as a "thank you" for the best advice ever?
How about getting an HD650 and a decent amp, and sending me all *that* money left over as a "thank you" for the advice that the O2 is, even considering the price difference between the HD650 -> HE90 and the HD650 -> O2, worse value in terms of a complete audio experience than the HE90 in the end?
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post #38 of 40
11/19/09 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bangraman View Post
How about getting an HD650 and a decent amp, and sending me all *that* money left over as a "thank you" for the advice that the O2 is, even considering the price difference between the HD650 -> HE90 and the HD650 -> O2, worse value in terms of a complete audio experience than the HE90 in the end?
The problem is that at this level we quickly get into the law of diminishing returns. You pay quite a lot of money for small increases in performance, so value is not really the determinator here, but getting close to retrieving all of the detail in the recording and getting closer to the original performance.

IMHO the entry level Stax setup offers incredible value and performance when compared to the HE90, O2 and most dynamic setups for that matter
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post #39 of 40
11/19/09 at 3:47pm
Thank you Captain Bleedin' Obvious
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post #40 of 40
12/3/09 at 12:54pm
I would save your money. The Orpheus are built to a high-standard of German engineering and quality, and a non-operational model may indicate improper use or maintenance by the previous owner.
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