[nick n]

if you are considering synthetics, and not saying they are all that bad there's some amazing stuff, have a look at the surface of the materials in a microscopic photo if you can find something online, and the surface areas of natural fibres are much more, generally.
 
But then there's also how the material will translate the vibrations into heat, so it's probably a material by material thing.   I just think it's fun looking so close at a thing's composition.
 
  I hope we never get to the point of saying " synthetics for trance/electro , natural fillers for classical and traditional , straw and woodchips for folk , superfine steel wool for metal and hardcore."
Will this be the next big cable debate?

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

if you are considering synthetics, and not saying they are all that bad there's some amazing stuff, have a look at the surface of the materials in a microscopic photo if you can find something online, and the surface areas of natural fibres are much more, generally.

But then there's also how the material will translate the vibrations into heat, so it's probably a material by material thing.   I just think it's fun looking so close at a thing's composition.

  I hope we never get to the point of saying " synthetics for trance/electro , natural fillers for classical and traditional , straw and woodchips for folk , superfine steel wool for metal and hardcore."
Will this be the next big cable debate?

LOL! Wait. Are you saying wood chips and steel wool don't work for folk and metal? Say it ain't so!

 

[LosNir]

A brief search of the nylon mutifilament indicates some of its primary uses are for weaving and creating items like fish nets.  I'm not sure how that would fit into the picture as an alternative to some cotton stuffing or rayon batting.  Both the cotton from Rite Aid and the rayon batting are constructed basically in a flat pattern allowing you to easily cut the material in easily insert it into the cup and slap the baffle back on.

Wayne, he suggested a non-microphonic alternative for techflex as cable sleeving

 

[wje]

Quote:

wje,
 
I have tried many configurations over the past 12 months and obtained the best SQ by over-filling and sealing the cups. Nevertheless, there are many paths that lead to a satisfying SQ destination, and many dead ends!
 
I look forward to hearing about your, and others,' discoveries. 
 

 
The other evening, after going with the Rite Aid cotton and replacing my small fluff of fiberglass insulation, I noted a change in the bass and the level of it.  It had dropped back a bit.  Realizing that I don't think I have the patience that I did of last fall, I knew I didn't want to be opening these headphones up all that many times.  So, I did find some batting, that is about 1/8" thick.  I couldn't find the solid rayon batting, so settled on a 50/50 mix of cotton and polyester.  I then cut two discs and bonded them into the cups with a few drops of craft glue.  So, essentially, two layers were installed, making it about 1/4" thick.  To my ears, I was able to recover some of the bass that I desired.  Meanwhile, the upper frequencies seemed to still be more apparent than before.  That may have been slightly related to the use of the newplast vs. the plasticine?  Not sure.  But, that's what I noticed.  I'll now run them for the next week or so and see what the impressions are with various listening periods and music types to get a full perspective.
 
 
Quote:

Wayne, he suggested a non-microphonic alternative for techflex as cable sleeving

 
Ah, yes, you are correct.  I also did see lots of tech flex entries show up in my search.  The only thing about the tech flex is that the cable tends to feel like a snake to me.  When possible, I prefer softer materials for cable coverings.  In the past Grado life, I built some cables using a sheathing that I borrowed from a new Hosa guitar cable.  It was easy to re-use and was quite a bit softer.
 
 
One Other Observation That I Can Share With Everyone Who Uses the Shure 840 Pads ...
 
The Shure pads come trimmed with the white thread around the flap of the cup that you end up rolling around the plastic cup of the Fostex headphones.  My thread started to snag, so I tugged at it and ended up removing all of it pretty easily.  It essentially has no purpose as it is not holding anything together.  It appears to be more cosmetic than anything at all.  So, for those of you out there who think the contrasting white thread is a bit much against the black pads, it can be safely removed for a cleaner headphone appearance.

 

[nick n]

Quote:

 
The other evening, after going with the Rite Aid cotton and replacing my small fluff of fiberglass insulation, I noted a change in the bass and the level of it.  It had dropped back a bit.  Realizing that I don't think I have the patience that I did of last fall, I knew I didn't want to be opening these headphones up all that many times.  So, I did find some batting, that is about 1/8" thick.  I couldn't find the solid rayon batting, so settled on a 50/50 mix of cotton and polyester.  I then cut two discs and bonded them into the cups with a few drops of craft glue.  So, essentially, two layers were installed, making it about 1/4" thick.  To my ears, I was able to recover some of the bass that I desired.  Meanwhile, the upper frequencies seemed to still be more apparent than before.

Thanks for that info. The setup I've currently got is pretty darned nice, a tiny bit more bass would be nice, and i hesitate to get out the drill again and increase the bass port past it's current 1/4 inch.  I sealed up the slots completely so I can accurately port the things with perfectly round drill bits just below and to the sides of the stock lower vents. I just think it was too much of a pain to accurately assess how much of the slots were closed up otherwise.
One thing though do you notice a decrease in resonances compared to the previous method of fibreglass? Was one or the other better in this regard, or maybe you didn't notice them as much.  Bothers me to no end.
I'm currently sitting at 1.7 grams per side, yeah I weigh it now instead of relying on simply cut-sizing measurements, too much variation once you see how different the weights are where you thought the sides were  identical by looking only.
 
As far as those Shure pads, when I had them on there something was just wrong and I tried about 15+ different combinations to get some bass out of what was already a beautiful sound. Turns out all I had to do was go back to stock pads to bring up some bass again! I'll have to go in again ( sigh ) and see how far I can decrease it without the resonances popping up again.
 
I was just going back in to remove that fabricy/foam later in the centers of the Shure pads to see if the fit would be better and the sound equivalent to what I have now with the stock ones which obviously have nothing there.
I noticed these Shure pads have all kinds of holes in the pleather that rests against the baffle!
 I'll be able to tell soon enough if this was the reason they sucked with this current damping configuration. If the earside fabric removal keeps them different than the stock pads it'll be these holes that are doing it to me.
 
Always something.
 
Thanks for the reminder and insight on the cotton. So many variables it gets easy to overlook something you had tried before but in a slightly different combo. It's like a giant see-saw that's wobbling around at the same time here.
 
 
Oh and in no way do I seal up the cup/baffle joint with this, which is odd I usually attack that sort of thing first. This is really throwing me for a loop.

 

[Aaron1006]

Wow, I just switched back to 840 pads after messing around with stretched around the baffle HM5 pads and Hifiman pleathers and let me just say it feels good to have my bass back! I still need to get around to putting the HM5's on via adhesives but I'm pretty darned content going back to the 840 pads for now.

 

[nick n]

Quote:

Wow, I just switched back to 840 pads after messing around with stretched around the baffle HM5 pads and Hifiman pleathers and let me just say it feels good to have my bass back! I still need to get around to putting the HM5's on via adhesives but I'm pretty darned content going back to the 840 pads for now.

What do you have on the earside of your baffles? 
 
 
 I know for sure  I can easily bring up the bass to extreme levels by rolling my own pads with a decreased opening, but sort of want to exhaust all other avenues first. The pad openings, not used to dealing with such a large one. It's simply not normal I guess it provides the huge spacial aspects here though.
Going to try out some leather ones I already have made with the ~40mm openings.
 
 
Anyhow here's a shot of the Shure pad backs, most likely this has been shown before.

 

[wje]

Quote:

Thanks for that info. The setup I've currently got is pretty darned nice, a tiny bit more bass would be nice, and i hesitate to get out the drill again and increase the bass port past it's current 1/4 inch.  I sealed up the slots completely so I can accurately port the things with perfectly round drill bits just below and to the sides of the stock lower vents. I just think it was too much of a pain to accurately assess how much of the slots were closed up otherwise.
One thing though do you notice a decrease in resonances compared to the previous method of fibreglass? Was one or the other better in this regard, or maybe you didn't notice them as much.  Bothers me to no end.
 
I'm currently sitting at 1.7 grams per side, yeah I weigh it now instead of relying on simply cut-sizing measurements, too much variation once you see how different the weights are where you thought the sides were  identical by looking only.
 
As far as those Shure pads, when I had them on there something was just wrong and I tried about 15+ different combinations to get some bass out of what was already a beautiful sound. Turns out all I had to do was go back to stock pads to bring up some bass again! I'll have to go in again ( sigh ) and see how far I can decrease it without the resonances popping up again.
 
I was just going back in to remove that fabricy/foam later in the centers of the Shure pads to see if the fit would be better and the sound equivalent to what I have now with the stock ones which obviously have nothing there.
I noticed these Shure pads have all kinds of holes in the pleather that rests against the baffle!
 I'll be able to tell soon enough if this was the reason they sucked with this current damping configuration. If the earside fabric removal keeps them different than the stock pads it'll be these holes that are doing it to me.
 
Always something.
 
Thanks for the reminder and insight on the cotton. So many variables it gets easy to overlook something you had tried before but in a slightly different combo. It's like a giant see-saw that's wobbling around at the same time here.
 
 
Oh and in no way do I seal up the cup/baffle joint with this, which is odd I usually attack that sort of thing first. This is really throwing me for a loop.

 
To answer your questions ...
 
1) Yes, I do notice some reduction in resonance after installing the Newplast and the cotton / poly batting.  But, that is where I went wrong.  I should have had the patience to perform one single modification at a time to see which one had the impact, or the most impact.  Jamming a whole bunch of modifications into the cup, then putting the screws back in doesn't really confirm the benefit of each modification.  Sometimes, I hate being impatient -- but, mostly, I have to be patient in 98% of my life and that last 2% is when I work on hobbies and time being thin, I need to work fast so I have more time to enjoy the music.
 
2) I wish I had my dru ... erm, my kitten scale back at our house.  Unfortunately, my wife loaned it to another friend who had baby kittens and she had to track their weights as they progressed with growth.  I guess my wife never realized how essential it was that I have a scale to measure my Newplast.

 

[mrscotchguy]

Quote:

2) I wish I had my dru ... erm, my kitten scale back at our house.  Unfortunately, my wife loaned it to another friend who had baby kittens and she had to track their weights as they progressed with growth.  I guess my wife never realized how essential it was that I have a scale to measure my Newplast.

 
Oooooo... almost caught ya!

  Were those "kittens" really fluffy? 

 

[WNBC]

Wow, put on my T50RP tonight!
 
I modded them about a year ago but soon after I got the ortho bug and went for the LCD-2 and now HE-500 so the T50 got benched. 
 
Tonight I took off the silly Sony XB pads I had on them and put on some AT pads.  
 
The speed of this T50 driver is down right amazing.  Very noticeable.  
 
I'm in no rush to sell my HE-500 because I prefer a pure open headphone but I need to think about using these T50s more often.   

 

[nick n]

Which AT pads are you using?  I want an alternative to the stock but not the Shures. Assume they are the 50's?

 

[WNBC]

ATH-W5000
AudioCubes II
http://www.audiocubes2.com/product_info.php/products_id/483
 
 
Quote:

Which AT pads are you using?  I want an alternative to the stock but not the Shures. Assume they are the 50's?

 

[jgray91]

Quote:

Wow, put on my T50RP tonight!
 
I modded them about a year ago but soon after I got the ortho bug and went for the LCD-2 and now HE-500 so the T50 got benched. 
 
Tonight I took off the silly Sony XB pads I had on them and put on some AT pads.  
 
The speed of this T50 driver is down right amazing.  Very noticeable.  
 
I'm in no rush to sell my HE-500 because I prefer a pure open headphone but I need to think about using these T50s more often.   

And here I am wondering for 3 months what would the T50RP sounds like with the silly yet very comfortable Sony XB pads. Where did you get them? Or did you scavenge them from a broken pair?

 

[WNBC]

I sacrificed a working pair of Sony headphones.  The pads have to be glued onto the T50.  On the right type of ear such as mine the Sony pads created almost a suction or vacuum effect.  They also create a longer than possibly ideal distance between one's ear and the driver.  I found that the pads on the T50 muddied the sound and created a situation in which the driver's speed wasn't getting utilized.  My wife was using the HE-500s for a movie so I figured I'd throw on the AT pads on the T50.  But yes, the Sony pads are soft.  They could use a little more denser material in the foam though.  Too squishy.  Probably ok for the lighter Sony headphones.   
 
 
Quote:

And here I am wondering for 3 months what would the T50RP sounds like with the silly yet very comfortable Sony XB pads. Where did you get them? Or did you scavenge them from a broken pair?

 

[jgray91]

Quote:

I sacrificed a working pair of Sony headphones.  The pads have to be glued onto the T50.  On the right type of ear such as mine the Sony pads created almost a suction or vacuum effect.  They also create a longer than possibly ideal distance between one's ear and the driver.  I found that the pads on the T50 muddied the sound and created a situation in which the driver's speed wasn't getting utilized.  My wife was using the HE-500s for a movie so I figured I'd throw on the AT pads on the T50.  But yes, the Sony pads are soft.  They could use a little more denser material in the foam though.  Too squishy.  Probably ok for the lighter Sony headphones.   
 
 

And obviously they work quite well as they intended it for the XB line. Huh, never thought of that. Thanks for burying that for me.