[Coug]

Thank you, I didn't know the Sennheiser foam would cut the highs less than the AKG one. I might try to shake the foam down tomorrow while playing some music through them, and then I might test them with just the thin piece of fabric that came stock (but without the foam)

But as I said, the smoke smell is really getting to me, and the seller has offered me a refund.

I'll definitely keep your offer about the Sextetts in mind, thank you.

Yep, the AKG foam is a little thicker/heavier, and has the fabric too. I've tried HD400 and HD430 foam on Monitors before, both made them a little brighter. Pads have an impact too. Less predictable though.

I only had one pair that smelled bad - not smoke but hair tonic?... A pair of late Monitors. What ever it was actually peeled the "felt" off the bottom half of both the driver housings. Became a parts pair.

 

[Starbound]

Yep, the AKG foam is a little thicker/heavier, and has the fabric too. I've tried HD400 and HD430 foam on Monitors before, both made them a little brighter. Pads have an impact too. Less predictable though.

I only had one pair that smelled bad - not smoke but hair tonic?... A pair of late Monitors. What ever it was actually peeled the "felt" off the bottom half of both the driver housings. Became a parts pair.

If it peeled the driver housings I am willing to bet that guy is bald now.

 

[orys]

You can use the Beyerdynamic pads on the 240 easily. Those silver ones. Should be from 880 but not very sure as it has been a long long time since I changed mine.

 

[thee mutz]

It was a real mess down there, and some of the foam had entered the driver cavity, so despite my best efforts there are some small pieces of foam over the driver coil. I am not sure if this would affect the sound, but I think it is highly likely it would. I wonder if playing sound through them with the coils upside down would shake the small pieces of foam debris down.

Another thing that is bothering me a lot is that even after cleaning the headphones have an overpowering smell of cigarette smoke (even though they were relatively clean, and even after wiping with some water and isopropyl alcohol there wasn't the usual muck you get from things covered in cigarette smoke.

You can try to carefully remove the small pieces of foam on the drivers with a small soft brush.
I think that most of the cigarette smell comes from the pads. You can replace them or wash them with warm water and washing powder or something like that. When you open up the cups you can remove the smelly old foam, clean the cups from the inside and put fresh new foam in.

 

[karel88l]

Did anybody tried Deconi earpads on sextetts ? I ordered their Suede pads for my Beyerdynamic T1 and putted them on sextetts,I think I like that pads on both headphones,however I am curious if there is even better option ? Somebody mentioned that he is using Deconi hybrid pads with sextetts.

 

[Starbound]

You can try to carefully remove the small pieces of foam on the drivers with a small soft brush.
I think that most of the cigarette smell comes from the pads. You can replace them or wash them with warm water and washing powder or something like that. When you open up the cups you can remove the smelly old foam, clean the cups from the inside and put fresh new foam in.

It looks like the felt survived my cleaning procedure and most of the foam residue is gone, but there are still some pieces inside the drivers. I don't have any soft brushes, so I got a set of small paintbrushes in Amazon just for this task (hopefully they will be helpful when cleaning the foam inside the cups too. They should fit the bill since I don't want to use a more solid object which might deform the driver coils.

In order to clean out the foam inside the cups I was going to use @larcenasb's procedure of carefully separating the cup pieces with a knife blade. Do you think that will give me enough clearance to clean the inside of the cups? I'm also thinking of at least testing the headphones without any foam first. The mechanism seems to be very loose now, so I don't think the foam is fulfilling its objective of giving some integrity to the cup turning mechanism.

Even though the headphones are very stinky they seem to stink less now (or maybe they have started growing on me.) BTW, these have an 1/4 plug, not sure if that is indicative of age in the K240M timeline.

EDIT: It looks like K240M headphones with 1/4 plugs only are early production.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akg-k240m.267314/#post-3403896

 

[thee mutz]

In order to clean out the foam inside the cups I was going to use @larcenasb's procedure of carefully separating the cup pieces with a knife blade. Do you think that will give me enough clearance to clean the inside of the cups? I'm also thinking of at least testing the headphones without any foam first. The mechanism seems to be very loose now, so I don't think the foam is fulfilling its objective of giving some integrity to the cup turning mechanism.

When you seperated the cups you can slide one half up over the headband so you have enough clearence, on page 94 of this topic you can see a reply from BigMikeBass with some pics of the procedure. He uses a spoon to seperate the cups i see, never tried that. Most of the time the foam inside the cups is desintegrated so lots of small pieces everywhere. You can buy new foam rings or use some other foam that you cut in the right shape. Soundwise i do not hear any difference, but it just firms up the movement of the cups.

 

[larcenasb]

And the mechanism is very loose now because likely all the foam in there is rotted.

 

[Coug]

It looks like the felt survived my cleaning procedure and most of the foam residue is gone, but there are still some pieces inside the drivers. I don't have any soft brushes, so I got a set of small paintbrushes in Amazon just for this task (hopefully they will be helpful when cleaning the foam inside the cups too. They should fit the bill since I don't want to use a more solid object which might deform the driver coils.

In order to clean out the foam inside the cups I was going to use @larcenasb's procedure of carefully separating the cup pieces with a knife blade. Do you think that will give me enough clearance to clean the inside of the cups? I'm also thinking of at least testing the headphones without any foam first. The mechanism seems to be very loose now, so I don't think the foam is fulfilling its objective of giving some integrity to the cup turning mechanism.

Even though the headphones are very stinky they seem to stink less now (or maybe they have started growing on me.) BTW, these have an 1/4 plug, not sure if that is indicative of age in the K240M timeline.

EDIT: It looks like K240M headphones with 1/4 plugs only are early production.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akg-k240m.267314/#post-3403896

Early Monitors did not use the single "Felt" (acoustic material) "donut" for tuning, instead they had larger sextett sized baffles, with each baffle covered with some fiber acoustic material for tuning (filter). The acoustic material seems to have two different types. I have one with 3 black and 3 white baffle filters, and one with 3 light grey and 3 white baffle filters. These older Monitors used a driver that is different from the later ones as well.

The early driver appears to be very similar to the DF driver, except the DF driver has one of six vents/ports covered. DFs also seem to have had the same changes to the baffle/filters as the Monitor, but stuck with the earlier driver. The same or similar driver appears to be used in the K340 bass heavy version with grey driver housing (I don't have the bass heavy version) and appears to have two vent/ports covered.

The later Monitors seem to have drivers that only had 2 vents/ports.

Bringing this back to sextetts again, the bass light K340 version uses a driver very similar to the sextett. Some (earliest?) had a red driver housing (just like the sextett). Then there is the green driver that appears to look like a sextett driver, but in green (both red and green are "bass light" - grey and then black drivers are "bass heavy").

Basically, AKG seems to have made changes to the entire line of K240 (K140?) inspired headphones without indicating externally a change was made. 3 different Sextetts, 3 or 4 Monitors, 2 or 3 or more DFs, 4 or more 340s, all within a few years of production... Crazy.

 

[Coug]

I use the spoon method now, but you have to find the right spoon shape to match the aluminum ring, or you'll muck up the ring. You can also insert a business card in between the spoon and the ring for protection. Even with the spoon, the cover may not pop off unless you still pry a little between the cover and driver plate (finger nails).

 

[thee mutz]

Did anybody tried Deconi earpads on sextetts ? I ordered their Suede pads for my Beyerdynamic T1 and putted them on sextetts,I think I like that pads on both headphones,however I am curious if there is even better option ? Somebody mentioned that he is using Deconi hybrid pads with sextetts.

The only other pads than the original ones i tried on a sextett are the Sure HPAEC 840 pads. I have them currently on my sextett LP , did not like them on my EP however. I also removed the fabric/foam in the centre of the pads because it blocked the mids and treble to much.

 

[JR junior]

Luther Vandross with Sextetts.

 

[Starbound]

When you seperated the cups you can slide one half up over the headband so you have enough clearence, on page 94 of this topic you can see a reply from BigMikeBass with some pics of the procedure. He uses a spoon to seperate the cups i see, never tried that. Most of the time the foam inside the cups is desintegrated so lots of small pieces everywhere. You can buy new foam rings or use some other foam that you cut in the right shape. Soundwise i do not hear any difference, but it just firms up the movement of the cups.

I see, thank you. I will perform the "procedure" today or in the next few days. Yes, the foam is definitely kaput in mine because the cups move with almost no resistance.

 

[Starbound]

I use the spoon method now, but you have to find the right spoon shape to match the aluminum ring, or you'll muck up the ring. You can also insert a business card in between the spoon and the ring for protection. Even with the spoon, the cover may not pop off unless you still pry a little between the cover and driver plate (finger nails).

I will try @larcenasb's method first. It looks as if there is no useable gap between the back cover and the baffle plate to insert a knife, but maybe when I get to it it will work. If that fails I will use the spoon method. I definitely don't want to mar the ring or the plastic in the headphone, that's why I have been gunshy despite the excellent advice I got from larcenasb , three mutz, and you.

 

[Starbound]

Early Monitors did not use the single "Felt" (acoustic material) "donut" for tuning, instead they had larger sextett sized baffles, with each baffle covered with some fiber acoustic material for tuning (filter). The acoustic material seems to have two different types. I have one with 3 black and 3 white baffle filters, and one with 3 light grey and 3 white baffle filters. These older Monitors used a driver that is different from the later ones as well.

The early driver appears to be very similar to the DF driver, except the DF driver has one of six vents/ports covered. DFs also seem to have had the same changes to the baffle/filters as the Monitor, but stuck with the earlier driver. The same or similar driver appears to be used in the K340 bass heavy version with grey driver housing (I don't have the bass heavy version) and appears to have two vent/ports covered.

The later Monitors seem to have drivers that only had 2 vents/ports.

Bringing this back to sextetts again, the bass light K340 version uses a driver very similar to the sextett. Some (earliest?) had a red driver housing (just like the sextett). Then there is the green driver that appears to look like a sextett driver, but in green (both red and green are "bass light" - grey and then black drivers are "bass heavy").

Basically, AKG seems to have made changes to the entire line of K240 (K140?) inspired headphones without indicating externally a change was made. 3 different Sextetts, 3 or 4 Monitors, 2 or 3 or more DFs, 4 or more 340s, all within a few years of production... Crazy.

You ought to write an encyclopedia on this stuff. There are so many details involved. And you are right, it's really confusing to perform so many revisions and keep the model name unchanged without any designation to distinguish it. Though I can see why AKG would have wanted to do that, the same way that a Chevy Corvette hasn't changed name despite the many variations. Sennheiser doesn't follow that approach. The most they would do is add a number designation (like HD540 Reference II vs HD540 Reference). What makes things more confusing even for the K240 is that externally it's not easy to distinguish between revisions.