Chopha
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Posts
- 229
- Likes
- 0
Hi,
Many of you as well as my self love the DT-770 from Beyerdynamic, but to many think that they have just too boomy bass and too recessed mids - and sometimes I agree. I’ve been thinking about a way to change the sound for a while and when I read kramer5150’s thread about recabling the DT-770, in which he wrote:
“That felt ring places back pressure on the driver and damps cone motion. Removing it results in some serious bass, flabby and out of control IMHO”
I thought to myself - hmm, maybe that’s were the problem lies.
So I tried a few different things and came up to a solution which provides a bit tighter and more detailed bass and less recessed mids. Hope you'll find this guide useful!
/Chopha
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*UPDATE
I made myself a new pair in the exact way that the last one, but this time I used silver fiber tape. This tape is harder and the finished ring is much more solid than the one with masking tape. I think they sound better, but I guess that’s only the placebo that’s spooking.
Anyhow - If you’re going to do this mod, make sure to use a sturdy tape.
(I've marked the differences with red text.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Materials and Tools
Small Philips screw driver
Small regular screw driver (flat)
Polish cloth in cotton
Masking tape (Go for a more sturdy tape as silver fiber tape instead)
Stapler
Time to do
30 minutes
How to
1. This is what I used – polish cloth in cotton for cars. It’s really thin but hard to rip apart and it doesn’t fuzz.
2. Next step is to rip a square of it, fold it once and then iron it to make it as flat and stiff as possible.
3. When done, fold it once more and iron it to get it even thicker and not as wide. The dimensions of your polish cloth might be different, but aim at around 2cm (0,79”).
4. Unscrew these screws with the Philips screw driver.
5. Carefully loosen the housing from the headband to make things a bit easier.
6. Take the other screw driver (the flat one) and carefully pry of the screen.
7. When the screen is taken of, tap on the backside of the housing to release the driver and get hold on the felt ring. This is how it looks.
8. Now take your folded (and ironed) polish cloth and measure it so the length is the same as the felt ring. Cut out the little gap in the center so that your new ring won’t interfere with the wiring inside the housing. A tip here is to cut this small rectangular spacing out of the folded side of the cloth which will make it easier when it comes to fitting later.
9. Next step is to staple the cloth into a ring. Don’t staple to near the upper edge – leave about 5mm clean.
10. Test fit it to the driver’s backside.
11. Tape around the ring with your masking tape while it’s still mounted on the driver. (Use a more sturdy tape as silver fiber tape instead)
12. Now take it of and as you can see it almost twice as wide as the stock felt ring.
13. So grab a pair of sharp scissors and cut off about 5mm from the top (NOT the side with the rectangular spacing). This is why we didn’t staple all the way up at step 9.
14. Now fit it back where it should be and put it all back together. Do the same thing to the opposite side. Save the stock felt rings!
Result
As result of this little mod, the bass is tamed a bit and more detailed than before. Now I can more clearly hear the strokes on the contrabass in Miles Davis “The Ghetto walk”. I also noticed that the double kick drums on Nile's album "Black Seeds of Vengeance" feels more tight and rapid. A bit more like "Grado kick drums" - nice!
The mids are now a bit more noticeable and forward and therefore more detailed.
Conclusion
I am really satisfied with this and it’s definitely worth the 30 minutes it takes. Everybody with a DT-770 should make a try.
Many of you as well as my self love the DT-770 from Beyerdynamic, but to many think that they have just too boomy bass and too recessed mids - and sometimes I agree. I’ve been thinking about a way to change the sound for a while and when I read kramer5150’s thread about recabling the DT-770, in which he wrote:
“That felt ring places back pressure on the driver and damps cone motion. Removing it results in some serious bass, flabby and out of control IMHO”
I thought to myself - hmm, maybe that’s were the problem lies.
So I tried a few different things and came up to a solution which provides a bit tighter and more detailed bass and less recessed mids. Hope you'll find this guide useful!
/Chopha
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*UPDATE
I made myself a new pair in the exact way that the last one, but this time I used silver fiber tape. This tape is harder and the finished ring is much more solid than the one with masking tape. I think they sound better, but I guess that’s only the placebo that’s spooking.
Anyhow - If you’re going to do this mod, make sure to use a sturdy tape.
(I've marked the differences with red text.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Materials and Tools
Small Philips screw driver
Small regular screw driver (flat)
Polish cloth in cotton
Masking tape (Go for a more sturdy tape as silver fiber tape instead)
Stapler
Time to do
30 minutes
How to
1. This is what I used – polish cloth in cotton for cars. It’s really thin but hard to rip apart and it doesn’t fuzz.
2. Next step is to rip a square of it, fold it once and then iron it to make it as flat and stiff as possible.
3. When done, fold it once more and iron it to get it even thicker and not as wide. The dimensions of your polish cloth might be different, but aim at around 2cm (0,79”).
4. Unscrew these screws with the Philips screw driver.
5. Carefully loosen the housing from the headband to make things a bit easier.
6. Take the other screw driver (the flat one) and carefully pry of the screen.
7. When the screen is taken of, tap on the backside of the housing to release the driver and get hold on the felt ring. This is how it looks.
8. Now take your folded (and ironed) polish cloth and measure it so the length is the same as the felt ring. Cut out the little gap in the center so that your new ring won’t interfere with the wiring inside the housing. A tip here is to cut this small rectangular spacing out of the folded side of the cloth which will make it easier when it comes to fitting later.
9. Next step is to staple the cloth into a ring. Don’t staple to near the upper edge – leave about 5mm clean.
10. Test fit it to the driver’s backside.
11. Tape around the ring with your masking tape while it’s still mounted on the driver. (Use a more sturdy tape as silver fiber tape instead)
12. Now take it of and as you can see it almost twice as wide as the stock felt ring.
13. So grab a pair of sharp scissors and cut off about 5mm from the top (NOT the side with the rectangular spacing). This is why we didn’t staple all the way up at step 9.
14. Now fit it back where it should be and put it all back together. Do the same thing to the opposite side. Save the stock felt rings!
Result
As result of this little mod, the bass is tamed a bit and more detailed than before. Now I can more clearly hear the strokes on the contrabass in Miles Davis “The Ghetto walk”. I also noticed that the double kick drums on Nile's album "Black Seeds of Vengeance" feels more tight and rapid. A bit more like "Grado kick drums" - nice!
The mids are now a bit more noticeable and forward and therefore more detailed.
Conclusion
I am really satisfied with this and it’s definitely worth the 30 minutes it takes. Everybody with a DT-770 should make a try.
