[Braver]

I guess Mike just means that a speaker enclosure shouldn't be doing that. The text indeed compares the enclosure with the body of a guitar, but it's not a good comparison. Idealy a speker would just reproduce the sound that is recorded, not adding resonances or distortion or whatever with the enclosure (Magnepan, Stax).

a speaker is not an instrument remember? like Mike said, it reproduces, it doesn't and shouldn't make.

 

[markl]

Damn, if they sound half as good as they look....

We've GOT to find a way to get some of these to the states. I MUST have one. I bet we all know someone who just might be able to help....

Oh, Jan....
Mr. Meier sir, can you possibly look into getting some of these, too? Pretty please?

markl

 

[skippy]

a few years ago at sharper image, i saw speakers that were advertised as using a certain wood with tight rings, similar to what a luthier would use to create instruments. it gave me a huge laugh. that's a great gimmick that would trick most suckers who don't understand speaker design. the wood most speakers are made of is medium density fiberboard or particle board (i.e. compressed sawdust), because it a very non-resonant wood. also it has very good self damping properties. it is also the choice wood because it is very inexpensive. though i'm not sure, i'd imagine that the resonance with plastic varies, depending on the type of plastic. perhaps the reason why speakers aren't made of plastic might be because a non resonant plastic with good damping properties might be too expensive (probably much more expensive than particle board). on such a small product as headphones, it's probably more economically feasable. not to mention headphones endure a lot more stress than speakers (speakers sit in one place, while headphones get moved around a lot), and headphones must be made of a more durable material, such as plastic. a non resonant wood like particle board can flake and would be unsuitable for headphones.

 

[ai0tron]

Ok, after the challenge I must say I have never heard THESE AT's but I have heard several audio technicas before and NEVER been even slightly impressed. Not even a little bit. It's sort of like taking a multimedia speaker and putting it in a salad bowl and duck taping it ot your head.

PS they dont look so hot to me. They look like they are overhyped and overpriced.

 

[neil]

Maybe you really mean they look like ****? I mean, literally a pair of horse apples. Heheh.

Personally, I like the look. I mean, if I saw them on someone's head on the street, I'd think they looked a little pretentious -- you know, like they're trying to match the wood color of the interior of their Mercedez Benz; however, whenever I see a pair of Grado SR-80/125/325's on something, I think that they look like submarine sonar operators.

I'll just wait to win these on some contest here @ Head-Fi for my chance to try them out. Thanks for the sweet pictures KR and Neruda. But is that all you guys got? I mean, they're kinda small.

 

[Neruda]

well ai0tron, which AT headphones have you heard? the US headphones? totally different lines. besides, you can't listen to the Sennheiser HD-470 and call the HD600's ****. Can you?

 

[KR...]

The us-line is not even part of the Japanese line.

check out the link below for the us-line :

http://www.audio-technica.com

here's the Japanese line :

http://www.audio-technica.co.jp

 

[solomon]

And the wierd thing is that AT is not even interested in selling its AD line (AD9, AD10) and W line (W100, W11) to other countries. I live in Shanghai and had to order W100 from the Hongkong office of AT. And Hongkong office later said they sold out all the ADs and Ws to Chinese buyers and when Chinese dealers asked them for more supply, the Japanese HQ was reluctant to ship more supply to Hongkong. It seems the Japanese market is big enough to eat up all the ADs and Ws they make. Maybe that is why these models have never been available in the US.

 

[Neruda]

it's too bad because I sure would like to try one, if for no other reason than curiosity.