Guide to the Balanced AKG K701 recabling
Mar 10, 2007 at 2:30 PM Post #16 of 57
I have bulit a Dynamid to power my HD600 w balance termination using Canare cable. The sound from it is better than the origonal cable. I do agree it has wider soundstage and more bass. I am now considering to recable my SA5000 in balance termination as well.
 
Mar 16, 2007 at 9:41 PM Post #19 of 57
Thanks, I've been wondering about this while I've been thinking of buying some K701s. But I don't completely understand balanced cabling yet, what is the function of the ground if only two wires are being used?
 
Mar 16, 2007 at 10:21 PM Post #20 of 57
Quote:

Originally Posted by vegaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Thanks, I've been wondering about this while I've been thinking of buying some K701s. But I don't completely understand balanced cabling yet, what is the function of the ground if only two wires are being used?


it's used up to the amplification stage. when the signal enters the headphones, it's no longer balanced. so there's technically no such thing as balanced headphones.
 
Dec 12, 2007 at 4:12 AM Post #25 of 57
IMPORTANT UPDATE TO THIS THREAD

While working on a pair of K701s tonight I experienced something very odd. After balancing the cans worked fine single ended but sounded downright awful when I tried them balanced. All I had done was reterminate the stock cable using this guide so it took a bit to figure out what was wrong...

Not all K701s are wired as indicated in the first post of this thread.

The pair that I have has the ground colors switched (black = right, white = left). This is impossible to check without removing the left cup of the headphones to verify how they are wired. So I would strongly suggest updating the first post of this thread to indicate this anomaly since there is the possibility that if you were simply reterminating the cable like I was that you could no notice this until it was too late. Luckily I tend to err way on the side of caution and check things pretty carefully so I avoided a toasted amp or pair of cans.

Your humble DIY'er,

Nate
 
Dec 12, 2007 at 5:27 AM Post #26 of 57
n_maher, since you have done this recently...is there any strain relief built into the cups? Or did you just knot the wire on the inside or something?

I'm thinking about doing this (Y-style) with Cardas cable, unbalanced.
 
Dec 12, 2007 at 1:38 PM Post #27 of 57
Quote:

Originally Posted by slowpogo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
n_maher, since you have done this recently...is there any strain relief built into the cups? Or did you just knot the wire on the inside or something?

I'm thinking about doing this (Y-style) with Cardas cable, unbalanced.



There is an off-center plastic brace that has a fork to hold the exiting cable housed in a rubber bushing to provide strain relief. That is why the exiting cable out of the left ear chamber is oriented towards the back. Therefore, on the right side this brace is oriented towards the front of the right ear chamber. You can spot glue the cable to the brace and make a hole towards the rear of the right chamber but I would recommend using some adhesive lined heatshrink to provide the actual strain relief.

The above is easier to imagine if you take off the chrome grills. They twist off counter-clockwise. I used a large pair of tweezers with sharp ends so I could insert them into the holes of the grill for leverage.
 
Dec 12, 2007 at 1:45 PM Post #28 of 57
Quote:

Originally Posted by slowpogo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
n_maher, since you have done this recently...is there any strain relief built into the cups? Or did you just knot the wire on the inside or something?


I didn't rewire them, I was just reterminating the stock cable. But yes, there is a an integral strain relief as warrior05 describes.

If you go with a dual entry setup (full recable) you'll need to devise a way to provide something similar which can be anything from a knot (not recommended by the way), zip tie, hot glue, heat shrink, etc.
 
Dec 12, 2007 at 2:20 PM Post #29 of 57
Thanks guys, all helpful info. My other question is, what's the best method for making a hole in the right ear cup? It seems you'd have to be very careful/lucky with a soldering iron to make a hole that looks decent.

And it's hard to see taking a big drill to that plastic piece; and Dremel drill bits only go up to 1/8".
 
Feb 7, 2008 at 12:50 AM Post #30 of 57
Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Opening
=====
Opening the K701 is easy. Just use a pen or scissor or anything that is pointy, and poke it into a hole in the cap. Give a counterclockwise twist and the cap falls out:


This is a closeup of the cap.


Now unscrew these two screws and pull out the plastic thing.


Connecting the Balanced Cable
===================
The wiring scheme for the AKG K701 is:

orange = right +
white = right -
yellow = left +
black = left -

There are already four wires in the cable, so all you need to do is cut off the 1/4" phone plug and attach two XLR cables. XLR has three connections labeled "1", "2", "3". Only "2" and "3" will be used. The "2" is the positive and the "3" is the negative.

I prefer the Y-cable over the single-sided cable. It pulls down on both sides of your head with equal force. The cable is a lot more manageable since it's thicker. I also put together an adaptor for use with single-ended amps (yuck!). I didn't make it that nice since I don't plan on using it much.

Here is how I did mine. This cable is made from Mogami starquad, and is about 8 feet long. It has two gold plated Neutrik XLR's at each end:

I upgraded my source and amp at the same time I balanced my K701s, so while there is a massive improvement in sound quality, I don't know what is responsible for it. Perhaps it is all of them.



cotdt - thanks so much for the detailed photos and explanation of how to access the inner workings of the K701's. I am not going balanced at this point, but I made some new cables out of Mogami 2893 mini quad and installing it was easy with your helpful photos and descriptions.

The sound is richer and has better impact right out of the gate! Additional burn-in should prove to make things that much better - Thanks again,

Cheers,

E
 

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