Fostex T50RP Incremental Mods and Measurements

[Lohb]

  T50RP treble can be kind of weird and hard to get just right, but you can absolutely make the treble sound quite good with certain mods.

Felt earside helped with the treble bite from the guides. I had two felt pieces initially but it took down the upper mids and treble too much.
Hans going to fire you over a photo...got my HFM cans together last night after them being out of action so long.

 

[hans030390]

Placing a damping dot on the front, middle part of the driver really helps smooth out the T50RP's treble as well. It's such a simple solution, and I'm glad it was verified to work so well on the T50RP. I combine it with some felt/open-cell foam/fabric damping discs in front of the driver as well (can't remember exactly what combo I used on the T50RP, as it varies from headphone to headphone). Sometimes even a thin ply of tissue or toilet paper for problematic stuff ~>7KHz (seriously).
 
I implemented this as a DIY solution on my Mad Dog 3.2 recently. Always had to EQ down the treble a bit to suit my tastes, but it sounds noticeably smoother/improved now. I am not sure why it took me so long to do something like that...I've been placing damping material in front of headphone drivers since I started modding a few years back and never really considered it on the T50RP for some reason. *shrug*

 

[Armaegis]

I've almost universally had some kind of damping in front of my T50rp drivers, whether it be felt or velour or even a couple layers of micropore tape. 

 

[Lohb]

  I've almost universally had some kind of damping in front of my T50rp drivers, whether it be felt or velour or even a couple layers of micropore tape. 

AMEN. I destroyed my ears for a few days with "shouty mids" on a speaker amp.

 

[DrGroove]

Anyone know where to get a headband similar to this?

 

[Thujone]

Anyone know where to get a headband similar to this?

 
Sennheiser HD600 headband pad. Can be purchased through Sennheiser or B&H (last I checked).

 

[DrGroove]

 
Sennheiser HD600 headband pad. Can be purchased through Sennheiser or B&H (last I checked).

 


Great, thanks for the tip.

I also want to add that I used denim insulation in my mod with seemingly good results.

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

Paxmate Lattice Mod uploaded
 
Select item #22 in the Table of Contents of Post #1 of this thread.
 
EDIT: I added some photos, explanations for all photos, details about the build, and rationale for the current experiments treating our headphone "listening room."

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

Balsa Wood Mod with Paxmate and Rock Wool - uploaded with pictures.
 
Item 23 in Table of Contents

 

[nick n]

This main post is bound to run out of space soon if you keep posting all this great stuff

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

Wondering if anyone is interested in borrowing a measurement kit. I have a spare or two I can send out "on tour." You need a PC or Mac with headphone out and mic in. Free download measurement software = REW. See items 2-5 in Post 1 of this thread for details.
 
CONUS, for now.  
 
PM if interested.

 

[MuZo2]

Its cool idea, I would like to see more measurements. If this kit could be somehow standardized to take consistent measurements and also provided with  compensation curve measured against a known headphone fr.

 

[PETEREK]

I'm surprised to see this much talk about the T50RP's sharp treble, because that isn't at all my experience. It sounds extremely dark to me out of the box. I removed the black felt in front of the driver to help with this. 
I've been wanting to get my hands on a pair of these for a while now, I love modding headphones to tune them to what I want to hear. So far I've used a bit of Dynamat on the inside of the cups, and used some hard plastic over the back of the driver with some white-tack holding it on and providing some space between the two. That has increased the sub-bass and impact a lot. I really like the change. These things have more mods to come along with a paint job. I'm pretty excited to dig into these things more!

 

[peter123]

  I'm surprised to see this much talk about the T50RP's sharp treble, because that isn't at all my experience. It sounds extremely dark to me out of the box. I removed the black felt in front of the driver to help with this. 
I've been wanting to get my hands on a pair of these for a while now, I love modding headphones to tune them to what I want to hear. So far I've used a bit of Dynamat on the inside of the cups, and used some hard plastic over the back of the driver with some white-tack holding it on and providing some space between the two. That has increased the sub-bass and impact a lot. I really like the change. These things have more mods to come along with a paint job. I'm pretty excited to dig into these things more!

Interesting. I agree with you on the treble.
 
What exactly were the changes you heard when you removed the felt in front of the driver?

 

[PETEREK]

It just seems more clear and slightly sharper. That's all I was hoping for too, so success