"Open Alpha" T50 3D printed headphone project from MrSpeakers
Apr 24, 2017 at 11:24 PM Post #391 of 979
  Ffinished my pair today and am so happy with the results.
 
The connectors are 3.5mm as I already had a couple of 3.5mm home made cables laying around. The connectors are a couple of inline Rean jacks as mentioned earlier in the thread.
The paint is automotive candy red with a whole lot of clear coat layers to bring the shine out. Unfortunately i didn't completely smooth out the cups 100% as I assumed the primer and paint would fill in most of the irregularities. There are a couple of visible striations but It is only noticeable of you are looking for it at the right angles.  
I'm really happy with my headband design. It is made up of leather wrapped around the rubber headband and attached with shoe or contact adhesive. A cheap replacement synthetic leather headband from a Logitech headset is stuck on the bottom with double sided tape. Is it probably the most comfortable headphone i own now and looks better than most of the other headband options in my opinion.
 
Sound-wise they are really good, but still require a small bit of tweaking. I've followed MrSpeakers guide and pictures and am finding the mids a tiny bit recessed and the upper mids a little bit hot.
I feel that this occurs on any headphone when using Alpha Pads. As per the instructions I've added a airtight, bit of foam on the back of the driver, which has toned it down a little, but still required a bit more tweaking.
Does anyone else have a tune they are happy with using alpha pads?
 

 
 

pretty nice... can't go wrong with candy apple red its tough to get a smooth finish
 
have you tried using wool for the stuffins, that and a piece of thin felt with a hole in the center
 
about the size of a dime in the center is working pretty good, use the wool to adjust the bass
 
and the felt to tame the trebles
 
good luck
 
Apr 25, 2017 at 8:29 AM Post #393 of 979
 
  pretty nice... can't go wrong with candy apple red its tough to get a smooth finish
 
have you tried using wool for the stuffins, that and a piece of thin felt with a hole in the center
 
about the size of a dime in the center is working pretty good, use the wool to adjust the bass
 
and the felt to tame the trebles
 
good luck

 
Thanks mate, I'll give the wool and felt a go. Do you have an example of the type of wool to use? 
 
 
Quote:
  It looks awesome! I'm still waiting on building mine since I'm not that great with painting. :frowning2: wish I could get someone to do a paint job on them for me.

 
Cheers. I'm generally also pretty bad at painting things, but I've found the trick is lots of very light coats rather than a few thick coats. Makes all the difference in the world.
 
  If you wanted to get it smooth without a lot of sanding you could try the acetone route if you used abs, but be careful as it's highly flammable.

 
I used Esun ABS+ rather than ABS as I have an unenclosed printer. It is much easy to work with and deforms less under variable temps, but the tradeoff is that an acetone bath doesn't effect it as much. 
Had some luck applying acetone directly to the surface however. Will have to give it a few more passes on my future attempts i think.
 
Apr 25, 2017 at 10:29 AM Post #394 of 979
Can anyone link me to an ebay source of connectors that will fit these, both male and female ends? There's so much to parse online, with serial numbers that make no sense if you don't know what you're after.
 
Apr 25, 2017 at 10:42 AM Post #395 of 979
I'd just get the jacks from @mrspeakers to save time. I went and tried to source them separately thinking I'd benefit from a larger order (I use them on all of my customs these days) and his price is actually the best.
 
Apr 27, 2017 at 11:25 AM Post #397 of 979
I'm getting ready to order my parts, but I noticed in the .stl files that the cups don't have threads in the screw holes. Have people been using drill taps? if so, which size is right for the fostex screws?
 
Apr 28, 2017 at 12:53 AM Post #399 of 979
All you really need are 3-pin mini xlr connectors because it seems that only 2 of the 4 seem to be used. You can however use a 3rd for extra grounding on each side. These can be picked up for cheap on ebay and in fact that's what I did.
 
Apr 28, 2017 at 11:55 PM Post #400 of 979
All you really need are 3-pin mini xlr connectors because it seems that only 2 of the 4 seem to be used. You can however use a 3rd for extra grounding on each side. These can be picked up for cheap on ebay and in fact that's what I did.

It's all about "standards" if you want compatibility. The Hirose connectors allow you to at least be compliant with MrSpeakers' cables, so that you can share cables between different headphones. I'd prefer using a 4-pin Mini-XLR so that I could follow Audeze/ZMF/etc. compliance, too. Going with a 3-pin Mini-XLR jack limits down what you're doing--however, if you're okay with that, more power to you! :)
 
Apr 29, 2017 at 7:52 PM Post #401 of 979
It's all about "standards" if you want compatibility. The Hirose connectors allow you to at least be compliant with MrSpeakers' cables, so that you can share cables between different headphones. I'd prefer using a 4-pin Mini-XLR so that I could follow Audeze/ZMF/etc. compliance, too. Going with a 3-pin Mini-XLR jack limits down what you're doing--however, if you're okay with that, more power to you! :)

I'm not sure how a 4-pin is "standard" and all I'm saying is that you can use 3-pins in the cups and if you really want your 4-pin you can combine your cables to end in one. This will keep it within your so called "standard" and work with those types of devices. Or you could just keep them as separate cables and go into devices that are split into left and right plugs. It's all really up to you, but if you're making a pair of custom headphones, a simple custom cable is by far the least of your worries.
 
Apr 29, 2017 at 10:54 PM Post #402 of 979
4-pin Mini-XLR in Audeze-style wiring is more commonly used by headphone manufacturers than 3-pin Mini-XLR jacks is all I was getting at. It's true you just need consistency--however if you're going to be a multi-headphone owner (like many of us are) there's an advantage to just keeping up with what more vendors do, for compatibility's sake.
 
May 2, 2017 at 2:52 AM Post #403 of 979
Making these are so much fun that I just had to make another one... :L3000:

This time I tried another finish of the cups and ended up with something that is not totally unlike the original Alpha dog:



There havent been so many cable pics yet, but since its also a part of making the project I guess, I will post mine for feedback, comments or just inspiration. Its an 8 wire mixed silver and copper. Possibly a little overkill, but I like the look and the sound is excellent... (Not the same as the cable displayed in the top, that is a 4-wire. Cant really hear the difference :) ) :

 
May 5, 2017 at 4:52 AM Post #405 of 979
Thank you for sharing @PeterJensen ! I love the 8-wire cable. In my opinion it's all for looks anyway. :)

Did you do a paint or is that the 3D print filament color?

Thanks a lot... The cable is also very flexible and with low microphonics so thats an added plus I guess... Cost me around 40 USD at Lunashops.

The cups are printed in high res on a Formlabs 2 SLA printer in the FormLabs white material. Afterwards I spray painted with 3 coats of bordeaux colored car paint... Just something I found in a paint shop, I dont know so much about painting :).
 

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