Fostex T50RP Incremental Mods and Measurements

[whirlwind]

Here my finished "woodies". I reworked the whole headphone. It is based on a T20 v2, so round drivers, and theoretically better sound than the square ones. At least someone told me that, but I'd like to hear from an expert here if this is true.

I corrected the issues I had before, which was the "cuppy" sound and the fit. I added a leather pad under the headband and painted the metal connectors in matte black. I could buy this headphone for 500$+ to be honest!

The headphone sounds quite smooth, detailed and warm at the same time. The bass can dig low if played in isolation, but will not shake your head on hip-hop tracks. I have a vintage amp on my desktop with tone control for bass and if raised by 5db they will get bass-y but with quite some bleed into the midrange. Guitars and voices sound extra sweet, drums are smooth and contribute to a deep soundstage I haven't heard in my other headphones before.

Feel free to ask me anything!

That looks great....enjoy!

 

[Torac]

Cool thanks. I notice modhouse website is down these days. What are the essential mods that I can do myself?

Odd, their website is working fine for me. The most basic mods I would recommend include using paxmate on the inside of the cups and adding fluffed up cotton wool to increase detail/treble and clean up as well as lower bass.

 

[Torac]

Thanks a lot mate!

This is 3D printed with wood mixed into the filament. Most of the work went into sanding, polishing and applying varnish to it.

The baffles are stock because the driver is pretty much set into them and I was afraid of breaking something. But I modified the way they're mounted to the cups, so that I can install the earpads under them. The stock T20s accept only earpads on top / around but I don't like how it looks.

Is there a specific brand of wood filament you used, I would love to know as your cups look incredible, thought they were real wood!

 

[Laines]

What is the screw size or even better where can I order replacement screws for the T50rp baffle. With all the open and closing the screw heads are realy worn out and I want to replace them.

Thanks in advance.

 

[homerograco]

Is there a specific brand of wood filament you used, I would love to know as your cups look incredible, thought they were real wood!

Hey thanks a lot for that! I made a Grado cup as well that looks even better

The filament is from a brand called "Janbex", but I'd say any light colored wood pla should work because most of what you see actually comes from sanding and staining the cups.

 

[Torac]

Hey thanks a lot for that! I made a Grado cup as well that looks even better

The filament is from a brand called "Janbex", but I'd say any light colored wood pla should work because most of what you see actually comes from sanding and staining the cups.

Thanks, appreciate the info. In that case what wood stains/varnishes would you recommend/use yourself? I have only used bees wax in the past.

Just taken a look at your grado cups, they do look very nice!

 

[homerograco]

Thanks, appreciate the info. In that case what wood stains/varnishes would you recommend/use yourself? I have only used bees wax in the past.

Just taken a look at your grado cups, they do look very nice!

Thanks!

I used water soluble stain from Clou - https://www.clou-shop.eu/holzbeizen/pulverbeizen/wasserbeize-in-pulver-beutel.html. My favourite colour so far is teak, but I think in this T50 cup I used walnut. After applying the stain I used polyurethane to give the cup the shine it has in this picture. This step is quite hard because the stain tends to mix with the polyurethane itself, so you need tons of patience and practice to get it right. The good thing is that once they mix you get the opportunity to use a paint brush to "draw" the wood fiber and give the finish a more realistic look.

 

[Torac]

Thanks!

I used water soluble stain from Clou - https://www.clou-shop.eu/holzbeizen/pulverbeizen/wasserbeize-in-pulver-beutel.html. My favourite colour so far is teak, but I think in this T50 cup I used walnut. After applying the stain I used polyurethane to give the cup the shiny cup it has. This part is quite hard because the stain tends to mix with the polyurethane itself, so you need tons of patience and practice to get it right. The good thing is that once they mix you get the opportunity to use a paint brush to "draw" the wood fiber and give the finish a more realistic look.

Thanks again, definitely a very involved process. Helps me to appreciate how much work went into yours.

I'll look into having a go myself when I'm not so busy, though I'm not sure I would get quite as a good a finish

 

[MF Kitten]

I just dusted off my T50RP project and measured them now that I have a set of EARS to measure with. They actually measure way better than I remembered. I do have one problem though, which is that while I am very happy with most of the FR, the low mids have this big bump that I'd like to get sucked out.

Now, these are MK2 drivers with the middle square of damping paper cut off (don't ask). I am pretty sure that's how they got problematic to begin with. Does anyone have good suggestions for correcting this? I want to get the middle square well dampened again.

 

[Torac]

I just dusted off my T50RP project and measured them now that I have a set of EARS to measure with. They actually measure way better than I remembered. I do have one problem though, which is that while I am very happy with most of the FR, the low mids have this big bump that I'd like to get sucked out.

Now, these are MK2 drivers with the middle square of damping paper cut off (don't ask). I am pretty sure that's how they got problematic to begin with. Does anyone have good suggestions for correcting this? I want to get the middle square well dampened again.

Maybe this would help you:

Tuning tips:

• The paper on the back of the Fostex driver has a significant effect on 1KHz and up. We have found significant variation in driver frequency response on the T50RP driver modules. These variations may often be addressed by manipulating the back of the driver in the following ways:
  • If you have too much midrange in the 1-3K range, placing an “air tight” object on the back of the driver reduces airflow and increases damping. Any solid adhesive material will do, you can use a tape with a good adhesive or even felt anti-skip bumpers from an Ace hardware. The more blocking material you apply to the driver the lower the upper midrange outputs (you may see an increase in high frequency output as well). Note some adhesives may clog the paper and continue to affect performance even if you remove the blocking part.
  • If you are not getting enough bass or mid-bass output, you may consider making a small perforation (e.g. a 3mmx3mmx3mm triangle) in the exposed paper. This is obviously a non-reversible action and should you not like it, may require additional modifications to the driver to re-balance it.

 

[axtran]

Here my finished "woodies". I reworked the whole headphone. It is based on a T20 v2, so round drivers, and theoretically better sound than the square ones. At least someone told me that, but I'd like to hear from an expert here if this is true.

I corrected the issues I had before, which was the "cuppy" sound and the fit. I added a leather pad under the headband and painted the metal connectors in matte black. I could buy this headphone for 500$+ to be honest!

The headphone sounds quite smooth, detailed and warm at the same time. The bass can dig low if played in isolation, but will not shake your head on hip-hop tracks. I have a vintage amp on my desktop with tone control for bass and if raised by 5db they will get bass-y but with quite some bleed into the midrange. Guitars and voices sound extra sweet, drums are smooth and contribute to a deep soundstage I haven't heard in my other headphones before.

Feel free to ask me anything!

As someone who's addicted to modding Fostex headphones, I also think the T20v2 driver is better than the square drivers of the more modern T50RP and T50RP MK3 (and T20/T40/TH500RP variants). I actually cut out some of the T20v2 drivers and put them into uber- @fleasbaby cup and baffle customs. I'm big into classical guitar music, and I honestly think these headphones beat out all of my other headphones in my collection.

 

[VanHai]

As someone who's addicted to modding Fostex headphones, I also think the T20v2 driver is better than the square drivers of the more modern T50RP and T50RP MK3 (and T20/T40/TH500RP variants). I actually cut out some of the T20v2 drivers and put them into uber- @fleasbaby cup and baffle customs. I'm big into classical guitar music, and I honestly think these headphones beat out all of my other headphones in my collection.

It is addicting hobby to mod Fostex headphones. They are inexpensive, widely available and sound better than many costly headphones if you know how to mod them.

 

[SeEnCreaTive]

Oh gosh it's addicting. When my Ether CXs were out for service I went back to my open alphas

Bass is meh, gives you an idea of what orthros can do for good bass, highs are good enough. Good but nothing special.

The mids are actually truely world class. I have yet to hear better mids from any headphone period. They are velvety smooth and oh so so so detailed.


My only complaint is how unmatched channels can be. Nothing you can do, just the drivers

 

[axtran]

Oh gosh it's addicting. When my Ether CXs were out for service I went back to my open alphas

Bass is meh, gives you an idea of what orthros can do for good bass, highs are good enough. Good but nothing special.

The mids are actually truely world class. I have yet to hear better mids from any headphone period. They are velvety smooth and oh so so so detailed.

Bass is meh, gives you an idea of what orthros can do for good bass, highs are meh. Good but nothing special

My only complaint is how unmatched channels can be. Nothing you can do, just the drivers

Just gotta buy like you know, 10 donors, and then pair them as you measure drivers. Might run into some wife-aggro though...

 

[homerograco]

As someone who's addicted to modding Fostex headphones, I also think the T20v2 driver is better than the square drivers of the more modern T50RP and T50RP MK3 (and T20/T40/TH500RP variants). I actually cut out some of the T20v2 drivers and put them into uber- @fleasbaby cup and baffle customs. I'm big into classical guitar music, and I honestly think these headphones beat out all of my other headphones in my collection.

Thanks for confirming that info!
Oh, you went the extra mile! Do you mean you cut the baffle around the drivers, or how was that?