Thunderpants (T50RP mod) Group Buy - Page 48

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbradley02 

I think you'll really like the O2 pads, very comfortable, and 2 ports will give you a lot of flexibility in tuning bass.

Yeah, aside from the bass these are pretty impressive.  I'm going to miss them.

I didn't specify brown or black - isn't there supposed to be a difference between those?

From an email exchange with Gary:

Jan 30

yours are just about ready to go but at this time I only have brown O2 pads as I've had a few of the black ones tearing at the lip which is proving extremely expensive to replace as there is no warranty on them. The lip material is very weak on the black ones. :( If brown is ok with you I can send them out shortly.

I do prefer the look of the brown ones...

It depends which wood you go for.  The darker woods I like more with the brown pads, but for lighter ones (such as quilted maple or poplar) l would get black pads if they didn't have the lip issues.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio_head 

It depends which wood you go for.  The darker woods I like more with the brown pads, but for lighter ones (such as quilted maple or poplar) l would get black pads if they didn't have the lip issues.

It's funny, I'm of the opposite opinion - I love the look of light wood with the brown pads.  With the darker wood I prefer black pads to provide some contrast against the cups and to match the headband.  

That said, I got ziricote and it's quite dark.  I think it's just the color of the brown itself, they got this milk chocolatey goodness to them  :)  I kind of associate it as the 'O2 look'.

Just got my Thunderpants in today.  They sound even better than the last pair of Thunderpants I remember hearing.  Also just got in my replacement pads for the LCD-3 today, so hopefully I'll have time for an ortho shootout between the LCD-2, LCD-3, and Thunderpants in the next couple days.  It's so hard to take a break from listening on the Balancing Act...

My Thunderpants arrived yesterday and managed to get in 2 hours of listening last night.  Used 2 cd's that ruthlessly reveal any shortcomings in the headphone, amp or cd player.  I was #14 in the group buy, so I have been waiting for delivery for several months.  My conclusion is that the wait was worth it!  Construction and finish is outstanding, but more important, they sound wonderful.  Very neutral, excellent clarity and definition.  Of interest is that I have a Headphile Vixen with Fostex TP50 drivers - very different sound with the same drivers. 

My congratulations to Gary for the creation of an excellent product.

Took some quick pictures before I send these out.  A couple notes compared to the last pair I remember seeing:

Cosmetics:

1 - The cups have a matte look to them.  I like it better than the gloss pair I had seen.

2- I asked for a more durable plug.  This one works great.

3 - When he replaces the side blocks with custom wood ones, you have to manually adjust their position on the rod before putting on the headphones.  When he does not do so, you can just put them on and they automatically adjust based on how large your head is.

Sound: 

They are more bass light than I remember the last pair being.  This may just be neutrality, the rest of the chain, or fickle aural memory.  In direct comparisons with the LCD-2r1 and the LCD-3, I would say they have less impact (not only in the low register) and feel like they have a slightly recessed midrange compared to the Audeze, especially my newly pad-swapped LCD-3.  This may just be the pads. Isolation and leakage are very good, although again that is largely due to pad choice.  One of the best features was how little I got the 'cupped hands' feeling - They were the least closed-feeling fully closed design I I've heard in recent memory.

These are my current preference for closed transportables, although I have yet to hear a W3000ANV.  

This is the closest I've ever come to using an emoticon:

^

Ziricote?  Mine too, wonder if the lack of low end is a property of this tone wood.  You got a better looking set (of wood) than I did, btw, congrats, they're true beauties.

It turns out the finish on mine didn't cure properly and is flaking off a bit, so Smeggy will be refinishing mine and get them back in 2 weeks.  A mini-bass port will be added as well.

Macassar Ebony.  These were some quick terrible shots as they were on the way out.  They are actually a little darker than they look in the pictures. Other than bass ports, I think the bass extension has to do with the seal you get with your pads.  (See W5000 for an example - the bass roll-off isn't as bad when you get a proper seal.)

And it bears repeating that the bass is extremely porting dependent. That being said I have had the chance to directly compare my TP1 with LCD-2rev2 pads, with the ports tweaked to my liking, with a pair of LCD-2s using identical electronics, and I felt that the latter had slightly punchier bass, but the difference was definitely on the subtle side. Both were extremely satisfactory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio_head 

Macassar Ebony.  These were some quick terrible shots as they were on the way out.  They are actually a little darker than they look in the pictures. Other than bass ports, I think the bass extension has to do with the seal you get with your pads.  (See W5000 for an example - the bass roll-off isn't as bad when you get a proper seal.)

Try putting them up as an IC or FS on the For Sale listings, the forums aren't really for making sales.  

I do want to mention that the JH's still beat them as my favorite portables - but as full sized closed transportables the Thunderpants do more things right than any other I've heard.