[calipilot227]

Quote:

So, I am a life long audiophile who has never had a good pair of headphones (embarrassing isn't it?).  Anyway I am looking for advice from this group as to what you would recommend to use in conjunction with a low power vintage Sherwood 7100A or Marantz 2220B receiver (15 to 20 watts max)?  I don't need to listen at high levels - but would like clean, accurate, and detailed sound.  Thanks in advance.

 
There's no way even an HE-6 needs that much power for normal listening levels. I would recommend the Sennheiser HD600 or HD580, as their sound signature aligns closely with your requirements. Haven't heard any of the Hifiman planars, so I can't honestly recommend them.

 

[pelli]

Looking for a little help. There Is a Pioneer sx-636 available near me for $150. It has recently been re capped and has new bulbs. Is it worth it? Thanks y'all. I have been lurking in this thread for a while!

 

[Skylab]

They can be had on eBay for half that price, but if the one your looking at was really fully recapped, then that seems a fair price.  I've never heard a 636, but I did own the top of that line for a while, the SX-1010, and it sounded great.

 

[pelli]

Thanks Skylab!

 

[SpeakerBox]

Quote:

 
There's no way even an HE-6 needs that much power for normal listening levels. I would recommend the Sennheiser HD600 or HD580, as their sound signature aligns closely with your requirements. Haven't heard any of the Hifiman planars, so I can't honestly recommend them.

 
OK, thanks for the advice.  I will check into these.

 

[scompton]

I doubt the HE-6 would be driven well out of the headphone jack.  One really pushed my 65W Realistic STA-2200.  With 15W - 20W, you'd probably have to run them off the speaker taps.

 

[wotts]

Quote:

I doubt the HE-6 would be driven well out of the headphone jack.  One really pushed my 65W Realistic STA-2200.  With 15W - 20W, you'd probably have to run them off the speaker taps.

 
+1
 
 
THe HE-6 sounds great from HP out on either the SX-1250 or the 2265B, but there is quite a bit more power there. With 15-20W, the HE-6 would should sound alright. When I am not using the vintage iron, I use the Aleph 3 and it's 30W into 8ohm.

 

[GetsugaSSJ]

Hey guys, last time I posted I had acquired a Kenwood KA-7100 and gave it thorough clean and deoxit session. I currently use it with my turntable and a pair of HE-500s and overall it sounds pretty good, but I was wondering if it could sound better. I've no real reference for comparison, but I'm sure these heaphones could sound better. This may be a silly question, but would recapping my 7100 result in a better sound? Even with a recap is it holding my headphones back? Would I also benefit from a separate preamp? I'm not sure how good the one on the 7100 is because again, I've nothing to compare it to. If it could benefit, what would be a good alternative from the same era? IE: sansui marantz pioneer etc.
 
To clarify, there's no audio anomalies using the 7100. The channels are perfectly balanced, and there's no scratchiness when using any of the knobs. If you need more info regarding my system or anything I'll gladly elaborate.

 

[wualta]

Headphones can always sound better. Amps, unless something's wrong, not as much (at least, not without ripping everything out and starting over). Preamps have improved more than amps over the years. The KA-7100, a thoroughly competent mid-'70s amp, has got more than enough power to drive those 'phones, so that's not what's "holding them back". You may simply be suffering the terror of "OMG, could my system sound better?", the audio geek's equivalent of "OMG, is my deodorant still working?" This is a primal fear we all understand.
 
There are basic things to check before even thinking of plucking out random capacitors. If you haven't done the simple DC offset check, do it real soon. Visually check for bulging electrolytics. Check the bias to the output transistors, which can make a big difference if it's drifted. If this is beyond you, don't touch anything, don't even take the lid off. Take it to a tech and/or start saving up-- it may be time to start "rolling" (we call it "collecting") amps. The 7100 doesn't have pre-outs and main-ins, so a preamp replacement isn't possible.
 
What you really need is context, comparisons. See if you can borrow or extort a few integrated amps from parents, relatives, friends, even a local used record/audio store.
 
Horrible thought: Are you confident in the quality of all your upstream components?

 

[SpeakerBox]

Quote:

I doubt the HE-6 would be driven well out of the headphone jack.  One really pushed my 65W Realistic STA-2200.  With 15W - 20W, you'd probably have to run them off the speaker taps.

 
Well - I could always remove the resistors from the HP output.

 

[SpeakerBox]

Quote:

Hey guys, last time I posted I had acquired a Kenwood KA-7100 and gave it thorough clean and deoxit session. I currently use it with my turntable and a pair of HE-500s and overall it sounds pretty good, but I was wondering if it could sound better. I've no real reference for comparison, but I'm sure these heaphones could sound better. This may be a silly question, but would recapping my 7100 result in a better sound? Even with a recap is it holding my headphones back? Would I also benefit from a separate preamp? I'm not sure how good the one on the 7100 is because again, I've nothing to compare it to. If it could benefit, what would be a good alternative from the same era? IE: sansui marantz pioneer etc.
 
To clarify, there's no audio anomalies using the 7100. The channels are perfectly balanced, and there's no scratchiness when using any of the knobs. If you need more info regarding my system or anything I'll gladly elaborate.

 
Every full recap I have done has produced stunning results (in a good way).  It all comes down to what you want to invest in the unit.  You definitely don't want to use cheap caps.

 

[bexiesbruv]

Quote:

So, I am a life long audiophile who has never had a good pair of headphones (embarrassing isn't it?).  Anyway I am looking for advice from this group as to what you would recommend to use in conjunction with a low power vintage Sherwood 7100A or Marantz 2220B receiver (15 to 20 watts max)?  I don't need to listen at high levels - but would like clean, accurate, and detailed sound.  Thanks in advance.

I am/was in a similar position to you. After much reading and little listening (not much of anything to audition near me) I bought a Sennheiser HD598 and an Audio Technica  ATH A700X. Both go very well with my Various Amps but I decided the HD598 would be my main listening headphone with my Sony STR 7065a.
I was very pleased with my purchase and my son has the A700X

 

[SpeakerBox]

Quote:

I am/was in a similar position to you. After much reading and little listening (not much of anything to audition near me) I bought a Sennheiser HD598 and an Audio Technica  ATH A700X. Both go very well with my Various Amps but I decided the HD598 would be my main listening headphone with my Sony STR 7065a.
I was very pleased with my purchase and my son has the A700X

 
Fortunately, you have a little more power to work with than I do.  I will check into the HD598 though.

 

[captouch]

Well - I could always remove the resistors from the HP output.

Once you do that, it won't be very usable with other cans. I would recommend using speaker taps since it's easy and reversible,

The only issue I found using speaker taps with vintage receivers and HE-5LE and HE-500 was some amount of low level noise/hiss, probably due to power level and aged components (not sure if these vintage receivers were ever totally silent when new).

The HE-6 is significantly lower sensitivity than what I tried, so I suspect this noise/hiss would be less with HE-6's.

 

[SpeakerBox]

Quote:

Once you do that, it won't be very usable with other cans. I would recommend using speaker taps since it's easy and reversible,

The only issue I found using speaker taps with vintage receivers and HE-5LE and HE-500 was some amount of low level noise/hiss, probably due to power level and aged components (not sure if these vintage receivers were ever totally silent when new).

The HE-6 is significantly lower sensitivity than what I tried, so I suspect this noise/hiss would be less with HE-6's.

 
OK, good to know - although I don't know that I would have multiple sets of cans.  Seems like there may be an engineering solution here somewhere.  Need to do some thinking.