[Musiccc]

The rattling is caused by the driver wire, sometimes it comes loose.

If you shake your head and hear a rattling, its the wire hitting the plastic.

In case you don't want to deal with the hassle of the return, it can be easily fixed by placing the wire back in the slot that holds it.

Is it possible for the wire assemble to come loose during shipping?
Is this rattling the same issues as the crackling sound when (Playing) listening to music. There were many complaints during the early production.

 

[dougms3]

Is it possible for the wire assemble to come loose during shipping?
Is this rattling the same issues as the crackling sound when (Playing) listening to music. There were many complaints during the early production.

Its possible but I doubt the loose wire could cause a crackling sound. If I had to guess, the crackling is from clipping and the clipping is probably from the voice coil not having proper continuity to the pcb.

If you look at the red highlighted areas, those slots are where the stock wire routes to the pcb, you can see that its easily plausible for those to become loose for whatever reason. If they come loose, with the amount of punchy bass that the clear can produce, it would cause a rattling sound in the earcup that sounds very loud because its so close to the ear.

Mine are routed a slightly different way because I changed out the wire to 18awg mundorf silver / gold wire and I wanted to get as much contact surface area as possible, so I soldered it vertically. The stock wire is a similar M shape except for the top part.

 

[roskodan]

How did these pads get so ragged? From brushing, washing machine ?

Washed by had in a bowl of warm water mixed with some dish detergent. Washed them two, maybe three times, over the years.

They look like crap but sound really great, and are squicky squeaky clean.

 

[Musiccc]

Its possible but I doubt the loose wire could cause a crackling sound. If I had to guess, the crackling is from clipping and the clipping is probably from the voice coil not having proper continuity to the pcb.

If you look at the red highlighted areas, those slots are where the stock wire routes to the pcb, you can see that its easily plausible for those to become loose for whatever reason. If they come loose, with the amount of punchy bass that the clear can produce, it would cause a rattling sound in the earcup that sounds very loud because its so close to the ear.

Mine are routed a slightly different way because I changed out the wire to 18awg mundorf silver / gold wire and I wanted to get as much contact surface area as possible, so I soldered it vertically. The stock wire is a similar M shape except for the top part.

Oh! A picture is worth a thousand words.
When you first mention, "The rattling is caused by the driver wire, sometimes it comes loose." I misinterpret that as the voice coil comes loose. It's all clear now.

I got a defective unit before. There was clipping/cracking sound at low frequency (only at low frequency) on one side. The first thing that came to my mind was that the voice coil had partially de-laminated.
Now I am wondering if it was just that larger gauge wire came loose.

 

[Musiccc]

Washed by had in a bowl of warm water mixed with some dish detergent. Washed them two, maybe three times, over the years.

They look like crap but sound really great, and are squicky squeaky clean.

I saw a posting somewhere before. That person advised against squeezing the pads when washing. The pads became ragged looking after he squeezed/washed the pads. Clarification: You could wash but do not squeeze. Be gentle.

 

[roskodan]

I saw a posting somewhere before. That person advised against squeezing the pads when washing. The pads became ragged looking after he squeezed/washed the pads. Clarification: You could wash but do not squeeze. Be gentle.

The "problem" is, now that they became ragged and stretched, the sound changed for the better in terms of the treble being more distant and refined as well as the soundstage expanding considerably vs new pads.

 

[Musiccc]

"Washed by had in a bowl of warm water mixed with some dish detergent"
It seems like the foam is reacting to the dish detergent and swells. So, what we are learning is that, no squeezing and no dish detergent (w exceptions).

 

[roskodan]

Depends what one wants to achieve, a more expansive presentation or keep the pads in good shape as long as possible. If the later is the goal, then the pads must not be cleaned at all in any way, because the material is too sensitive to any kind of treatment to not change in shape, color and form. There is no solution for these pads, and that's why the Clear Mg comes with that pre "stained", "greasy" color for the pads.

 

[Musiccc]

I have cleaned mine twice already with no major adverse effect for now. Keeping fingers crossed.

 

[pataburd]

I have cleaned mine twice already with no major adverse effect for now. Keeping fingers crossed.

PICs, please!

 

[Musiccc]

I have gently cleaned the pads twice already over the 4 month period. I clean when the pads are lightly soiled.
I would have try the Alcantara Cleaner but it's not readily available locally and cost about $18 online. So, I took a chance on the Oxi Clean. The label stated "...Carpet, Fabric, Leather, Vinyl". My reasoning was that this stuff could be used on Leather so it could be pretty safe (right?).

1. Spay cleaner on to the brush then gently brush/apply it on to the ear pads. Do not want to over saturate the pads. May be I am being over cautious. $$$$$
2. Use microfiber towel to pad the ear pads and soak up the cleaner/grime. I repeat 2 times.
3. Dip/soak ear pads into a bowl of water, lift pads to let water drain out and repeat a few times. Change water and repeat until water comes out clear.
4. Put ear pads on microfiber towel to wick water out of the ear pads for couple hours.
5. Let the ear pads air dry for 1 or 2 days.
* No squeezing the ear pads at anytime. *

I actually clean one pad at a time.

 

[roskodan]

lint aside, at least it looks clean

 

[Musiccc]

It's the Alcantara fluff a little. Going to see more as time goes on.
Clean pads sound better too without the grime affecting the sound.

 

[Tuneslover]

Let’s face it the Focal Clear ear pads are extremely fragile to virtually all cleaning methods, which ultimately hastens their deterioration. So they get dirty fast, yup they do but that’s the cost of owning headphones (especially Focals). In my mind it’s pointless to preserve these ear pads since it’s part of Focal’s marketing plan of soaking their customers for seriously flimsy ear pads but then adds insult to injury by charging ridiculously high price for new ones. Either accept this and pay the price for replacement ear pads or look for a different headphone with better pads.

 

[Luckyleo]

Just ordered Focal Brand replacement pads from Headphones.com. On-sale for $79. Cheaper that the Dekoni's I was looking at.

Leo