Just listened to some Fostex T50RPs today... WOW!

[sharkz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluemonkeyflyer /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Good for you, sharkz.  Would you mind summarizing your mods and how they sound?

Where I am right now is plastacine lined baffle, removed white cloth with thick felt covering the driver and transpore at all four driver corners. My cups have a think layer of plastacine with paxmate over it. My bass ports are covered in electrical tape with 5 pin holes in each. Outside I have 840 pads with no other mods. I have been considering removing the external driver covering because I had been using felt under the pads with the stocks and the Shure pads have their own liner. With the 840 pads, I currently have about 3/8" of open celled foam under the rear of the pad to elevate it slightly.
 
Overall I am very happy with these. Before the mods I couldn't stand these compared to my highly modded Grado SR60s, but now I haven't listened to the Grados in a while. By far the biggest mod was removing the white driver cloth and finding a fairly heavy felt to cover it with. This dramatically increased the bass quantity and quality.
 
My only wish is that I could compare these to some other modded Fostexes to have a baseline. Although I am happy, I am still curious where these would stand compared to what others are listening too (or ideally a pair of LCD-2s).
 

 

[LFF]

Quote:

My only wish is that I could compare these to some other modded Fostexes to have a baseline. Although I am happy, I am still curious where these would stand compared to what others are listening too (or ideally a pair of LCD-2s).  

You can't really have a base line as they all sound so different. The Thunderpants, the original Mr. Speakers Mod, Thunderpants Clones, etc all sounded different. I have heard a few different modded T50's and none were similar. Even mine sound different.
 
This is one of the reasons I like this headphone so much. The ability to tune one headphone so many different ways really is cool.

 

[dogears]

With the added weight on the cups, I can't last an album without discomfort with the stock headband - well K701 was worst - but the T50RPs feel like not letting blood circulate on top of my head

 
Quote:

I'm actually surprised people find the stock headphone so uncomfortable. Is is just me because I don't have an issue with them where I would think about modding the headband to make it more comfortable. I'm sure if I really wanted I could get the HD580/HD6x0 padding they have on their headband and attach it but I don't find the need for it.

 

 

[dogears]

@sharkz, and your baseline should be your other ear monitor(s). That will guide you how you progress with your tweaks.

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

With the added weight on the cups, I can't last an album without discomfort with the stock headband - well K701 was worst - but the T50RPs feel like not letting blood circulate on top of my head

 
 

I guess maybe it's cuz I'm used to my Magnums..now those are HEAVY. The T50RP weighs nothing in comparison..maybe I'll suffer the weight of those when I get it back...
 


Quote:

@sharkz, and your baseline should be your other ear monitor(s). That will guide you how you progress with your tweaks.

I usually have my DT880 as my reference for when I get other phones. Usually something neutral would be nice to have as a reference so you can tell between your different headphones and know if a particular range is forward, recessed, etc
 

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

Full circle.

Between 3 sets of T50RP's, I've opened, modded, and closed these things well over 100 times. I made one modification at a time and compared the results to my LCD2 and another pair of stock T50RP's. Plasticine in the baffles and one layer of Paxmate in the cups have remained constants.

I've tried them with 5 different types of material for reflex dots and no reflex dot; white felt on and off the back of the drivers; stiff felt, limp felt, thick wool felt, cotton, and no felt in the cups and on the back of the drivers; 1 to 3 layers of Organdi on the back of the drivers; naked drivers; bass ports in stock form, with the stock felt removed from the bass ports, and electrical tape covering 1, 2, 3, 3.5, 3.75, and all 4 bass port slots; dust cover on the ear side of the baffle intact and cut away; acoustic foam on and off the ear side of the baffles; and practically every permutation of all these variables.

I just pulled off the 3 layers of Organdi, the reflex dot, and the tape over the bass ports of my third mod. Then, I used rubber cement to re-apply the stock white felt onto the back of the drivers. For me, keeping everything stock and adding only plasticine to the baffles and Paxmate to the cups produce the best overall balanced SQ. I would not have been satisfied had I not gone through the laborious process of systematically testing each mod for myself.

I am not proposing that this is "the best" mod configuration. I am not suggesting that this mod configuration is "The Way" to go for anyone else. So far, this is my favorite mod setup for my ears. I'm not done, though. I have more things in the works.

This is too much fun!

 

[dogears]

That makes you Stupendous Fostex Jedi BMF

 

[fishski13]

Quote:

Full circle.

Between 3 sets of T50RP's, I've opened, modded, and closed these things well over 100 times. I made one modification at a time and compared the results to my LCD2 and another pair of stock T50RP's. Plasticine in the baffles and one layer of Paxmate in the cups have remained constants. I've tried them with 5 different types of material for reflex dots and no reflex dot; white felt on and off; stiff felt, limp felt, wool felt, cotton, and no felt in the cups and on the back of the drivers; 1 to 3 layers of Organdi on the back of the drivers; naked drivers; bass ports in stock form, with the stock felt removed from the bass ports, and electrical tape covering 1,2,3, 3.5, 3.75, and all 4 bass port slots; dust cover on the ear side of the baffle on and cut away; acoustic foam on and off the ear side of the baffles; and practically every permutation of all these variables.

I just pulled off the 3 layers of Organdi, the reflex dot, and the tape over the bass ports. Then, I used rubber cement to re-apply the stock white felt onto the back of the drivers. For me, keeping everything stock and adding only plasticine to the baffles and Paxmate to the cups produce the best overall SQ. I would not have been satisfied had I not gone through the laborious process of systematically testing each mod for myself.

I am not proposing this is the best mod configuration. I am not suggesting that this mod configuration is "The Way" to go for anyone else. So far, this is my favorite mod setup for my ears. I'm not done, though. I have more things in the works.

This is too much fun!

awesome stuff.  i can't wait until my SA5000 pads get here.
 
currently spinning some Herbie...
 

 

 

[200poundsofamp]

Quote:

Yes, I've looked at this one and a few others, thanks.  I looked at some by JVC and Sony, Nady, Samson Tech, Audio-Technica, AKG, and Sennheiser and they were either too expensive, closed-back, cheaply made, or too small.  I supposed you could use a closed back like  Frankenphone's RX900 or RX700, but I was hoping to find one already open with a finished look.  I'll keep looking.

How about the Panasonic HTF890 ? If it's like the HTF600 it won't have that cheap plasticky housing sound and should be pretty well built.
 
And you're the man for testing out what removing the white felt does. That's something I'm hoping to get some actual measurements for soon.

 

[dogears]

I already have the donor for the leakypants version:
It died peacefully in the box. Demet! If only I knew the driverss 'can die'
http://www.head-fi.org/t/507314/busted-sennheiser-is450-infrarot

 

[KneelJung]

Quote:

Full circle.

Between 3 sets of T50RP's, I've opened, modded, and closed these things well over 100 times. I made one modification at a time and compared the results to my LCD2 and another pair of stock T50RP's. Plasticine in the baffles and one layer of Paxmate in the cups have remained constants. I've tried them with 5 different types of material for reflex dots and no reflex dot; white felt on and off; stiff felt, limp felt, wool felt, cotton, and no felt in the cups and on the back of the drivers; 1 to 3 layers of Organdi on the back of the drivers; naked drivers; bass ports in stock form, with the stock felt removed from the bass ports, and electrical tape covering 1,2,3, 3.5, 3.75, and all 4 bass port slots; dust cover on the ear side of the baffle on and cut away; acoustic foam on and off the ear side of the baffles; and practically every permutation of all these variables.

I just pulled off the 3 layers of Organdi, the reflex dot, and the tape over the bass ports. Then, I used rubber cement to re-apply the stock white felt onto the back of the drivers. For me, keeping everything stock and adding only plasticine to the baffles and Paxmate to the cups produce the best overall SQ. I would not have been satisfied had I not gone through the laborious process of systematically testing each mod for myself.

I am not proposing this is the best mod configuration. I am not suggesting that this mod configuration is "The Way" to go for anyone else. So far, this is my favorite mod setup for my ears. I'm not done, though. I have more things in the works.

This is too much fun!

Thanks for the post BMF. That's essentially my configuration too. Plasticine in the baffles, a layer of paxmate in the cups, and  the stock felt on driver intact. Although on mine I have a layer of cloth (I believe it's tweed) over the driver too. I used the same material to replace the stock felt on the vent and it's only covering 2 of the vent holes. I loaned it (the T50) and my woodied SR60 to Questhate, who forwarded both to Tyll to be measured. Hopefully I can glean something from Tyll's measurements and maybe Questhate can provide some impressions on his T50 versus his perceptions from the time he spent with mine.
 
One of the issues I had with mine before I sent them on their little journey was some peakiness in the upper mid. At least thats where it sounded like it was coming from. A couple of the things I was thinking about doing were the o2 pads, and removing the felt on the ear side of the driver, as well as a layer of paxmate around the driver.
 
 

 

[rawrster]

These headphones are just so addicting..its way past my bed time and I have work in the morning -_-

 

[dogears]

^Told you it's FOTMillennium and its bad for your health

 
Quote:

FOTM??? Oh yes!!!
 

 
Bad for your health though

 

 

[LFF]

Quote:

These headphones are just so addicting..its way past my bed time and I have work in the morning -_-

I haven't used another headphone in weeks! I usually end up listening to music up until 3 or 4AM!!
 
I go to sleep a very happy man....

 

[Cortlendt]

I've got the T50RP FOTM so I'm waiting for mine to arrive.
 
In a meanwhile, in Communist Russia, I'm gathering some materials for the mods. I would be very grateful if someone could provide feedback on my stuff:
 
1. Plasticine. A no-brainer. I have red, black and white)
2. My friend has spared my some self-adhesive acoustic foam he used to build sound isolation in his car. It is 10-8mm thick, but I intend to cut it to reduce the thickness. What thickness is Akasa, btw?
3. Thick craft felt - I can get 1.5mm of thickness - is it the right one? Could not find 2mm anywhere around.
4. Reflex dot material - I can use either electric tape or thin plastic that comes from yoghurt packages. Maybe find some thin rubber.
 
Many thanks.
 
Now to find that exacto knife and acetone)