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

[dgcrane]

Can you include a photo of how you applied the dynamat to the earside ? I only have a tiny little bit left

Darren

 

[Nevod]

Quote:

This is why I added the paxmate foam to the ear side of the baffle in the rastapants.  Improved imaging quite a bit, too.
 

Yes, I did that too. I'm, however, speaking about using dynamat + foam on the cup side of the baffle instead of plasticine. Well, you were the first to tell that idea, actually.
 
The first version of foam lining the earpad inner side I made used too wide strips. They pressed on ears a bit and weren't entirely comfortable, even to the point of slight headache. Plus the sound was really forward that way. So, I cut the strips down from 25mm to 20 mm wide, removed all comfort issues.
Besides, I did made the driver foam lining thing. There is the photo:

I didn't took much care doing it, it's not perfect and plastic lines are not covered yet, but the holes are open.
Results are a bit hard to describe. Sinegen tests show more lowest bass, less treble above 10kHz, but it is again more extended - gets really quiet at 15 kHz but after that stays almost the same till 19 kHz. Plus 11 kHz peak is reduced. 5kHz peak is reduced and moved to 4.8 kHz, still peak at 6.8 kHz, albeit it is reduced, and almost no peaks and dips above that between 7 and 10 kHz - there are some, but 2-3 db variation only, it seems.
In the music, they are less forward, a bit less treble but it seems to be more real - cymbals are more of a cymbal than some hisser. Well, they weren't hissers, but weren't real enough either. Mids somewhat better - probably due to more even treble. Bass seems to bloat a bit now, probably I'll close vents a bit more.
Not much more than that to say, only listened for one hour, and I didn't do the frontal foaming perfectly, but it's promising.
 
Oh, about the imaging thing. Read that ears do feel air impedance, and an increased impedance hampers out-of-head imaging. So an completely sealed ear chamber isn't a good thing, there should be some vent. Another reason as to why HD800 excels at imaging, IMHO.

 

[E3SEL]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but, what do the shure 840 pads do to the sound of these headphones?

 

[proid]

Quote:

Yes, I did that too. I'm, however, speaking about using dynamat + foam on the cup side of the baffle instead of plasticine. Well, you were the first to tell that idea, actually.
 
The first version of foam lining the earpad inner side I made used too wide strips. They pressed on ears a bit and weren't entirely comfortable, even to the point of slight headache. Plus the sound was really forward that way. So, I cut the strips down from 25mm to 20 mm wide, removed all comfort issues.
Besides, I did made the driver foam lining thing. There is the photo:

I didn't took much care doing it, it's not perfect and plastic lines are not covered yet, but the holes are open.
Results are a bit hard to describe. Sinegen tests show more lowest bass, less treble above 10kHz, but it is again more extended - gets really quiet at 15 kHz but after that stays almost the same till 19 kHz. Plus 11 kHz peak is reduced. 5kHz peak is reduced and moved to 4.8 kHz, still peak at 6.8 kHz, albeit it is reduced, and almost no peaks and dips above that between 7 and 10 kHz - there are some, but 2-3 db variation only, it seems.
In the music, they are less forward, a bit less treble but it seems to be more real - cymbals are more of a cymbal than some hisser. Well, they weren't hissers, but weren't real enough either. Mids somewhat better - probably due to more even treble. Bass seems to bloat a bit now, probably I'll close vents a bit more.
Not much more than that to say, only listened for one hour, and I didn't do the frontal foaming perfectly, but it's promising.
 
Oh, about the imaging thing. Read that ears do feel air impedance, and an increased impedance hampers out-of-head imaging. So an completely sealed ear chamber isn't a good thing, there should be some vent. Another reason as to why HD800 excels at imaging, IMHO.

 
In fact, this is already discussed before, that's HDman's food container riser. I tried this too but compare to riser with rolled cotton, it make upper mid sound to harsh, i don't think it's a good way to improve treble.
 
 

 

[Kibble Fat]

Will silver epoxy do the trick, it's conductive?

invest in a soldering iron

I'm going put SIP sockets & pins on my driver leads so I don't damage the PCB contacts

 

[wje]

Quote:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but, what do the shure 840 pads do to the sound of these headphones?

Increase bass performance (due to the better seal) and some improvement in comfort, too.
 

 

[Mods12]

I am thinking of buying these for 75 are they worth it and do they need an amp? I was considering these and the AKG Acoustics K240 which one do you think is better. Or a completely different headphone my budget is around 100 dollars

 

 

[wje]

Quote:

I am thinking of buying these for 75 are they worth it and do they need an amp? I was considering these and the AKG Acoustics K240 which one do you think is better. Or a completely different headphone my budget is around 100 dollars

 

 
I bought the AKG studio 240 last summer and only kept them for a few days.  AKG makes some great headphones - I believe they really have the capability, etc.  However, the 240 didn't impress me.  I still loved my Grados more at the time and the 240 being an open headphone, wasn't buying me anything over the Grado option, so I didn't keep them.

 

[KneelJung]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wje /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Quote:

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the current signature, but I think I'm going to quit messing with them for a while.
 

 
That's the idea.  One needs to settle a bit with the changes to really realize the benefit.  Putting some time on them and more music through them allows you to listen to some of your favorite music passages and see how the sound details might have changed - for better, or worse.

Agreed, but I was never quite satisfied with the way they were before. Today's listening session is straight from the Sparrow and I'm liking it. Seems to be much better synergy. They sounded a little to dark through the HK. Listening to Mojo by Tom Petty at the moment

 

[Nevod]

Quote:

In fact, this is already discussed before, that's HDman's food container riser. I tried this too but compare to riser with rolled cotton, it make upper mid sound to harsh, i don't think it's a good way to improve treble.

Not exactly, there is no riser in mine, and not all of the inner surface was covered in HDman's. In my opinion, anything that eats reflections is always good, and if some problems arise, then something else should be adressed. Indeed, with only earpad lining they got too forward, but covering driver's reflective surfaces fixed that, no more harshness at all. Well, I have different earpads, though.

 

[kalbee]

Quote:

Wow, that sucks.  This makes B&H's $74 price even more enticing...

That's because he had it shipped outside the US.
Rule of thumb for buying online from out of country: avoid private owned parcel service companies.
Hate that brokerage fee...
 
Quote:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but, what do the shure 840 pads do to the sound of these headphones?

The direct changes going from stock pads to 840 pads is going to be V-shaped: improved bass, lower mids and treble; loss of mids.
As discussed previously, this 'loss of mids' is mostly because the stock pads accentuate mids very much and the 840 pads do not.
 

 

[Cortlendt]

 
Count me in for 1 set of angled and 1 set of straight.
 

Originally Posted by wdahm519 

No, this is simple an add on baffle.  You do not have to remove the drivers.  I might design something like that in the future but I'd honestly rather not.  This baffle goes on the ear side of the stock baffle with the pad removed.  The FA-003 Pad goes on the new baffle.  Its very simple and requires no permanent modification.
 
I got my FA-003 pads from FrogBeats. 
 
If only 4 or 5 people want baffles I think I found a way to do smaller orders and still have them be cheap.

 

 

[dogwan]

Hey all,
 
I finally found a use for the crappy stock pads!
 
Picked up a pair of vintage K240's for $10 off of CL and the stock T50 pads fit perfectly.
 
Funny, compared to the old flat dried out pleather pads on the AKG's, these feel great.
 

 

[stratocaster]

Quote:

The direct changes going from stock pads to 840 pads is going to be V-shaped: improved bass, lower mids and treble; loss of mids.
As discussed previously, this 'loss of mids' is mostly because the stock pads accentuate mids very much and the 840 pads do not.

 
As I understand it, this is what is necessary to achieve a flatter frequency response curve. You must enhance bass extension and at the same time tame the mids a little. You see that when you compare the frequency response of stock T50RPs with let's say LFF's Paradox setup.

 

[Drastion]

I am wondering what would be good mods to bring out the mids and make these headphones good for heavy metal? I have a pair of akg q701 and m audio q40 and want to make them into something these are not and hopefully improve the soundstage.

Also how wide would the cups need to be if I wanted to use wood ones?