[rhythmdevils]

It's probably wiring, try more jiggling.

 

[vid]

Thanks for the input, Armaegis and rhythm.
 
I did more jiggling, on both ends of the cord, no effect. I opened up the right cup and peeked inside, no wires were loose, and the insides looked pretty clean otherwise as well, from what I could see through the small opening I made. After I closed them up and tried again, the right side maybe didn't sound crackly anymore, but this may just be random chance or something that wasn't there to begin with. In any case the right side is much, much more quiet still, no change there. The left side sounds pretty good.

 
Here's the plug:
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8688/plugl.jpg
 
The right insulator ring looks nothing like the left one, it's all worn out. I'm not an audio expert, is this an issue? Although the plug looked like that in the seller's photos as well, I was guessing it made no difference.

 

[Fitz]

Open the left cup and check the wires there too, since there's also two solder joints there for the right channel.

 

[rhythmdevils]

I bought a pair of vintage Fostex headphones and they had a connection problem.  I sent them to another head-fier to fix them, and when he got them they worked.  It turned out to be a tricky thing to fix so he did his best and when I got them back in the mail, they didn't work again.  They work again now that I opened up the cups and messed with them.  But that's just an example of what all the shaking of shipping can do.

 

[vid]

I opened the left cup. Here's what I found after removing the first screwed-on plate:
From above:
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/4074/cable1m.jpg
 
A (hopefully) slightly more clear shot:
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/1333/cable2b.jpg
 
The soldering for the white cable on the right looks like it's been torn open, with a good amount of exposed copper wire. However, the wire does find its way into the soldering, so it's not cut off completely. Is this normal? There is no imaginable way it could have happened during shipping or while I was cleaning the phones, the cables were packed in snugly under the plate and did not look like they had been torn in any direction, except the white cable looks as if it has been pressed down.
 
When I opened the second screw and lifted the cup, things looked normal. No loose wiring.
 
Edit: Well, I guess I wouldn't count out a shipping accident altogether, but it still seems a bit strange. The phones were well padded and the cardboard box was like new, no bumps or scratches.

 

[Ikarios]

 

[vid]

I took a few more photos of the solder, now that it's daylight again. Hopefully someone can spot whether this might cause the problem of muted sound in the other driver – I don't even know if the exposed wire is for the left or right channel.
 
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/4082/1cable.jpg
 
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/707/2cable.jpg
 
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/6377/3cable.jpg
 
As far as a quick review of the Sextett sound goes, well..

 This is an LP model, and people have described them as the most bass-lean Sextett. From what I can hear from the left driver (which seems to work well, and the amp on the Auzen Bravura gives more than enough volume), it does sound a bit lean. The bass doesn't seem very quick nor very punchy, but it's not missing altogether. Kind of like if your phones were very bassy, gave you a headache and you asked them to be more gentle so you wouldn't be in pain anymore. I like it. There's a surprising amount of detail for phones that were made ages ago. Can't say much about the soundstage based on just 1 driver + a bit of sound from the other; very lopsided is what I'd say. The mids, well, hard to say with this handicap, not that I could say anything analytical without it. Basically what I can say is, this LP pair sounds somewhat bright, not muted like the one guy described his above (Aflac?), not much bass and some good detail. Not bad.

 

[Kevin Brown]

Quote:

 This is an LP model, and people have described them as the most bass-lean Sextett.

I disagree with this statement, and a few others more recently have too. 

 
 I had one EP, 2 MP's, and 2 LP's at one point.  They all had similar levels of bass, except with the "magic" MP pair I have with higher clamping force that do have more bass than the others.  But if I pull back on the cups for those ones to simulate the clamping force that all the others have, then they all have similar levels of bass.
 
I found more of a difference in the bass with used vs brand new pads, than I did between EP to MP to LP.

 

[Tiemen]

Did anyone of you tried these ear pads on their Sextett: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/291951/fs-costum-akg-pads-for-k340-as-well-as-k240-and-maybe-others ?
 
Edit: Tiemen, you dumbass. If you had searched this thread before asking, then you'd find out that some did use them.....

 

[vid]

It could also be that my assessment of the bass was hampered a bit by only hearing the other side plus a quiet, offsetting sound from the other driver.

 Maybe it's my amp, too, but I found the K 601 had a lot more bass. I do like the bass on the LP pair (or non-pair to be exact), though, so it's a shame.
 
This may be off-topic, and please remove it if so. I'm in talks with the person who sold me the Sextetts, in order to get this resolved, but I'm not sure it's going too well. I'm not naming anyone, but I'd like some input from you guys on this: if I pay a certain amount of dollars for international shipping but don't specify which shipping method to use, and the seller chooses the cheapest one – which costs a third of what I paid and has no tracking – and keeps the rest of the money, should it not be the seller who bears the brunt in case the phones don't survive the trip?

 

[rhythmdevils]

You definitely can't judge a headphone based on only one channel/side working.  I don't know why, but even things like bass/treble balance are not easy to hear without both ears. 

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

I took a few more photos of the solder, now that it's daylight again. Hopefully someone can spot whether this might cause the problem of muted sound in the other driver – I don't even know if the exposed wire is for the left or right channel.

That is just the insulation melted back a bit, not uncommon and is unlikely to have anything to do with the one side not working. Do you have a multimeter? There's a few spots you can check for continuity to help narrow down exactly where the problem is. I'll make a little diagram or something if you do.
 


Quote:

Quote:

 This is an LP model, and people have described them as the most bass-lean Sextett.

I disagree with this statement, and a few others more recently have too. 

 
 I had one EP, 2 MP's, and 2 LP's at one point.  They all had similar levels of bass, except with the "magic" MP pair I have with higher clamping force that do have more bass than the others.  But if I pull back on the cups for those ones to simulate the clamping force that all the others have, then they all have similar levels of bass.
 
I found more of a difference in the bass with used vs brand new pads, than I did between EP to MP to LP.

I wonder how long before people are going to start saying the EP/MP and LP don't have different drivers, too.

 

[drew.haynes]

Quote:

It could also be that my assessment of the bass was hampered a bit by only hearing the other side plus a quiet, offsetting sound from the other driver.

 Maybe it's my amp, too, but I found the K 601 had a lot more bass. I do like the bass on the LP pair (or non-pair to be exact), though, so it's a shame.
 
This may be off-topic, and please remove it if so. I'm in talks with the person who sold me the Sextetts, in order to get this resolved, but I'm not sure it's going too well. I'm not naming anyone, but I'd like some input from you guys on this: if I pay a certain amount of dollars for international shipping but don't specify which shipping method to use, and the seller chooses the cheapest one – which costs a third of what I paid and has no tracking – and keeps the rest of the money, should it not be the seller who bears the brunt in case the phones don't survive the trip?

So you are saying he is making a profit on the shipping? I'd never do that to someone and would expect them not to do it to me. In any exchange i've had, shipping differences either way have been refunded. That's the right thing to do.
 

 

[vid]

My thoughts exactly, drew. Before I got the phones, I wasn't going to demand a refund for the extra I paid for shipping, but now that something happened to the them while in transit I feel a bit differently.
 
Thanks, Fitz, good to know it's not the solder at least. I don't have a multimeter, unfortunately.
 
I know that, while the phones were in the mail, it's possible they had to spend their last day in transit outside in 5-degree F weather for a number of hours. I don't know if this may have caused something bad, but I guess it's possible.
 
I listened to them some more. I've noticed that the right side not only sounds quiet, it's lacking just about all bass. If I adjust the volume so that both drivers are about as loud, but so that only one side is playing at a time, the right one is very tinny while the left one is very normal. I don't have any pads on right now, but the difference is very noticeable.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

I listened to them some more. I've noticed that the right side not only sounds quiet, it's lacking just about all bass. If I adjust the volume so that both drivers are about as loud, but so that only one side is playing at a time, the right one is very tinny while the left one is very normal. I don't have any pads on right now, but the difference is very noticeable.

Two possible situations that occur to me are a faulty connector/cable, which is easily repairable, or the voice coil is pinched by the pole piece (I've seen it happen once on a K240), which is not repairable.
 
Please try to get hold of a multimeter, someone you know surely has one.