[dBel84]

Quote:

I bought these Pioneer orthos on eBay yesterday, mostly as they are such a nice match for the rest of my Pioneer gear:
 
 
Got em for $40!  Anyone ever heard a pair of these? (SE-100)

Ortho in the broadest sense , they are electrets. I have never heard these but there is some similarity between these and the sony tets ( which are said to sound glorious ) wualta would know, he is the sensei to all things planar. 
 
good score though, even if they sound awful, the bits are worth tinkering with. 
 
..dB
 
 
edit - I missed a page !!, seems our resident guru has already chimed in, looking forward to your thoughts Rob
 

 

[Skylab]

Yeah looking forward to getting them...just noted that this particular eBay seller only ships on Fridays...grrrrr...so won't get them until sometime next week.

 

[wualta]

In this case, the "guru" knows absolutely nothing, but to compare and contrast I'll put up a picture of the ECR-500 for those unfamiliar with it. Note that the back of the ECR is open, while the Pioneer's back is closed with several little slits for venting. Anyone who's been on the Ortho thread knows that putting a flat, reflective surface behind a dipole diaphragm vastly increases treble. But maybe Pioneer lined this plate with fiberglass or rock wool. In any case, even if the driver is the same (not likely, since Sony was touting their monopole-electret pentagonal-shaped diaphragm and wide wide stator spacing, but you never know), chances are the two 'phones are going to sound very different, or at least have very different headstage characteristics. So Rob, once you've got the SE-100 characterized, we'll have to find you an ECR-400 or 500 to go with it. Take a look:
 

 

[Skylab]

Interesting! What do those Sonys usually go for?

I have a pair of vintage dynamic driver Pioneers, the SE-50. They are 8 ohm! And they are very dark sounding. So if the SE-100 are bright it would be a surprise. But it's quite possible I suppose. We shall see!

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

In this case, the "guru" knows absolutely nothing, but I'll put up a picture of the ECR-500 for those unfamiliar with it. Note that the back of the ECR is open, while the Pioneer's back is closed with a few little slits for venting. Anyone who's been on the Ortho thread know that putting a flat, reflective surface behind a dipole diaphragm vastly increases treble. But maybe Pioneer lined this plate with fiberglass or rock wool. In any case, even if the driver is the same (not likely, since Sony was touting their monopole-electret pentagonal-shaped diaphragm and wide wide stator spacing, but you never know), chances are the two 'phones are going to sound very different, or at least have very different headstage characteristics. So Rob, once you've got the SE-100 characterized, we'll have to find you an ECR-400 or 500 to go with it. Take a look:

 
Very nice little setup, i am still very unfamiliar with woodie headphone amplifiers. Did you grab it on da bay?
 

 

[dBel84]

Pioneer made some interesting headphones back in the day, I had a chance to listen to a pair of their piezo headphones , really difficult to drive and before I had a transformer box or 2 lying about. Many old gems to be had if you care to look and risk. 
 
and here is something for this thread in case you think the planar heads are taking over 
 
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?misctunr&1318086080 , it is a kenwood KT 7001 for $275
 

 
wow , they have quite a few vintage receivers - marantz, mcintosch, fischer. 
 
..dB

 

[sluker]

Here is some Sansui ****.
My AU 717, which just came back from a tune up. Recapped and cleaned for $90 at a local repair shop. It needs a good front face cleaning but I couldn't wait to hook it up and remind myself how awesome it sounds with the HE5-LE's and Steve's Q cable.
 

 

 

[diodiel]

Quote:

Not bad. Made in the early 1980's and 180 watts. Did you get it from an audio reseller or a homeowner? They go for $30 fair market value, i hope everything works out to be fine.
 

>.< it was from a thrift store something is wrong im pretty sure ahh, cuz it just sound broken like its so distorted esp when i put the volume a lil louder than low, only adele's voice is not distorted, not sure whats wrong maybe i need to warm it up
 

 

[sesshin]

Quote:

Here is some Sansui ****.
My AU 717, which just came back from a tune up. Recapped and cleaned for $90 at a local repair shop. It needs a good front face cleaning but I couldn't wait to hook it up and remind myself how awesome it sounds with the HE5-LE's and Steve's Q cable.
 

 

Where did you get that work done? When I've called around to LA / SD shops all the quotes came in around $300, possibly more. Everyone wanted at least $100 just to look at the thing.
 

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

>.< it was from a thrift store something is wrong im pretty sure ahh, cuz it just sound broken like its so distorted esp when i put the volume a lil louder than low, only adele's voice is not distorted, not sure whats wrong maybe i need to warm it up

Well if it something your going to have for years,and years, and years; id recommend getting it serviced. It might be the caps or something, or it may be a simple DeOxit job? Warm it up

 

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

Pioneer made some interesting headphones back in the day, I had a chance to listen to a pair of their piezo headphones , really difficult to drive and before I had a transformer box or 2 lying about. Many old gems to be had if you care to look and risk. 
 
and here is something for this thread in case you think the planar heads are taking over 
 
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?misctunr&1318086080 , it is a kenwood KT 7001 for $275
 
wow , they have quite a few vintage receivers - marantz, mcintosch, fischer. 
 
..dB

Nice unit, personally i think its a little high, but still very nice.
 

 

[WarriorAnt]

Again I'm wondering.  Do you just let the tech guy replace the caps with whatever he has or does one request a certain brand?  

 

[wualta]

 
Quote:

Interesting! What do those Sonys usually go for?

That's a painful question. 5 years ago, maybe $35 on That Certain Auction Site. Now, anything from there on up to Stax territory. [shudders] Watch for a good price and pounce.


Quote:

 
Very nice little setup, i am still very unfamiliar with woodie headphone amplifiers.

You'll see the little boxes that accompany old electrostats called amps, but they're just step-up transformers, some protection circuitry and some other minor stuff. But that makes 'em perfect for this thread, because you hook 'em up to your newly-got vintage receiver or amp and hear every little thing that amp's doing. Old 'stats rely on the robustness and quality of these old amps to drive the difficult loads these 'phones present. And man, speaking of difficult:

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by dBel84 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I had a chance to listen to a pair of [Pioneer's] piezo headphones , really difficult to drive...

Difficult for a typical modern headphone amp to drive, yes, since they were never intended to know that such a thing as a piezo headphone ever existed. Ah, but for one of these muscular old receivers... In fact, the SE-700 not only sounds halfway decent, it's a testosterone test of your amp's grunt, since it presents one of the scarier loads an amp could see: pure capacitance. The amp thinks you're trying to drive an electrostatic panel directly or some such nonsense. Fortunately, I don't think any of the amps discussed so far would have a problem with the SE-700. To get them to play their loudest, though, you might have to tap the speaker outputs.
 
 
Sluker, that's a cool Sansui, and I'd have one myself if it weren't for clueless packing. Classic styling. And $90 for a recap is amazing. More photos as you see fit, please.

 

[diodiel]

Quote:

Well if it something your going to have for years,and years, and years; id recommend getting it serviced. It might be the caps or something, or it may be a simple DeOxit job? Warm it up

 

ill play it over night i just hope it doesnt burn my house while i sleep. lol ill try to research about deoxit cuz i dont know anything about the inside of receivers lol
 

 

[shipsupt]

I just went with the what the tech suggested.  Here is the run down on the service done to the SX-950 I received today:
 
[size=xx-large][size=small]All the pots and switches have been cleaned with Deoxit and Faderlube and work perfectly with no noise or static. The DC-offset and idle current have been set and adjusted to spec. All the lights have been tested, with the speaker A lamp being replaced. The fuses were checked for corrosion and proper rating and replaced where necessary.[/size][/size]

[size=xx-large][size=small]This amp has been fully recapped, the general purpose and power supply caps were replaced with Nichicon PW and HE caps, the orange low noise and tantalum caps were replaced with [size=small]Nichicon KL caps and [/size][size=small][size=small]Panasonic ECQ stacked film caps for[/size][/size][size=small] the caps under 1uF. Problem transistors, the 2SA725 and 726's were replaced with Fairchild Semiconductor KSA992's. Two transistors in the power supply, Q5 and Q7 that commonly have problems with overheating and failing were replaced,[/size][size=small] Q5 with a [/size][size=xx-large][size=small][size=small]Fairchild Semiconductor KSC2690AYS and Q7 with a [/size][/size][/size][size=xx-large][size=small][size=small]Fairchild Semiconductor [/size][/size][/size][size=xx-large][size=small][size=small]KSC2383YBU, both have better heat dissipation then the originals and stay cooler[/size][/size][/size][size=small]. Also three of the outputs were replaced with two NOS 2SB557's and one 2SD427.[/size][/size][/size]
 
I fired her up tonight and everything works great.  It sounds wonderful.  I looked under the hood and his work looks good.  I would have posted some pictures, but there was a downside to the story... in spite of some serious packing, double boxed and all, the glass plate was cracked around the tuning knob.  Heartbreaking.  It is simply beautiful otherwise.  I guess it's part of the chance we take when we purchase these big units from the bay.  In the past I've stuck with local pick ups, and I'll probably try to do that in the future.
 
I've located a local repair shop so I'll contact him tomorrow and start the search for replacement glass.  In the mean time I am not letting the cracked glass get in my way, I'm enjoying the Pioneer and it's vintage glory!  Getting ready to spin some vinyl.

 

 
Quote:

Again I'm wondering.  Do you just let the tech guy replace the caps with whatever he has or does one request a certain brand?