iSleipnir
1000+ Head-Fier
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- May 9, 2005
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The recent K-340 threads and pictures have got me to wondering how many variation and versions there are, so I took the two I own apart and photographed the internals, then scoured head-fi for pictures others have taken and saved those too. Below are pictures of all the internals I could find. Listed by owner/photographer.
Sleipnir 1
Sleipnir 2
E.B.M.Head
SonicDawg
Larry
Here are the differences I found:
Electrostat: Some have a gold colored foil, and some have a silver colored foil.
Dynamic Drivers: The colors found are black, grey, red.
Dynamic Driver Center The colors found are red grey, black and green.
Dampening Material: In almost all of the version it is a white cotton but in my alternative pair it is some other multi-colored cotton material.
Crossover PCB: There appears to be 2 (3?) constuction. One step-up transformer is flat and apparently glued to the board, the other is attached with yellow painted screw. As for the third in the pic above I have not heard or seen anything about it posted, but there it is.
Headband: It is already well know that there are two headbands, one that has "AKG" across the top in silver letters and one without.
Soundwise there have been two different versions document. Quoting aerius:
"Yesterday head-fi member philodox came over at my place for a K340 mini-meet and dissection session. First off, our K340's sound radically different, his is a bit bass shy and has much better treble extension and detail than mine. Mine had a boatload of bass, a slightly echoey midrange, and rolled off highs. Overall, his is a lot more refined sounding."
Between my two versions I would say that the one with the all grey passive drivers is the "bass heavy" one. Though in reality, the one with the partially green passive driver has less sound in the low mid-range/upper-bass, as well has a more prominent upper range. Despite this difference I still think they both sound like a K-340. There is something about the soundquality that identifies it.
So hopefully this will encourage others to open up their K-340's and post their findings. My other hope is that at the members going to the national meet will be able to compare their versions and try to decide how many different sound signatures there are (rather than how many minor variations within that sound signature there are) and clear up this mystery finally.
-Nick
Sleipnir 1
Sleipnir 2
E.B.M.Head
SonicDawg
Larry
Here are the differences I found:
Electrostat: Some have a gold colored foil, and some have a silver colored foil.
Dynamic Drivers: The colors found are black, grey, red.
Dynamic Driver Center The colors found are red grey, black and green.
Dampening Material: In almost all of the version it is a white cotton but in my alternative pair it is some other multi-colored cotton material.
Crossover PCB: There appears to be 2 (3?) constuction. One step-up transformer is flat and apparently glued to the board, the other is attached with yellow painted screw. As for the third in the pic above I have not heard or seen anything about it posted, but there it is.
Headband: It is already well know that there are two headbands, one that has "AKG" across the top in silver letters and one without.
Soundwise there have been two different versions document. Quoting aerius:
"Yesterday head-fi member philodox came over at my place for a K340 mini-meet and dissection session. First off, our K340's sound radically different, his is a bit bass shy and has much better treble extension and detail than mine. Mine had a boatload of bass, a slightly echoey midrange, and rolled off highs. Overall, his is a lot more refined sounding."
Between my two versions I would say that the one with the all grey passive drivers is the "bass heavy" one. Though in reality, the one with the partially green passive driver has less sound in the low mid-range/upper-bass, as well has a more prominent upper range. Despite this difference I still think they both sound like a K-340. There is something about the soundquality that identifies it.
So hopefully this will encourage others to open up their K-340's and post their findings. My other hope is that at the members going to the national meet will be able to compare their versions and try to decide how many different sound signatures there are (rather than how many minor variations within that sound signature there are) and clear up this mystery finally.
-Nick
