AKG K85 - Anyone ever heard if these????
Dec 2, 2006 at 8:16 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 18
Louis Rubin

Louis Rubin

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I have recently acquired a pair of AKG K85 headphones and
could not find anything, anywhere on the net about them
including the AKG website! They look and sound great but I'm
curious why there's no mention of them. Do I own the only
known pair in existance?
wink.gif


Interested in specs and brouchures if possible...

Cheers,

Louis

P.S. Can put up a pic if anyone's interested.
 
Dec 2, 2006 at 8:26 PM Post #2 of 18
Today must be Vintage AKG Day - over in the German Hifi-Forum there just was someone with what appears to be a K65 or somesuch ('60s beast). Mind posting a pic of your K85?
 
Dec 3, 2006 at 4:45 PM Post #6 of 18
Whoah, from the flatness of the earcups, those look like they might just have planar drivers, possibly orthodynamics. Are they very difficult to drive? Would you be willing to gently take the earpads off and unscrew the earcups so we can take a look inside? If not, would you mind just taking as good a picture as you can of the driver from the inside side of the earcup? It'd be very interested to get to the bottom of this. Strange that it's not listed on either the AKG product archive or the headphone gallery and archive.
 
Dec 4, 2006 at 12:51 AM Post #7 of 18
Do very flat earcups really indicate orthodynamics? HD420SLs look like the drivers would have to be quite flat, yet I think there are conventional dynamics in there.

BTW, AKG used to make some funky stuff - look at the K2000, possibly the great-grandfather of clip-ons (estimated late '60s).
 
Dec 4, 2006 at 1:19 AM Post #8 of 18
>>Would you be willing to gently take the earpads off and unscrew the earcups so we can take a look inside? If not, would you mind just taking as good a picture as you can of the driver from the inside side of the earcup?

I looked at the earpads and couldn't see an easy way to remove them without damaging them. I would if I could ...any suggestions? Also, when looking into the inside of the earcup all I can see is the foam liner (no driver?) I'll take another pic or two of them anyway
smily_headphones1.gif


As to the "might just have planar drivers, possibly orthodynamics" I'm afraid I have no idea. They are easy to "drive" though if that helps. Very comfortable and they sound great!

Still looking for more info. & Thx, for your input.
 
Dec 4, 2006 at 10:16 AM Post #9 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by sgrossklass /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Do very flat earcups really indicate orthodynamics? HD420SLs look like the drivers would have to be quite flat, yet I think there are conventional dynamics in there.

BTW, AKG used to make some funky stuff - look at the K2000, possibly the great-grandfather of clip-ons (estimated late '60s).



Certainly it's possible to make dynamics at least this flat, but it was relatively uncommon from the time when I would guess these were built, circa mid to late 70s. (the earcups (pebble-finish!, simple) and earpads seem earlier than the headband) By convention, dynamics had big conical earcups that stuck way out. Look at an HD414, for example, which was about as small as it got before the days of the walkman. Even then though, they could have been flatter-- the driver of a K240M could theoretically fit into th K85 housing, I think.

But as you point out, AKG was much more willing to make crazy stuff than their competitors. The housings were weirder, and there were all those dual-driver and hybrid models.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Louis Rubin /img/forum/go_quote.gif
As to the "might just have planar drivers, possibly orthodynamics" I'm afraid I have no idea. They are easy to "drive" though if that helps. Very comfortable and they sound great!


I have never yet heard "easy to drive" and "European orthodynamic" spoken in the same breath. If they have strong bass, that would also be an indicator against being orthos.

One other small thing: I can't understand why an AKG with the two-wire headband is also dual-entry. Also unusual.
 
Dec 5, 2006 at 7:08 AM Post #10 of 18
If you look into the earcups and see, probably behind some sheer cloth, a flat surface with a bunch of round holes in it (not a grating or cover), then it's likely an isodynamic. Can you go in for a good tight closeup of the earcup?

If this is an old conventional 'phone (can't tell from the styling), then it would use oldstyle magnets, which were perforce big and stuck out the back of the driver, which made the 'phones deep. There were some low-profile drivers that fooled those of us who were looking for isodynamics-- the Nakamichi SP-7 comes to mind. Nowadays, with neodymium magnets being used all over the place, the need for a big magnet is gone.

I'm not sure these are old 'phones, though. [HE'S WRONG AGAIN-- see last paragraph] From the photographs, these things look like they've never been used.

If you can't get a good photo of the face of the driver, and if you have a multimeter, you can measure the DC resistance of the driver. Isodynamics tended to have one of three impedances: 30,50/60, and 150 ohms. That might be a clue.

Louis-- did you ever contact Marijana at AKG? Here's part of her reply on the AKG forum back in April to someone named... Louis:

the K85 is an old AKG headphone which was manufactured in the [19]84´s. We have only a few information of this product.

If you need this information, please kindly contact me directly at service@akg.com or zivkovicm@akg.com Best regards, Marijana
.
.
.
 
Dec 6, 2006 at 10:02 PM Post #11 of 18
Wow! Is that ever a coincidence -another Louis emailing AKG about these very same K85's
smily_headphones1.gif
It wasn't me, as Ive just acquired these puppies. They do look like new with just a little wear or creases showing on the (leather?) pads.

I will get in touch with Marijana anyway and will report back with the info she forwards me. In the meantime I'll try a get another closer picture up of the earcups.

Thanks for everything!

Louis
 
Dec 6, 2006 at 10:08 PM Post #12 of 18
Hi again,

Forget that last post...I just checked the AKG forum and that was me
(it was posted the same day I posted it here - Dec 04) and not last April.
confusion caused probably because of the date format (4/12/06)...

In any case, I will reply to her and report back
smily_headphones1.gif


Cheers all,

Louis
 
Dec 7, 2006 at 12:29 AM Post #13 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by Louis Rubin /img/forum/go_quote.gif
...Dec 04 ['06] and not last April.
confusion caused probably because of the date format (4/12/06)...


Whoops, sorry, I wasn't thinking internationally there.

I doubt these things are isodynamics, but they're so freakin' rare on Google and only seem to show up in places like France, that you have to wonder.
 
Dec 7, 2006 at 2:27 AM Post #14 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I doubt these things are isodynamics, but they're so freakin' rare on Google and only seem to show up in places like France, that you have to wonder.


Yeah, really just wishful thinking on my part. Funny, I've yet to see a pair show in Germany.
 
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