So, I got to modding the MSR7 so that they play better with the HM5 pads. And boy, oh boy, did I do just that... Let's start!
First thing you do is take the pads off, and undo the 8 screws underneath. Should be pretty self explanatory. Then you gently take the baffle off
(GENTLY, unless you like soldering) and you can see a small hole covered by a felt in the center.
Then you have to take the middle plate off the cup. To do this, you lift the small piece of tape holding the wire
(don't yank it because it may pull the wires with it, and save it somewhere safe) and then pull
(again, gently, there's more soldered thin wires beneath that) the whole thing while wiggling it a bit. After a while the cup should be seperated from the middle plate. Line up the top baffle that holds the driver with the lower part so that the little wire is straight and pull the midplate upwards so that it goes away from the cup and closer to the baffle. Here you can see the little felt ring from behind.
Remove it gently, so that you don't rip it
(although it does hold itself together well, even though the adhesive is quite strong) and save it somewhere in case you want to revert the whole thing. Then put the whole thing back together. Boom, that's it. No potentially distortion causing materials in front of the drivers, no nothing. Just added bass. I think that there's even more than stock, even when using the HM5 pads. I also think it sounds a bit more open and leaks a bit more sound, but that could be the pads, so I digress. Now I have to make the pads fit more snuggly in the groove somehow, 'cause they're big and they got stretched when I was using them over the whole cup and now the elastic band is a bit loose. Meh.
@ModiHiFi I think you more than anyone will appreciate this. Just give it a try, you're gonna love the result! Maybe even give it a shot with your own mods with the batting fleece over the driver and see what happens! Down the road I'm gonna experiment with filling the cups with cotton or, if I can find any, polyfill. But as it stands I'm more than happy with the result!
Quick update on this. I tried it with the stock pads too. It's almost what I expected. There's added bass, but not a whole lot, strangely. The change isn't as big as with the larger pads. But the bass is a bit heavier and boomier, with more impact. However, it feels kind of... stuffed. It's not as alive sounding as stock, like the highs are wee bit recessed. Still, the cans are warmer sounding with the mod, it just sounded strange to me, warm sounding MSR7s. Wasn't bad AT ALL, just different, like a mix between the MDR-1A and the MSR7. Happily, the volume change I was noticing is there indeed, these need a tad higher volume with the HM5 pads. I'm not going deaf at 24, so I got that going for me!
Back to the HM5s for now. Even without factoring comfort, the experience is quite a bit better than stock MSR7s. The sound signature with the felt removed is almost the same as stock, but they got a little better bass and they don't get as fatiguing at higher volumes. Although that last part could be just me getting used to these, I suspect it's because my ears aren't directly touching the drivers. Can't know until more people try it.
I'm really thinking about opening a new thread about this. I see the MSR7 as having quite the modding potential after having taken them apart. The driver is phenomenal, it's the cup's tuning that held back the bass (if one can call it held back). I just feel like they are old news and most owners aren't checking this thread frequently any more. Which is sad, because they deserve the attention.
With all that said, could anyone that has other larger pads try this? Even the HM5 sheepskin ones will satisfy my curiosity at this point! And it's not like it's a hard thing to do, neither is it irreversible.
Are you lot still arguing with that guy. I clicked the ignore button, now I can only see one side of the argument.
Come on, don't be harsh. I mean, having someone not listen to what you're saying when you know you're right is frustrating, but come on, that's not how we do things around here.
Anyone can comment/argue here mate. If you don't feel like commenting, plz dont. I just need subject Cans owners to shares their opinions about a specific area of my interest. Any how thanks alot for your input/info shared
True that. Just hear what others have to say, even when they don't specifically answer what you asked. There's people way more experienced that both of us here, so don't dismiss someone when they tell you something. Like, in your case, the difference between an open, analytical, narrow sounding, detailed pair, an open, really wide sounding, bass heavy pair and a closed, detailed, bright, bass light and noise canceling pair of cans is night and day. Even the comparison between the two open pairs is almost invalid because they're so different, but I could get how one would be looking at both of those. The MSR7 just didn't fit in that comparison. I hope we helped you in your decision, but you were comparing apples to tomatoes, not even oranges.
With that said, if you're still looking for closed, bassy cans, I'd take a look at the Sony MDR-1A too!
