[mattigol]

I'd like to know the state of mind of some of you W5000 owner out there. I like mine very much and think they are very capable especially with a powerful tube amp, but for whatever reason were not tuned quite right by AT, resulting in a poorer performance with many solid state amps.

Since I assume the driver assembly to be pretty much the same as on the other highend AT cans, I guess the new housings are partially to blame. Makassar is an extremely hard wood that may have acoustic properties that yield the fast, spacious, but also a bit dry, at times even slightly thin sound that many were noticing.

I propose the W5000 are capable of much more with a sensible amount of dampening material applied to the inside of their housings. From a recent Thorens TD125 restauration, I got aquainted with adhesive automotive bitumen. I'd like to glue bits of that to the insides of the W5000's housings as I think its high specific weight can "slow down" the housings resonating to the point were a slightly warmer, lusher sound results.

What I do not want is break anything. By one account, the housings pop open fairly easily. I remember some W5000 owner around here pryed open and started experimenting with dampening the wood housings of his phones, but I can't remember who that was.

Can some of you guys (W5000 owners, DIYer, the guy who has opened up his W5000) please chime in and discuss my plans?

Thanks!

 

[mattigol]

...and since this is my own thread, I might as well waste some bandwidth to celebrate my 500th post. Wohooo!

 

[ayt999]

well, if you include opening it up to get the wires untangled, then yes.

not sure if I had to open it up to untangle the wires, but I wanted a look inside anyways, and it's easy enough.

btw, I'm sure I'm not the guy you are referring to as having opened the cans before (I sure didn't post about this anyways), but it really isn't that difficult to do.

the construction is a bit different from the other ATH-W models, but about as easy to take apart. on the other older ATH-W's one set of screws attaches the driver holder through the frame direct to the wood, but with the ATH-W5000 there is one set of screws attaching the driver holder to the frame (these are pretty short and don't go past the frame), and there's a second set that attaches the wood cup to the frame. the cup on the W5000 seems a bit shallower than any before (haven't done any direct comparisons, but sure seems that way, also the wood seems to have thinner walls, but again haven't checked/compared), but otherwise is pretty similar in construction.

here's some pictures of the inside....
http://photo.head-fi.org/showphoto.p...0&ppuser=10639
http://photo.head-fi.org/showphoto.p...0&ppuser=10639
http://photo.head-fi.org/showphoto.p...0&ppuser=10639
http://photo.head-fi.org/showphoto.p...0&ppuser=10639

there's a lip around the inner edge of the cups which might be hard to tell in the pics. otherwise it should be pretty straightforward.

 

[mattigol]

Thank you for the pictures - very instructive! Looks like sticking the bitumen in there should be an easy mod, and simple to take back out if it won't work. The housings are thicker than I expected. Not sure anymore if a little bit of bitumen will have the desired effect. Still worth a try, though, don't you think?

 

[ayt999]

if you have the time and the bitumen sure, why not.

 

[mattigol]

experimenting with a little bit of bitumen in the comfort of my home sure is less time-consuming than starting over the ordeal of researching new cans. I just don't want to look at other amps or cans anymore, OTOH I would very much like to iron out some of the quirks of my current stuff before I take a step back from head-fi and enjoy my music and springtime.

 

[mattigol]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattigol before I take a step back from head-fi and enjoy my music and springtime.

don't laugh, ok, I am really trying here.

 

[sean-xenos]

Could someone please explain me the function of the foil covered vents / apertures seen on ayt999's photo ?
To enhance bass reproduction?
http://photo.head-fi.org/showphoto.p...0&ppuser=10639

Thanks.

 

[kin0kin]

mod? yes....L5000 coming....waiting for bluetin to stock up some drivers. I'm very happy with the W5k + pad mod..I'd love to find a way to give the bottom end some weight without chaging amps though.

 

[purk]

Alex,
How do you like the W5000 vs. the L3000?