= Hifiman Regrilling Mod =
Jul 23, 2012 at 8:21 PM Post #46 of 829
Quote:
I95North...you have the first he400 (ghetto ed.) 
biggrin.gif
 Just joking man. Looks nice.

Yeah i know right lol. If you ever seen my moded pads that i removed just to take that picture with the Beyer pads you would really think Yup ghetto but since i'm not showing them you would not get to chuckle at the moded pades lol.
 
Jul 23, 2012 at 9:20 PM Post #49 of 829
Quote:
 
I didnt mean i wanted to necessarily try without grills, just meant i'd like to try the mod. I haven't had a chance to look into this myself yet, but whats the easiest way to take the grills off? are they held by clips?
 
 
 

 
It's extremely easy to take off and reinstall the grill once you get the hang of it. It is only held on by the plastic ring, which has four diagonal small tabs that insert into their respective slots on the headphone shell. Just grab the plastic ring with your fingernails and use some gentle firm pressure to get the first tab out of its slot, then the rest three tabs are easy. It's homologous to how the Hifiman pads are secured.
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 12:51 AM Post #50 of 829
Quote:
 
 
Hint... no screen at all would give you max benifits or the closest you can get to no screen at all....

 
Very true, anything, heck even extremely porous cloth that seems to be acoustically transparent have a noticeable effect on the sound, vs completely exposed drivers. I'm curious, what did you sacrifice to get those steel meshes? They look quite fine yet are welded so should be decently strong.
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 11:37 AM Post #52 of 829
Quote:
Has anyone tried something like the grill I drew below? It would be enough spacing to protect the drivers from things like fingers poking through, but remains very open back. I'm not sure where to get something like this, but I think Front Panel Express will be able to fabricate something similar.
 

 
If I can buy these for under $5/pair I'd definitely try it. The whole notion of the mod is to minimize material obstructing the drivers from open air, without overly compromising mechanical protection.
 
Basically the thinner the metal strands, and the farther they are spaced apart, the better, but structural integrity is still needed via e.g. welding, because
 
 
1) protection, and
 
2) unwelded free strands might resonate when the drivers play, and cause MORE ringing (I observed this in the rev 1 replacement grills).
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 11:47 AM Post #53 of 829
Quote:
Has anyone tried something like the grill I drew below? It would be enough spacing to protect the drivers from things like fingers poking through, but remains very open back. I'm not sure where to get something like this, but I think Front Panel Express will be able to fabricate something similar.
 

 
Quote:
 
If I can buy these for under $5/pair I'd definitely try it. The whole notion of the mod is to minimize material obstructing the drivers from open air, without overly compromising mechanical protection.
 
Basically the thinner the metal strands, and the farther they are spaced apart, the better, but structural integrity is still needed via e.g. welding, because
 
 
1) protection, and
 
2) unwelded free strands might resonate when the drivers play, and cause MORE ringing (I observed this in the rev 1 replacement grills).

 

Works like a charm. I believe Wayne mentioned these upthread.
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 11:52 AM Post #54 of 829
I will give u a hint in what I used for my grills although it's not stronger than if your using steel..Also It comes in aluminum but iJ had the black fiberglass type laying around so I used it although if I had a choice between aluminum and steel aluminum I'd choose because it has no magnetic properties..

This material brings fresh air into your hot home but keeps bugs out..

Hint... I wonder if changing/ removing another material obstructing the planners what would happen to the sound signature??

Last you want to get that really open sound signature take your portable amp your ipod and your He-400 outside and you will get a chuckle out of it..

No **** seriously!!!
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 1:17 PM Post #55 of 829
Quote:
I will give u a hint in what I used for my grills although it's not stronger than if your using steel..Also It comes in aluminum but iJ had the black fiberglass type laying around so I used it although if I had a choice between aluminum and steel aluminum I'd choose because it has no magnetic properties..
This material brings fresh air into your hot home but keeps bugs out..
Hint... I wonder if changing/ removing another material obstructing the planners what would happen to the sound signature??
Last you want to get that really open sound signature take your portable amp your ipod and your He-400 outside and you will get a chuckle out of it..
No **** seriously!!!

 
I don't see there being anything more to remove that won't seriously mess up the driver. I mean, the plastic struts are the backbone reinforcements for the magnets themselves, other than those it's just the diaphragm with its tracing, and a few screws. It'd be cool if the plastic struts are replaced by thinner metal struts though, this way there's less mechanical blockage for the diaphragms. I think the higher end models (HE500/5LE/6) do that.
 
So you used some sort of aluminum mosquito net material? Interesting...
 
 
As for taking the HE400s outdoors, heheh that would be funny and slightly awkward, it's like jogging with your shirt off lol. "Haters gonn' hate".
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 6:42 PM Post #57 of 829
Quote:
 
Is that the splatter pan mentioned on page 2?
 
I think McMaster Carr might have something right up our alley and in good quality too. I'll go through their catalog this evening.

 
I think he meant splatter screens like this.
 
They have very finely woven steel mesh, but the downside is none of these strands are welded together, so the whole structure actually resonates when used as a headphone grill, which is not ideal.
 
The image there seems to be the letter holding tray wje mentioned, it has the same mesh structure as what I used in rev. 2 grill in first post (I cut my mesh out of a dollar store garbage bin), welded together, not too thickly woven, overall a decent compromise.
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 7:02 PM Post #58 of 829
Ok without the riddles what i used was fiberglass screen window repair kit lol.
 
 
I knew i had alot left over from rescreening some window screens in my home so i just used that.
 
Look around the net for it where i live in new york i purchased it in a department store called Lowes. There is also the same type screen in aluminum if you prefer that for more protection.
 
Honestly though i would not use steel only because steel/iron will have an attraction to the magnetic field produced from those strong magnets in the planner headsets but if it does not interfer with the sound then use whatever...
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 7:21 PM Post #59 of 829
Quote:
Ok without the riddles what i used was fiberglass screen window repair kit lol.
 
 
I knew i had alot left over from rescreening some window screens in my home so i just used that.
 
Look around the net for it where i live in new york i purchased it in a department store called Lowes. There is also the same type screen in aluminum if you prefer that for more protection.
 
Honestly though i would not use steel only because steel/iron will have an attraction to the magnetic field produced from those strong magnets in the planner headsets but if it does not interfer with the sound then use whatever...

The stock grills are made of steel so, that shouldn't be a problem. Magnetic field strength is inversely proportional to the square of distance between the magnet and the object, so the grills are WELL too far away from the magnet assembly to have any real risk of getting pulled in.
 
How much does a small roll of the repair kit stuff cost? I'm assuming they are only sold in rolls and not in single sheets.
 
Jul 24, 2012 at 7:22 PM Post #60 of 829
 I removed mine and took as you did took the stock screen as an template cut four circles out of the fiberglass screen and made a outter ring to glue the fiberglass mesh to.
 

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