[nick n]

exposed!
 
I do miss them, and also the vintage 141 still it's been how long since those parted with me now maybe a year. At least i have the baby 140 to keep me company. i prefer on ears anyhow, call me crazy.( trying to convince myself it's not working )

 

[Mullet]

Just picked up a pair of AKG 240 Sextett "Cardan" headphones on the bay. They were "buy it now" and screaming at me so I had to pull the trigger. According to the auction they are in pristine condition. They have the holes in the headband. I probably paid higher than what the market value is -- 140 bones shipped. I've been curious to find out what the hype is all about so here we go!

 

[Sorrodje]

For sure, 140 bucks are maybe a quite high price but SQ of these Old AKGs worthes more IMO . These cans need absolutely a lot of power to shine though. 

 

[Armaegis]

I think I paid about $200 shipped (to Canada) for a NOS pair a couple years ago. $140 for one in good condition seems fair to me. Condition is everything on these old pieces. I've seen ones in rough condition go for under $100.

 

[vid]

$140 would buy you a used old Stax or quite a decent old ortho - I'd rather go for one of those for that much money. I'd say $30-40 is about reasonable for these '70s AKGs, nice as they are.

 

[Mullet]

$40 for mint vintage Sextetts? Doh! To go with those old Stax I'd need to get a special amp to go with it, no? I have a few pairs of orthos... Thunderpants and LCD2s. Working on eventually getting Alphadogs.

 

[RUMAY408]

I've been on the hunt for vintage Stax and $200-300 HP + special amp minimum and God knows what the condition they are in.  K240 Sextett has to be amped but so do my other higher end HP's, so no expense above and beyond to be expected.

 

[vid]

  $40 for mint vintage Sextetts? Doh! To go with those old Stax I'd need to get a special amp to go with it, no? I have a few pairs of orthos... Thunderpants and LCD2s. Working on eventually getting Alphadogs.

 
Mint will be more expensive. The only thing I'd worry about are the pads - as long as they aren't dead flat, everything can be made minty with some soap.

 

[Mullet]

I got my Sextetts last evening. Boy they are quite nice. Upon a quick glance they look to be MP. I tried them with a few amps and the only amp that could do them justice was my Cavalli Compact Tube Hybrid. My other amps -- O2 and The Wire just don't have the voltage gain for these. I'll be building an EHHA Rev A. in the future that should work well.
 
So yes they are pretty much in excellent -- close to mint condition. Headband has no cracks. Pads are worn, but aren't worn out. Rubber bands are in great condition. I'm not sure if the inner foam ring is wearing out. Thus far nothing is coming out of the phones, so it's hard to tell. I'm going to have to open 'em up to find out I guess. Kinda would like to leave 'em alone though. I'm thinking of going at least for replacement pads and even the foam rings for good posture.
 
How do they sound? Yes they have really nice and lush mids. I can hear the graininess in the highs that people speak of. The bass seems a little boomy or wooly and not as controlled as I thought they'd be. I'm thinking the EHHA might take care of this. Overall, I think they're worth 140 bones.
 
Finally, what is different about the Cardan version?

 

[vid]

Just EQ down the bass hump and you should be fine.
 
Might also consider a treble reduction - those drivers ring badly at ~5 kHz and above 10 kHz.

 

[RUMAY408]

  I got my Sextetts last evening. Boy they are quite nice. Upon a quick glance they look to be MP. I tried them with a few amps and the only amp that could do them justice was my Cavalli Compact Tube Hybrid. My other amps -- O2 and The Wire just don't have the voltage gain for these. I'll be building an EHHA Rev A. in the future that should work well.
 
So yes they are pretty much in excellent -- close to mint condition. Headband has no cracks. Pads are worn, but aren't worn out. Rubber bands are in great condition. I'm not sure if the inner foam ring is wearing out. Thus far nothing is coming out of the phones, so it's hard to tell. I'm going to have to open 'em up to find out I guess. Kinda would like to leave 'em alone though. I'm thinking of going at least for replacement pads and even the foam rings for good posture.
 
How do they sound? Yes they have really nice and lush mids. I can hear the graininess in the highs that people speak of. The bass seems a little boomy or wooly and not as controlled as I thought they'd be. I'm thinking the EHHA might take care of this. Overall, I think they're worth 140 bones.
 
Finally, what is different about the Cardan version?

Post some pics would love to see them.  Replacing the worn pads definitely helps more than I even expected.  Totally agree about the power needed for these HP's very hard to push with a less than average amp.

 

[nick n]

That inner foam is similar to that very wide open fish filter stuff, not normal foam. If it was deterioated you would find small black flecks falling out onto the table at times. So most likely it is fine.
 Surprised it does anything actually since it is such an open foam.  Sextetts only had pads and no foam inner ear discs over the driver. Some people might tell you otherwise. At least the vintage 600 ohm ones are like that not sure about the newer stuff.
So stick with maybe new pads and you should be good to go. Opening them is a real pain unless you are used to stuff like that. Don't bother unless you need to.

 

[vid]

  Sextetts only had pads and no foam inner ear discs over the driver. Some people might tell you otherwise. At least the vintage 600 ohm ones are like that not sure about the newer stuff.

 
Sextetts had no baffle foams, but the later version of the Sextett, the late '70s K 241, did have them. Probably every K 240 iteration since then, 600-ohm or not, used the foams.

 

[nick n]

There you have it folks, a perfect answer. Thanks for this Vid

. Filed in cobwebby memory banks.

 

[jring]

Got a very cheap pair of of sextetts off german ebay lately for 23 euro sth plus shipping (cheap inside germany). Were advertised as K240 with intermittent cable failure but pic looked like LP sextett with solid headband.
 
Got them today, as expected the pads and elastics are shot and they had a bad recable job done - every single solder joint was cold and to top things off the left cover over the cable entry had the screw broken out and was superglued shut 8-O
 
Pried open the cover and they turned out to be MP (passive radiators white front and red back) despite the solid headband w/o holes. Grilles are glued on this one. Cleaned out the foam at the start to getting gunky, reassembled and redid the cabling. For now I swapped the cover over from the other side.
 
I will get new pads from www.thoman.de - they have them in stock. No idea where to get elastics in germany or even a new cable port cover... Ideas where to get those in germany or europe are very welcome.
 
Otherwise i'll have to glue the cable port cover too - although rather on the side opposite of the cable entry - you don't open this so often...
 
Listening to 'em right now with my O2 con ODAC and man, do they sound nice despite the flat pads