It would have been cool if you could have gotten a pic of the disassembly.
Since the plastic locking collar is sticking a ways out from the rest of the earcup, you could probably clamp on it with the a pair a pliers until it breaks and then twist it off instead of cutting it. Though once you do that, depending on the cable that you use, it still might not work. The audio port itself is already pretty deap, so the (metal contact) length of most standard 3.5mm connectors is not enough. You could try to either dremel away the plastic to create a bigger/deaper hole that is closer to the audio port itself. Or you could choose to make the hole bigger by spinning the end of an Allen (hex) Key hard against the existing hole, and gradually increasing the size of Allen key until you shave away just the right size.
In any case, if nothing else is working, then maybe the contacts inside the audio port have gotten loose. You can test to see if it was the port that was bad by skipping them entirely and soldering the wires of an exposed cable directly to the drivers themselves (using an exposed cable like this):
Test the drivers to see if they are equally as loud at that point. If the are, then the fault should be from the audio port. If that's the case, then I think that I actually might have some extra original HP150 audio ports laying around if you want one. Just let me know.
You can test to see if it was the port that was bad by skipping them entirely and soldering the wires of an exposed cable directly to the drivers themselves (using an exposed cable like this):
Test the drivers to see if they are equally as loud at that point.
I did test directly to the drivers using my old grado cable. Used the same conductors for each driver, so in my eyes there is no doubt the levels are very different.
I guess I'll keep my eyes open and see if somebody is selling a broken one for parts that I can scavenge a driver from.
I did test directly to the drivers using my old grado cable. Used the same conductors for each driver, so in my eyes there is no doubt the levels are very different.
I guess I'll keep my eyes open and see if somebody is selling a broken one for parts that I can scavenge a driver from.
I tried that once and the new driver wasn't an exact match. When I emailed the manufacturer they said I needed a matched set which they sent free of charge.
I tried that once and the new driver wasn't an exact match. When I emailed the manufacturer they said I needed a matched set which they sent free of charge.
Even when drivers are supposed to be a match, you still might get some variance between the two. Generally, you'll want the driver on the right to have 1-.5 ohm of resistance less since the cable running through the headband adds a bit a resistance. But again, even with matching drivers they usually won't have that level of quality control unless if it's a top teir product (something like a T1 or TH-900 and above). So I always just measure my headphones with my multimeter, touching the ground+left channels (sleeve+tip) of the headphone cable and then ground+right channels (sleeve+ring). You can look up a TRS diagram if you don't know what that is. Once I know the difference in resistance, I buy small resistors from Mouser electronics to make up for that difference. Those can be found here: http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Resistors/_/N-5g9n/
Using a resistor cable/adapter can also help increase the impedance of both channels by the same amount, thus making the percentage difference between the two much less as well. There should be Etymotic 4P to 4S cables/adapters on both Amazon and Ebay that do just that I believe.
So with the right tools channel imbalances are an easy fix. I hope that helps.
Seems the patient is terminal. Measured the resistance of both drivers and the both came in at 32.8 ohms, but the 6db difference in volume combined with the bad driver distorting savagely at volumes above 80db (good driver handles it with ease) makes me think there ain't no fixing this one. Maybe its a sign that I should get a pair of MSR7s?
I'd still like to know how the hell this can happen when your not using them…
Seems the patient is terminal. Measured the resistance of both drivers and the both came in at 32.8 ohms, but the 6db difference in volume combined with the bad driver distorting savagely at volumes above 80db (good driver handles it with ease) makes me think there ain't no fixing this one. Maybe its a sign that I should get a pair of MSR7s?
I'd still like to know how the hell this can happen when your not using them…
At this point you'll just have to assume that something went bad in the driver itself. There could be a hole in the membrane (or it's blown out), or the copper wire coiled inside no longer is making good contact with the soldering joints. You could try to source HP150 drivers from a broken pair, but make sure that you measure them once they are already wired in first (taking the measurements from the TRS end of the headphone cable) so you can figure out how much impedance you'll need from resistors.
In any case, buying a refurbished or even new pair of HP150s would still be cheaper (and perhaps sounds better -for me at least-) than the MSR7. Though, it seems you're more worried about this type of thing happening, than about price or sound quality. If it's any caveat to this situation, I doubt this type of thing would happen a second time. I've owned (personally, not sold) and modified 3 pairs of 150s and 2 pairs of 100s, and none of them went bad in the way you described. From the looks of it no one else here did either, so that might also be reassuring.
Seems the patient is terminal. Measured the resistance of both drivers and the both came in at 32.8 ohms, but the 6db difference in volume combined with the bad driver distorting savagely at volumes above 80db (good driver handles it with ease) makes me think there ain't no fixing this one. Maybe its a sign that I should get a pair of MSR7s?
I'd still like to know how the hell this can happen when your not using them…
If the drivers are cheap, I might jump on some as well, just to see what kind of DIY mayhem I can make.. Maybe put them in some of those hearing protection ear cups for commute, or fitting them in some other cups, just for the hell of it
Did you check the driver out, the diaphragm could be dented.
There are some drivers for sale in the forums, I don't know much about them.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/810587/fs-t-shure-srh750-driver-elements-capsules
Did you check the driver out, the diaphragm could be dented.
There are some drivers for sale in the forums, I don't know much about them.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/810587/fs-t-shure-srh750-driver-elements-capsules
Haven't removed the driver from the baffle, but from looking through the grill on the front, it doesn't look dented or torn. Maybe I should Frankenstein my Grado drivers in there
If anyone wants to tighten up the bass / dynamics a bit on their HP 150 or 100, here's a method that I call an "external mod", that can be done without any alterations to the headphone itself. Just get 1-2 of these external resistors to stack in front of your headphones, which adds 75 ohms of impedance. Lyova & I have done extensive testing on these, and it seems to tighten up the loose / 'flabby' bass and the dynamics a bit.
Also an external "inline volume limiter" can be used for the same effect. The difference is more subtle rather than 'day & night', and is good for either normal or modded headphone, but I would still recommend the modded version from Tru-Fi speakers (link in my signature). Especially the newest revision for his HP-150 mod - it's a sure shot winner and I liked it even about 30% better than his HP-100 mod
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