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My DIY electrostatic headphones - Page 45

post #661 of 928
11/24/12 at 4:31am
It was also demonstrated in this exact thread at around the same time he was working out his issues: use a wrinkled mylar film with no tension and you shouldn't see this bass drop / membranes coupling effect. That's what stax has been doing for decades it seems and they are covering both sides of the stator it appears.
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post #662 of 928
11/24/12 at 4:46am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Arnaud an Birgir for your inputs. I'll try the back side cover for my next build. But just for you know, I have no issue with squeal even without the back side dust cover. Since the bias supply is only applied to one side, there is no electrical charge on the back side and therefore no electrical leakage to make the squeal.

Wachara C.
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post #663 of 928
11/25/12 at 8:42am
Thread Starter 

I'm moving ahead with my new headphones.  This time I'm revisiting the very first version of my headphones.  Of all the headphones that I've made so far, I really like my very first version the best.  They are oval shape similar to Orpheus, but the active diaphragm area is much larger (100 mm x 70 mm compared to 100 mm x 50 mm of Orpheus).  

 

 

There are two weak points that I'll fix on my new build - low efficiency and high capacitance.  At the time I made these headphones, 0.6 mm PCB was the thinnest I could find.  This time I will be using 0.5 mm PCB.  To reduce the drivers' capacitance, I'll etch away all the unneeded copper on the stators.  This will make the headphones sound brighter.

 

Taking this opportunity, I'll increase the size of the active area a little.  The new size will be 104 mm x 74 mm.  Here is how the new drivers will look like:

 

 

I've started cutting my wood cups today.

 

 

This is how the new cup compares to the Orpheus clone cup I made earlier.

 

 

Yet, there are still many parts to cut.  L3000.gif

 

Wachara C.

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post #664 of 928
11/26/12 at 9:39am

I can't wait to see how these come out.  smily_headphones1.gif

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post #665 of 928
11/28/12 at 8:37am

Since this is the ultimate DIY head-fi thread, I thought maybe you guys could go further with this idea I have, and make earpads custom-molded to your head/ears. This might be the solution for obtaining the closest-to-perfect seal and comfort; and also will allow you to use a harder material for the "core" of the earpads, such as wood, to reduce absorption of bass frequencies. You can then, place a thin layer of softer material as the interface between your head and the hard layer of the earpads. This might entail that you should make the earpad component easily detachable; as to be able to switch over a standard pad, in case you wish to compare the sound differences, or share your creation with friends who will invariable not have the same shape as your head/ears. Just an idea for you guys.


Edited by tigon_ridge - 11/28/12 at 9:32am
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post #666 of 928
11/28/12 at 8:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigon_ridge View Post

Since this is the ultimate DIY head-fi thread, I thought maybe you guys could go further with this idea I have, and make earpads custom-molded to your head/ears. This might be the solution for obtaining the closest-to-perfect seal and comfort; and also will allow you to use a harder material for the "core" of the earpads, such as wood, to reduce absorption of bass frequencies. You can then, place a thin layer of softer material as the interface between your head and the hard layer of the earpads. This might entail that you should make the earpad component easily detachable; as to be able to switch over a standard pad, in case you wish to compare the sound differences, or share your creation with friends who will invariable not have the same shape as your head/ears. Just an idea for you guys.

 

Thanks for your recommendation.  But, I think I'll just move on for the time being.  It's more fun for me to feed my DIY CNC machine with something new.

 

Wachara C. 

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post #667 of 928
11/28/12 at 9:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigon_ridge View Post

Since this is the ultimate DIY head-fi thread, I thought maybe you guys could go further with this idea I have, and make earpads custom-molded to your head/ears. This might be the solution for obtaining the closest-to-perfect seal and comfort; and also will allow you to use a harder material for the "core" of the earpads, such as wood, to reduce absorption of bass frequencies. You can then, place a thin layer of softer material as the interface between your head and the hard layer of the earpads. This might entail that you should make the earpad component easily detachable; as to be able to switch over a standard pad, in case you wish to compare the sound differences, or share your creation with friends who will invariable not have the same shape as your head/ears. Just an idea for you guys.

 

That's a very interesting idea. The problem I see is that the shape of your head in that area changes substantially when opening your mouth, which would make a rigid earpad feel terribly restrictive. In fact I can hear rises in the ~200hz resonance when I open my mouth since it reduces the quality of the earpad seal.

 

Might not be a problem if you only use them for dedicated listening, but I use my headphones for internet phone conversations, listening to stuff while eating breakfast, etc.

 

 

Anyways, I thoroughly cleaned dust out of my drivers today and put a dust screen (wrinkled 2um mylar) on the outside with a protective plate over it. Doesn't affect the FR at all as Wachara predicted, and I don't hear any discharges noise anymore.

 

1000

 

I quite like the color contrast and decided to not paint the covers black, although I'm sure many would disagree with that decision tongue_smile.gif

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post #668 of 928
11/28/12 at 10:17pm
Thread Starter 

Congrats!  Next, you need to boost up your bias voltage to 580V.  If everything is stable, it's done. wink_face.gif

 

Wachara C.

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post #669 of 928
11/29/12 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dude_500 View Post

 

That's a very interesting idea. The problem I see is that the shape of your head in that area changes substantially when opening your mouth, which would make a rigid earpad feel terribly restrictive. In fact I can hear rises in the ~200hz resonance when I open my mouth since it reduces the quality of the earpad seal.

 

Might not be a problem if you only use them for dedicated listening, but I use my headphones for internet phone conversations, listening to stuff while eating breakfast, etc.

 

 

Anyways, I thoroughly cleaned dust out of my drivers today and put a dust screen (wrinkled 2um mylar) on the outside with a protective plate over it. Doesn't affect the FR at all as Wachara predicted, and I don't hear any discharges noise anymore.

 

1000

 

I quite like the color contrast and decided to not paint the covers black, although I'm sure many would disagree with that decision tongue_smile.gif

It seems the gap between adjacent holes is quite large. Might contribute to unnecessary resonance. You might benefit from "bunching" the holes closer together, by squeezing in more holes, or increasing the size of each one.

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post #670 of 928
12/5/12 at 10:32pm
Thread Starter 

Here are some updates of my progress.

 

All the parts are cut.

 

 

The unneeded copper is etched.

 

 

The parts fit in the cup perfectly.

 

 

I'm learning how to oil the wood.  I've put 5 coats of linseed oil on the cups so far.  I think I'll finish them off with vanish.

 

 

I'm making this pair together with another friend who's responsible for making the headband and headpads.  We hope to finish the project before New Year holidays.  darthsmile.gif

 

Wachara C. 


Edited by chinsettawong - 12/5/12 at 10:33pm
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post #671 of 928
12/6/12 at 5:14am

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to this thread, but being a head-fi member for quite a while.  I've been working with Wachara for the leather work to make ear pads, and headbands.  I used black sheep skin for ear pads, and brown sheep skin for head bands.

 

 

The cutting plan was designed in an AutoCAD.  A skill I learned from a technical college.

 

An ear pad consists of 5 pieces of leather.  Thanks to my wife who taught me how to use sewing machine (that I bought for her over a decade ago).

 

With soft sponge and 3mm. sheet foam, the ear cups turn out to be as good as I expected.

 

 

The final look is really satisfying smily_headphones1.gif

 

I should get new ear pads and head bands for our new project done soon, to make sure we have another good pair of headphones to celebrate christmas and new year holidays.

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post #672 of 928
12/7/12 at 10:30am

leather work for headphones was done

 

 

 

closed-up shots show more details.

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post #673 of 928
12/7/12 at 7:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by smart View Post

leather work for headphones was done

 

 

 

closed-up shots show more details.

 

Nice work!  L3000.gif

 

I'm looking forward to putting everything together soon.

 

Wachara C.

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post #674 of 928
12/9/12 at 3:37pm

I've been lurking in/reading this thread for several weeks now and finally got around to creating an Head-Fi account.

 

First off: Wow, those look AMAZING. You have done such a wonderful job.  I have a (crummy) CNC mill and have been resisting the urge to build myself a set of these.  I may not be able to hold out much longer.

 

But before I do that, I am borrowing a pair of Stax SR-5s with SRD-6 transformer box from a friend.  As one might expect, the detail is PHENOMENAL, but the frequency response is mid-heavy and bass-light.  I'm wondering how much of that is influenced by the transformers in the SRD-6.  I'm not afraid of DIY amps or high voltages in tubes, so I'd like to build a simple OTL amp for them to see how it changes the sound.  Of course, the amp I build would also (hopefully) be usable with the phones described in this thread if/when I break down and give them a try.

 

I'm posting because the last talk about the amplifier design I've been able to find using the search feature was back in post #7: http://www.head-fi.org/t/498292/my-diy-electrostatic-headphones#post_6732478  There are _A_LOT_ of posts in this thread; I have NOT read them all.  I'm curious whether there is more discussion about the amplifier used, or if anyone knows of another DIY ES OTL amp thread where I should move my questions.

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post #675 of 928
12/9/12 at 7:27pm
Thread Starter 

Hi SmittyHalibut,

 

Don't resist your urge!  Go for it!  beyersmile.png  With your own CNC mill, making parts for your headphones shouldn't be that difficult at all.

 

I'm not sure how familiar you are with electrostatic headphones.  With them, you hear very detail sound.  The bass can go very deep, but it won't be as heart pounding as dynamic headphones.  Some people like them, while some people don't.  Yes, the quality of transformers has a big influence on the sound.  To me, direct drive amps are better than amp and transformer.

 

There are many DIY electrostatic headphones amp projects that you can build.  Some are very easy to build.  And some are very expensive and quite difficult to build. 

 

For a beginner, I would recommend the one on my post #7 that you mentioned or the one design my Frank Cooter.  The two amps are quite similar on the working principle.  However, Frank's has a higher voltage swing.  It's also simple and can be built at quite a reasonable price.  Please contact Frank for his schematic.

 

There were a few group buys for electrostatic amp PCB.  If you can get hold of eXStatA or KGSSHV PCB from group buys,  you can build those too.  They are more advance, and should be very good sounding amp for the budget.

 

Wachara C.

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