[langensx]

Hi, guys:
 
Mine is No.808 bass light made in 1992. I was wondering how many R10 were made exactly? Some said 2000 but David Mahler believes somewhere around 1300. Is there anyone knowing the accurate number?
 
And another point, which version is less, bass heavy or light? I was wondering that, Sony manufactured 808 R10s within nearly three years, why did some people buy brand new R10 bass heavy version whose serial number are around 1000-1100 from Amazon in 2003-2004? Did Sony stop making R10 for several years during 1990s?

 

[Oingo Boingo]

Hi,
 
Did you find the answer?  I asked the same question couple of weeks ago in R10 thread - no replies.  I have got #457 (bass-light) of 1989 and #1182 (bass-heavy) of 2004. I haven't seen # higher then 1182.  Since the last year of production was 2004 I really doubt there were another 800 R10s produced by the end of 2004 to make it 2000 R10s total.

 

[langensx]

Hi,
 
I think the production is around 1300 makes sense as I asked this at other forums. And I don't think anyone can tell which version is more since Sony didn't distinguish them officially and deliberately. As far as I know, there're 3 types of drivers used in all R10 production and the third type was likely to be used from 2001 or 2002 (not quite sure). I don't know anything about type 1 and type 2. I was told if you disassemble them and then you would know which types of driver used but it's nonsense to do that. What makes me confused is that why sony just took 4 years to produce more than 800 R10s but the last batch was come out in 2004. It seems that R10 production stopped for a long time during 1990s because of the lack of drivers. Only this fact can explain why Sony changed the driver model after the New Millennium to finish the entire R10 project. That's just what my imagination.

 

[Oingo Boingo]

Thanks a lot!  I also think that 1300 is a more realistic figure.  I guess if we find someone with the highest # ____ of R10 – it would give the answer.  I have heard a rumor that the R10 were originally produced by 200-pieces bunches.  But some people say that the R10 within “the same hundred” can be either bass-light or bass-heavy, especially after #0700.  Does it mean that after, say #0600 there were no more 200 bunches and the R10 have been produced from “whatever” bio-cellulose was available?  This also may be the reason for rather different impressions of the people who have heard the R10 between #0500 and #1000.  It looks like all the R10 less than #0400 are bass-light.  The long break in production of R10 did happen in 90s, but during the same time Sony kept producing a number of other headphones using the same bio-cellulose technology.  It looks like there are three or even more types of drivers used in R10 from the most bass-light in late 80s to more bass-heavy in 2004.  I hope that someone really knowledgeable will clarify all this.

 

[purk]

I have not read about any SN higher than 1300.  I think 1300-1400 figure is more realistic.