Regular Stellia pads sound really good on the Elegias.
Are you referring to Stellia pads bought from Focal? I am guessing they will be quite expensive. I acually sent an email off to Focal Canada to ask if they sell direct, or could hook me up with a dealer. I should have jumped on the last Dekoni-Focal run on Drop. I may wait for that to happen again and just get sheepkin and maybe fenestrated sheepskin.
Sounds great. Too bad the pads are no longer available.As promised I am back with the results of my tests with the Dekoni Limited Stellia pads on my Elegia. It is now somewhere between 45 and 50 hours of use and sounding great.
First of all I want to thank those that before me suggested this replacement, it was a bit expensive but it is worth the while.
Mid-high frequencies and soundstage > I think that the improvement in these compartments is probably due to the increased isolation and damping due to leather. Soundstage is not really reduced, rather slightly improved, depth for sure is better. Treble is not negatively affected, the increased focus gives a feeling of “density” to the sound that could be misjudged as less airy. Also voices sound more focused and precise standing out in the mix, the remarkable separation mentioned several times is preserved or rather improved as well.
Mid-bass, bass > the improvement is remarkable, bass gains heft without loosing texture, it is still tight and detailed but slightly elevated in the mix. This is also beneficial, resulting in added warmth to the presentation.
Do not misunderstand me, these pads are not changing the sound signature of the Elegia, these are still Focal 100% like it or not. Something that surprised me is that with the stock pads I often used to decrease a bit the volume, depending on the recordings while since I changed the pads I often found myself to increase a bit the volume…this gives me the feeling that the result with the Dekoni Limited Stellia pads goes into the right direction, the listening pleasure
Recordings used during the test:
Pink Floyd The Wall – MFSL CD: a CD I use to evaluate the overall listening pleasure and tonality, if this sounds right as I know it then the headphones sound right
Pat Metheny – The road to you (Live in Europe): excellent CD for details retrieval and soundstage evaluation, lots of mid-high frequencies and delicate percussions,
Cowboy Junkies –Trinity Revisited: an excellent CD for soundstage evaluation and for vocals
Fabrizio De André – Le Nuvole 2009 remastered CD: this is a bit peculiar for non-Italians, I know but it’s a wonderful record, great music and well recorded, good for vocals again and acoustic sounds
Steely Dan – Two against nature 2003 CD: great band and usually great recordings, this is good to evaluate the “weight” of the sound, the impact and foot tapping penchant (PRaT for Naim acolytes)
Melody Gardot – The Absence: again a good CD for vocals and intricate percussion and acoustic sounds
All of the above is obviously my humble opinion, the system used is a top of the line 1989 Kenwood DP8010, a Violectric HPA V280 amp, generic silver balanced cable for the Elegia and all Nordost Blue Heaven AC and interconnect cables.
Ears are mines, vintage 1965…
As I noted a bit earlier in this thread, pads compatible with Denon 7200 headphones, along adaptor rings sound damn close to the Limited Edition Stellia pads at less than half the price.Sounds great. Too bad the pads are no longer available.
Where do you buy the pads and the adapters?
I am agree with everything you said the dekoni Stellia pads are the best investment i could have made the elegia are now my perfekt pair of "itense" headphones Punch ,detail, fun im so so happy with them. They are my first pair of good headphnoes an will never leave me (sorry for becoming sentimental) they just broke a 4 year long pause with me and music ...As promised I am back with the results of my tests with the Dekoni Limited Stellia pads on my Elegia. It is now somewhere between 45 and 50 hours of use and sounding great.
First of all I want to thank those that before me suggested this replacement, it was a bit expensive but it is worth the while.
Mid-high frequencies and soundstage > I think that the improvement in these compartments is probably due to the increased isolation and damping due to leather. Soundstage is not really reduced, rather slightly improved, depth for sure is better. Treble is not negatively affected, the increased focus gives a feeling of “density” to the sound that could be misjudged as less airy. Also voices sound more focused and precise standing out in the mix, the remarkable separation mentioned several times is preserved or rather improved as well.
Mid-bass, bass > the improvement is remarkable, bass gains heft without loosing texture, it is still tight and detailed but slightly elevated in the mix. This is also beneficial, resulting in added warmth to the presentation.
Do not misunderstand me, these pads are not changing the sound signature of the Elegia, these are still Focal 100% like it or not. Something that surprised me is that with the stock pads I often used to decrease a bit the volume, depending on the recordings while since I changed the pads I often found myself to increase a bit the volume…this gives me the feeling that the result with the Dekoni Limited Stellia pads goes into the right direction, the listening pleasure
Recordings used during the test:
Pink Floyd The Wall – MFSL CD: a CD I use to evaluate the overall listening pleasure and tonality, if this sounds right as I know it then the headphones sound right
Pat Metheny – The road to you (Live in Europe): excellent CD for details retrieval and soundstage evaluation, lots of mid-high frequencies and delicate percussions,
Cowboy Junkies –Trinity Revisited: an excellent CD for soundstage evaluation and for vocals
Fabrizio De André – Le Nuvole 2009 remastered CD: this is a bit peculiar for non-Italians, I know but it’s a wonderful record, great music and well recorded, good for vocals again and acoustic sounds
Steely Dan – Two against nature 2003 CD: great band and usually great recordings, this is good to evaluate the “weight” of the sound, the impact and foot tapping penchant (PRaT for Naim acolytes)
Melody Gardot – The Absence: again a good CD for vocals and intricate percussion and acoustic sounds
All of the above is obviously my humble opinion, the system used is a top of the line 1989 Kenwood DP8010, a Violectric HPA V280 amp, generic silver balanced cable for the Elegia and all Nordost Blue Heaven AC and interconnect cables.
Ears are mines, vintage 1965…
I got the pads off of Amazon, but any 95-100mm pads should work. I've seen the Denon pads on Aliexpress too though. They are somewhat unique in that they are both angled and off centered - which helps with the imaging.
That eBay link has some Really cheap pads and the adapters for like $11.00. That is wild.
That's a good synthesis
Could also harvest the Focal ear pad mounting rings from older pads. They seem more sturdy and durable.
Are these the pads?
