[Fitz]

I bought a broken K500 off of ebay to see if I could get some spare parts for another pair, but ended up finding something else very interesting. I've owned and serviced several pairs of K500s, and while cables and earpads had variations from production changes over time, they all shared the same drivers. This pair, however, had a slightly different lustre on the diaphragm when I first looked at them. Opening them up, I found that the wires were not soldered at all, rather they have the wires crimped to metal sleeves that slide onto the driver solder posts & headband ends (the drivers/headband were still fresh, never soldered to in the past, so this wasn't just somebody else's work). The voice coil wires also both run to the same side of the driver, rather than to opposite sides like nearly every other AKG driver. I also found the purpose for the little "blob" indentation on the diaphragm that seemed to serve no purpose. In this case, it had some of the rubbery blue adhesive in it (like used on the K1000), securing the voice coil leads just past the voice coil itself. Apparently this is the original reason for that indentation, but even though they stopped using it they never changed the mold for the diaphragms.

I will take pictures a little later because I have to work on the right driver again (the voice coil leads are hitting the diaphragm after I put it back together from repair). My initial impression was that it might even be better than the "normal" K500, but I have to do a side-by-side comparison to truly say. This is very interesting to me, and must be one of the very earliest K500s made to have these aspects that are atypical for this line of AKG headphones.

 

[003]

How does it compare to the sextetts?

 

[goober-george]

Fitz I found these AKGs on ebay just wanted to post it just incase you don't got these. I'm sure you do though. I'm curious anyways are these k180s any good?

VINTAGE nib AKG K180 K 180 Headphones HIGH END *****NR - eBay (item 160225551242 end time Apr-08-08 16:50:01 PDT)

 

[luvdunhill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif How does it compare to the sextetts?

my guess is broken.

 

[mypasswordis]

I love how crazy and innovative AKG were, but I sometimes wish they had more consistency when producing headphones, since thinking about buying multiple versions of the same headphone just makes me (and my wallet) want to cry. Thanks for the info, Fitz. Keep us updated.

 

[JadeEast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goober-george /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fitz I found these AKGs on ebay just wanted to post it just incase you don't got these. I'm sure you do though. I'm curious anyways are these k180s any good?

They are very cool looking and have a built in soundstage adjustor you turn a knob on each ear cut and the driver get closer or further to you ears. My pops has a pair when I was a kid and he still has them 30 years latter.

I honestly haven't listened to them in about 15 years so sound impressions
are almost pure fiction.

My memory of them was that they were not very easy to drive and had less bass than the k-140 but still sounded "good". They are built like a tank and are a bit heavy on the head still I'm tempted by the auction.

 

[nylan8301]

Oh no. First it was the sextetts, now it's going to be rare early production K500s.

WHEN WILL THE VINTAGE AKG MADNESS END?!

Nylan

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goober-george /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fitz I found these AKGs on ebay just wanted to post it just incase you don't got these. I'm sure you do though. I'm curious anyways are these k180s any good? VINTAGE nib AKG K180 K 180 Headphones HIGH END *****NR - eBay (item 160225551242 end time Apr-08-08 16:50:01 PDT)

I have no idea. My interest lies mainly with the K240 and it's umpteen relatives, plus some interest with the K500 et al.

 

[Fitz]

 

[Fitz]

Ok I found the problem with the noise on the diaphragm I fixed. It was a combination of two sounds. First was the aperiodic voice coil lead rattling, which I fixed by slightly rotating the diaphragm so there was less slack in it. The other was somehow I made the voice coil a little more oval than circle when I was working on it (maybe when I picked it up one time I squeezed too hard), so it was just slightly brushing against the magnet, making a faint tapping sound on bass notes. I fixed that and tested both drivers with sine waves and "Angel" by Massive Attack, so they are good now.

I will compare them to the normal production version of the K500 later tonight.

 

[ludoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought a broken K500 off of ebay to see if I could get some spare parts for another pair, but ended up finding something else very interesting. I've owned and serviced several pairs of K500s, and while cables and earpads had variations from production changes over time, they all shared the same drivers. This pair, however, had a slightly different lustre on the diaphragm when I first looked at them. Opening them up, I found that the wires were not soldered at all, rather they have the wires crimped to metal sleeves that slide onto the driver solder posts & headband ends (the drivers/headband were still fresh, never soldered to in the past, so this wasn't just somebody else's work). The voice coil wires also both run to the same side of the driver, rather than to opposite sides like nearly every other AKG driver.

Old thread, but I reread it by chance today after having recabled my K400s, and they are exactly as you describe the K500: crimped wires on the same side.