I have a pair of LCD2 pre-fazor, not sure the exact purchase date (I bought them in 2018 off eBay).
Anyone have any idea is both drivers being very silent (can only hear them when I crank the volume) is a symptom of driver damage? I've checked the cable with a multimeter and tested the amp.
I've emailed their support but I can't find my SN (I've misplaced the original headband and it didn't come with the box). They're way out of warranty either way, is there anything inside the cups I could check?
When I got my drivers changed I got new ear pads which I fitted. Whilst changing the ear pads I saw that each driver had its serial number printed on a sticker at the side of the front face. You should be able to get all the relevant information about your headphones by sending Audez’e those numbers, although if I remember correctly the adhesive isn’t the type where you can just press the pads back on and have them stick securely, so you’ll either need new pads to stick on, or an alternative method of sticking them back on which isn’t permanent since they do need replacing periodically and different people prefer different types of pads.
Mine are quite early LCD2’s, referred to as “LCD2.1”; the very first modification Audez’e made to the design of the original LCD2. When they failed it was just the left driver which suddenly made no sound whatsoever.
The issue is with the drivers rather than the headphone itself, and since both drivers are wired independently of each other, it’s highly unlikely that they will both go at the same time. They may both fail but they will do so at significantly different times - months or years apart. But you say yours still produce sound so I don’t think it’s a driver issue.
What sort of amplifier do you use and did the headphones work as expected when you bought them? Is this a problem that’s been gradually developing or was there a sudden change? Or are you just getting round to tackling it? When mine failed it was a case where they worked perfectly one day and the next time I put them on the left driver was dead. They then sat in their box for a couple of years before I got round to finding someone in the UK (where I live) who had, and could fit a pair of matched, working drivers!
Forgive me if I’m stating the obvious here but these headphones do require a lot of power. If you’re trying to power them directly from a phone or most dap’s, or the headphone socket on a music system or receiver, you’re not going to get much in the way of volume unless you do crank it right up. They’re not quite as demanding as some other planar-magnetic headphones (HiFiMAN HE6 is the example usually given as one of the hardest), but still it’s not unheard-of for people to use speaker amps to drive Audez’e headphones - and I don’t mean from the headphone socket, I mean wired to the speaker terminals!
Fortunately there is now a good variety of headphone amps capable of driving your LCD-2’s perfectly well, and very few people still use speaker amps. I’ve been away from the Head-Fi forums for a while now, focusing all my attention on my speakers system, but I can thoroughly recommend the iFI micro iDSD which you can pick up for a very reasonable price second hand in the Classifieds section of Head-Fi. I have both the original (silver colour) and the Black Label version (same shape, connections and functions but anodised black with upgraded components inside). I’ve had both since they first came out and I have no plans to part with either - they’re like good Swiss Army knifes; bombproof, last forever, and just too darn useful to let go of! If I’m taking headphones with me, chances are I’ll take the micro iDSD. I have an AURALiC Taurus MkII at home which is even more powerful, sounds incredible, and is 3-4 times the retail price, yet I was using the iFi earlier this evening at home with my LCD-2 and often do - with all my headphones - for practical reasons!
Sorry, you asked about possible problems with your headphones and here I am acting like a full-on headphone amp salesman for iFi! They are a bit bulky and there are better sounding amps, but it depends how much you’re prepared to pay. The sheer array of connections and functions at that price makes a second hand micro iDSD (original or BL) a no-brainer to recommend as a first / test amp for properly driving the LCD-2. Hopefully others can make more up-to-date suggestions because it sounds to me like you’re just lacking the necessary horsepower. An iFi micro iDSD will provide that (and a good DAC, preamp, and powerbank) at minimal cost -and if you want to you’ll be able to sell it with little or no loss.
Apologies for rambling on, I hope there’s something helpful in my post!
