[Tofty]

Hi,
I've recently been having fun repairing headphones and headsets, bought in joblots off ebay.
There have been some lucky finds, with several really nice cans just needing a broken jack replacing or an internal wire re-soldering.
The thing I always dread though is finding a dead driver, as there's nothing I can do, other than replace the most valuable part of headphones. Fortunately this is quite rare, with the failure point often being something else.

Alas this is the fate that awaits a pair of otherwise quite tidy Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones.
If possible I would appreciate any recommendations for 40mm drivers to look out for that would give comparable or even slightly improved monitor like soundstage.

 

[Tofty]

If nobody has any suggestions; my fallback option is to use the drivers from a pair of Roland RH-5s, cast aside due to a broken headband.
These drivers would be a bit of a downgrade, but hopefully not too far away from the M40x drivers.
The RH-5 shells also have a similar volume to the M40xs.

Driver Specs:
RH-5 - 40mm, 92 dB/mW, 1000mW, 32 ohm, 10-22000Hz
M40x - 40mm, 98 dB/mW, 1600mW, 35 ohm, 15-24000Hz

 

[selwin]

If nobody has any suggestions; my fallback option is to use the drivers from a pair of Roland RH-5s, cast aside due to a broken headband.
These drivers would be a bit of a downgrade, but hopefully not too far away from the M40x drivers.
The RH-5 shells also have a similar volume to the M40xs.

Driver Specs:
RH-5 - 40mm, 92 dB/mW, 1000mW, 32 ohm, 10-22000Hz
M40x - 40mm, 98 dB/mW, 1600mW, 35 ohm, 15-24000Hz

full compass. original ATH parts

 

[Tofty]

Thanks for the suggestion selwin, although the import and tax costs have made importing anything from the US more trouble than it's worth recently, at least from my experience.
It's often cheaper to buy a faulty pair off ebay and use them to repair the originals, which is what I did in the end.
Swapping the drivers out for a clearly inferior set was anyways a bad idea.
I repaired the RH-5s, so they didn't get binned.

A seller on Aliexpress has drivers claimed to be specifically for the M40x, so I might try those in the second set I now have and compare them with the genuine articles.