5 drivers/diaphragms per ear-piece?
Dec 22, 2001 at 4:42 PM Post #16 of 22
Quote:

Originally posted by Flumpus
Ya, I have these... got Vert's actually. Some may find them a little lean on bass, but I think they sound just fine... pretty old though, gotta take good care of 'em
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Let me know when you're ready to sell them.
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Dec 22, 2001 at 4:49 PM Post #17 of 22
Quote:

Originally posted by Serow
Where is the electrostat in the pictures? I see the step-up transformer apparently hooked up to the large green transducer, so if that's the electrostat, then where is the dynamic? Very interesting design!


I've been wondering that myself!
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I would venture a guess that the condenser is mounted coaxially with the dynamic element. Look at the picture from the front. What do y'all think? How about those who have them? Where is the dynamic element? Flumpus?
 
Dec 22, 2001 at 5:23 PM Post #19 of 22
I have the original brochure for the AKG K340. There is an illustration of the construction of these things. I'll describe it as best I can.
From the pad, backwards to the housing, the components are as follows:
Earpad, grille, electrostatic transducer, baffle plate, 5 passive diaphragms and a crossover network, 5 acoustic resistances, dynamic transducer, and finally the housing.
According to the brochure......This is a fixed charge electrostat element. To create it, "a 20-micron thick layer of gold molecules is vacuum deposited onto a strong, flexible mylar substrate. Since this element is permanently charged, it requires no external polarizing voltage; you can connect the K-340 directly to the headphone jack of any receiver or amplifier, or across the speaker output terminals."
To specifically answer the question of where the dynamic transducer is, it's back is against the housing. It's the last in the chain (or the first, if you want to look at it that way. The crossover is at 4,000 Hz. There is a miniature impedance-matching transformer in each earpiece as part of the crossover network.
I hope this hasn't been too confusing.
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Dec 22, 2001 at 5:43 PM Post #20 of 22
So it seems like there is no direct acoustic couple between the dynamic element and your ear... The passive radiators are between you and the driver. Considering that most reviews of these are positive, I wonder how much improvement there would be if you replaced the crossover components with decent resistors and fim capacitors.
 
Dec 22, 2001 at 6:36 PM Post #21 of 22
From Joe's description, and the pictures, I still think the two active elements are coaxially mounted and there is definitely a direct acoustic coupling between your ear and the dynamic driver. With the xover @ 4kHz and what would seem to be a simple R/C 6db/octave, I suspect any changes would not make an overt difference. Although... Ya never know!
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