[scompton]

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So, I only have a rough Idea as to what "orthodynamic" actually means, but have read a bit here. Now today my local newspapers website offered me an insert: used Yamaha HP-1 29€  
 
So, enlighten me - go for it? What is there to expect? How will these sound and are they worth their money?
 
 
Edit: Wow, I actually found another one für 30€, newspaper sections rock, it seems.  

Those are good deals IMO
 
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I have read that orthos work well with vintage receivers as a cheap source for a relatively powerful amp, but are they talking from the receiver's headphone out or using an adapter with the speaker outs? I am asking because I purchased an HE-4 and am wondering if I should order an adapter too for my vintage receiver (Luxman R1050 - 55wpc)? From doing quick research on Audiokarma - receivers will put out power of 2-5W (depending) at the headphone out. I do not know how I can figure out how much power my headphone out serves, but what are the chances it will be enough? Thank you.

Looking at a schematic, they have a 560 ohm 1W resistor in line.  I seem to remember seeing a post by Don saying the new orthos suffer when there's an impedance mismatch.  If that's the case, they probably won't sound good out of the headphone jack.  You'll probably have to build, or have someone build for you, a speaker out adapter that has a resistor network instead of just an inline resistor.

 

[leeperry]

 

 I purchased an HE-4

 
Does it kill your pimped T50RP?

 

[ardgedee]

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Originally Posted by ardgedee /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Huh. I have a Pro 50 and it sounds very smooth...

Okay, non-ortho related, but I wanted to answer this mystery, since I got them today.
 
These have the Middle Production radiators, and sound incredibly smooth. The plastic grill is really annoying though. And these aren't anything close to bassless. They are far from stink, at least from my opinion of stink.

The Ortho Roundup thread is pretty tolerant of threads going off-topic, but this might go too far afield for too long. I'm glad to discuss over PM if you'd like, tho', so drop a line.

 

[Faust2D]

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Check this company out they sell a lot of cool felt, foam and all that type of stuff on Amazon. I tried some of this stuff, works well.
 
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_kitchen?_encoding=UTF8&node=1055398&field-brandtextbin=Cleverbrand

Well, it's not headphone related, but the felt ironing board pad could have been brilliant if it was 100% wool and preshrunk.  But, it's not and it's just a big, expensive piece of polyester felt.  
 
:Facepalm: 

Well yeah, but the assorted craft felt set is very nice.

 

[Philimon]

Quote:

Does it kill your pimped T50RP?

I was told they will ship today or tomorrow via UPS express (1-3 day delivery). 
 
EDIT: I am basically giving up on fixing the T50RP and that upper mids peak (or whatever's the offensive frequency) without having to resort to dampening the ear side of the driver and muting details. I can use akasa foam on the ear side (without blocking the front port and driver, basically it felt to me I was dampening my ear lobes 

) with reversed SA5K pads, its not perfect but still enjoyable, but not good enough to remain my sole large headphone. BTW - I thought angling and opening the vents completely only exacerbated this mids peak, but I can imagine how they might even out with some proper dampening of the front of the driver, but I wasn't successful at this with my materials and methods. 
 
 
I would like to mention that the reversed SA5K pads make it so your ears are very close to the driver and the "middle channel" no longer sounds dim at all which helps in most songs where voices are pretty much centered.
 
Quote:

Looking at a schematic, they have a 560 ohm 1W resistor in line.  I seem to remember seeing a post by Don saying the new orthos suffer when there's an impedance mismatch.  If that's the case, they probably won't sound good out of the headphone jack.  You'll probably have to build, or have someone build for you, a speaker out adapter that has a resistor network instead of just an inline resistor.

Thank you scompton. 

 

[Tordenskjold]

 
And what can I expect soundwise? I'd have to run them straight out of a somewhat modified portable amp, nothing with serious power. 
 
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Those are good deals IMO
 

 

[joelpearce]

Those vintage Yamahas need a LOT of juice to really do them justice.  A portable amp should draw decent sound out of them, but might not be ideal.
 
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And what can I expect soundwise? I'd have to run them straight out of a somewhat modified portable amp, nothing with serious power. 
 
Quote:

 
Those are good deals IMO
 

 

[wualta]

Tordenskjold: If you have a "somewhat modified" portable amp that's twisting your arm ("Use me for that HP-1 or I'll moiderize ya!"), then without knowing the amp, it'll be hard to answer your question. An amp that isn't clipping but which has low current reserves will sound bass starved. If the amp is clipping, it'll sound harsh. The signature of most vintage orthos is an overall smooth response, free of spikes and dips in the all-important midrange, with a smoothly rolled-off top end. The sound has a solid, coherent, "all-there" feel to it, even in unmodified form. You'll at least want to borrow or try out a more powerful amp, or at least one with some big power-supply capacitors. In the meantime, you got what you got, so let us know how the HP-1 adventure goes.

 

[scompton]

A portable amp running off a battery might be even bad.  If you have a wall wart so you can run the portable amp off mains power, it will probable be OK, even if it isn't ideal.  I've used my XM4 with a 12V wall wart occasionally when I've traveled.  I've only used it with Fostex because they're a little more rugged than the Yamahas. 

 

[leeperry]

 

 
I was told they will ship today or tomorrow via UPS express (1-3 day delivery). 
 
EDIT: I am basically giving up on fixing the T50RP and that upper mids peak (or whatever's the offensive frequency) without having to resort to dampening the ear side of the driver and muting details. I can use akasa foam on the ear side (without blocking the front port and driver, basically it felt to me I was dampening my ear lobes 

) with reversed SA5K pads, its not perfect but still enjoyable, but not good enough to remain my sole large headphone. BTW - I thought angling and opening the vents completely only exacerbated this mids peak, but I can imagine how they might even out with some proper dampening of the front of the driver, but I wasn't successful at this with my materials and methods. 
 
 
I would like to mention that the reversed SA5K pads make it so your ears are very close to the driver and the "middle channel" no longer sounds dim at all which helps in most songs where voices are pretty much centered.

OK, cool! Please make us a short HE4/pimped T50RP shout-out if you can.
 
Honestly, I think you went overboard w/ keeping the back of the T50RP drivers naked, if it has the same effect as keeping the front naked...I understand what you mean. Haha, damping your pinnas, funny experiment ^^
 
The center channel "hole" can easily be fixed w/ smart xfeed and/or proper amping IME. I also think that the center channel of many dynamics simply is too loud (DT770 Premium/cd3k and so).

 

[Philimon]

Quote:

 

 
I was told they will ship today or tomorrow via UPS express (1-3 day delivery). 
 
EDIT: I am basically giving up on fixing the T50RP and that upper mids peak (or whatever's the offensive frequency) without having to resort to dampening the ear side of the driver and muting details. I can use akasa foam on the ear side (without blocking the front port and driver, basically it felt to me I was dampening my ear lobes 

) with reversed SA5K pads, its not perfect but still enjoyable, but not good enough to remain my sole large headphone. BTW - I thought angling and opening the vents completely only exacerbated this mids peak, but I can imagine how they might even out with some proper dampening of the front of the driver, but I wasn't successful at this with my materials and methods. 
 
 
I would like to mention that the reversed SA5K pads make it so your ears are very close to the driver and the "middle channel" no longer sounds dim at all which helps in most songs where voices are pretty much centered.

OK, cool! Please make us a short HE4/pimped T50RP shout-out if you can.
 
Honestly, I think you went overboard w/ keeping the back of the T50RP drivers naked, if it has the same effect as keeping the front naked...I understand what you mean. Haha, damping your pinnas, funny experiment ^^
 
The center channel "hole" can easily be fixed w/ smart xfeed and/or proper amping IME. I also think that the center channel of many dynamics simply is too loud (DT770 Premium/cd3k and so).

 
Expect a short asterisked first impressions/comparison. I don't have an adequate amp at the moment, but I will hear their potential at next weekends Head-Fi meet. Will also try my best to mark the differences between the HE5le and HE4.
 
I applied this layer of akasa foam (adhesive layer cut away) just now. First reaction is the peak is slightly less so, but still present enough to be slightly fatiguing on certain sounds. I might be nitpicking to some, or I may just be doing it all wrong... I don't know. This headphone has so much going for it that I don't plan on giving it up though, unless I can find a T20. 

 Or when I eventually cash out so I can justify an LCD2. 
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

I'm having the same problem with my T20 and all my fostex actually.  I think it's just the way they tune their drivers to go with the enclosure.  the best thing I've found for it is the stock T20v2 foam, and I'm playing with damping the front of the driver.  but it's tricky to lower the upper mids without destroying the rest of the midrange and also without loosing all treble completely.  I've tried a ring of felt whose opening is smaller than the size of the driver and I think that has potential.  I've also been playing with putting transpore or micropore tape over part of the front of the driver.  That seems to work pretty well.  Interestingly, the sound is very different depending on where the tape is applied, even if it's the same amount of tape.  Taping over the middle portion of the driver seems to affect the mids the most, while taping the outside edges affects the treble/upper mids more.  I've also had some success taping over half of the backside of the driver, the portion closest to the back of your head, similar to what head-direct did with the HE6.  But it's still not enough, and certain notes are just way louder than they should be. 
 
I've also had a bit of success with different damping materials, but nothing totally ideal. 
 
I'll be at the meet this weekend too hopefully, maybe we can have an ortho huddle. 

 

[leeperry]

 

I applied this layer of akasa foam (adhesive layer cut away) just now. [..] 

TBH, I don't think the clay you used has a high enough damping factor...try to source something >0.3 on this page: http://qualia.webs.com/dampingfactorvalues.htm
 
blutack                         0.104
"Newplast"                      0.398
 
using the very same phone and all, going blutack(synthetic rubber)>newplast made a drastic change for me...far les resonances and stray back wave tones. A proper clay is as important as a matching disc of felt before the driver IME. This phone is like a big puzzle, the goal is to find pieces that "fit" each other soundwise.

 

[Bigrock2150]

Hey Orthoheads,
 
I have a pair of cups that I made awhile back that I never got to using. They don't have a baffle to go with it but if someone would like them for T50rp woodies or anything really, they're free to a good home. They're 4in in diameter and about an 1 in height. I made them originally to make an "open" t50rp.
 
The grills are removable if you'd like to add your own. The cups are made out of Jarrah Burl. 
 
Shoot me a PM if you'd like them and I'll send them out to you.
 



 
Happy Modding!

 

[dBel84]

Those are truly gorgeous looking cups. i recall when you made them all those moons ago..dB