[-=Germania=-]

Hey there,

I heave a set of Sony CD1000's (essentially a plastic cup version of the CD3000).
Now, I have only found one place that offers the pads for this lovely 'phone and it is ~$100 shipped. *sorry I choked for a second*

Anyways, Are there any modern day replacements for these pads?
Any cheap(er) replacements that will work (W1000 or something) ?

Honestly if there is nothing that shows, I am prepared to buy some leather and stitch myself a new set along with a new headband cover. However, that would be quite a bit of work for just some ear pads.

I appreciate your posts!

 

[QQQ]

I have nothing to say about the matter, but:
Quote:

Honestly if there is nothing that shows, I am prepared to buy some leather and stitch myself a new set along with a new headband cover.

I'll be all over your experience if you'll be able to achieve some success. Of all my DIY affairs, one that never succeed - is the pad-making. I've tried hard but every time came away with something ugly-looking. (of course i'm talking about making pads from the scratch, not about modding pads).
Anyways, good luck.

 

[-=Germania=-]

I used to be the house tailor when I lived at home - always stitching things up by hand.
It doesn't seem like it would be all that complicated though. Medium Density foam with glove leather for the pieces I would assume.

I am also taking these things apart and giving them a proper cleaning and whatever else I can think of this weekend.

 

[flordenuve]

I have actually made a couple of ear pads for my cd3000s, and I'm certainly no tailor. I made them out of soft suede, and although they don't look at all like the original pads, they do look pretty cool. The only problem is that you have to glue them to the cups, unless you come up with a way of fitting them in the same way they fit the original pads (something I found extremely complicated).

 

[QQQ]

Actually making pad with the one piece of leather(as original, with no stitches across the visible surface) are not easy. Leather tend to crease heavely. I'd like to see some pics of your DIY pads, folks!

 

[buddhashenglong]

Custom hand sewn pads, the ultimate comfort mod! Is it to early to suggest a group buy?

 

[QQQ]

^^Too good to be real.

 

[nikongod]

If its just that the stuffing has gone flat, and there are no problem with the actual cover you may be able to open one of the seams and replace the old stuffing. perhaps re-stuff them with lambs wool or something.
Quote:

Originally Posted by QQQ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually making pad with the one piece of leather(as original, with no stitches across the visible surface) are not easy. Leather tend to crease heavely. I'd like to see some pics of your DIY pads, folks!

The R10 pad has a couple seams.

the piece of leather against your face is smooooth, but sewn at the edge to a thinner piece.

here is a photo from jenna-labs. one of these R10's no longer works, its the one with the jena cable.

It should be DIYable, but probably a pain in the bumm.

the fact that they are glue-ons makes it easier (IMHO) than the effort required to EXACTLY size them to mount to whatever.

 

[QQQ]

Maybe it's a little easier, but i still don't think we'll see finished decent pads that arecompletely DIY.
BTW, dissapointed R10 use such cheapily made pads. Should be seamless HQ stuff.

 

[nikongod]

Fully DIY pads have been made before.
Quote:

BTW, dissapointed R10 use such cheapily made pads. Should be seamless HQ stuff.

so should it use pads like on the orpheus?
010 Qualia?
or the leather audio-technica pads?
or perhaps Stax Omega-2?
maybe the higher-end denons?

The fact of the matter is that without seams in the pad it is virtually impossible to have a pad which is contoured to the shape of the head (as in everything listed above except the he90), or a "shaped" ear-hole as in the R10 and O2. Other cool things can be done with seams: in the case of the he90, the pad is a combination of fabric against the face and leather on the edges.

The replacement cost of the "high quality seamless" pads tops out where the "cheap sewn pads" starts. Think about that some.

it is quite a bit harder to make a pad with seams. each part of the pad must be cut out (several steps) where a "seamless" pad only requires one piece of material to be cut. Then the pads must be sewn together (by hand for lower production QTY's, although sometimes with the aid of a machine). The "seamless" pads are usually glued together and away they go.

 

[QQQ]

Agree in general...

BTW..
Quote:

a "seamless" pad only requires one piece of material to be cut

But it requres leather to be shaped(stretched, etc.), cause you can't make seamless pad with just a piece of leather...

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by QQQ /img/forum/go_quote.gif But it requres leather to be shaped(stretched, etc.), cause you can't make seamless pad with just a piece of leather...

beyerdynamic uses a single piece of (formerly) flat leather allowed to wrinkle whichever way it likes over the foam inside. Pretty much the same design as their velour pads actually. Eventually, the leather takes something of a set to the foam, but the wrinkles in this pad never go away.

So, who stretches the leather rather than using seams in the construction of high quality headphone pads? It would help us to identify decent quality if we had an example.

 

[QQQ]

You can use Beyer pads as an example. Even though there're wrinkles they're not very severe. Btw Beyer pads are not super-quality either, even though the leather is top notch. The main problem tat the leather easily disconnects where it attached to the base...That's the problem of all Beyer pads.

 

[khbaur330162]

Germania, you sound fully competent to sew yourself a pair of replacement pads. I hand stitched a leather pair for some CD380 baffles (very similar shape/construction to CDx000 series pads, but smaller) which turned out alright and I have just about no experience.

Like nikongod tried to said, I think, it'd be hard to sew them so that they fit snug around the baffle. Perhaps some double sided tape or glue adhesive to stick the pads on, but nothing damaging, totally removable and/or disposable. This would only be a problem if you work on the head phones much (as in open/close them frequently). If you want them to act as stock, however, you'll need that third piece of fabric, or whatever you choose to use, which might be hard to cut w/o destroying the original pad. Your choice, but definitely post pictures of the finished product. I don't think enough people do these kinds of things... or maybe they just don't talk about it.

Come to think of it, you could use leather for the pieces that would touch your ears and fat elastic bands for the third pieces. This way it wouldn't have to be exact at all, they'd just stretch around; maybe electrical tape around that if you lose any bass, or if the sound changes a lot.

Good luck.

 

[zmorris]

It wouldn't be too hard to sew an elastic band of some sort, like a waist band used in boxer shorts or briefs but with lower elasticity and higher tensile strength, to the edges of the earpad. Denon have used a similar technique on their D2000/D5000 headphones.