KT88
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2004
- Posts
- 948
- Likes
- 26
After getting the DV 336i upgraded I turned to my K340's.
During my first mod attempt I broke one part of the headphones. Since I had to order the parts from AKG in Germany, I bought a few extra parts for modding.
Before the package from AKG arrived I tweaked the elastics so the can will sit on my head better.
Yesterday the package from AKG finally arrived. First 2 thigs I did was put the new plastics where the old ones were, and put on the velour pads.
Unfortunatley, the velour pads affect the sound a bit, and I lost abit of the mid-high magic of the K340's.
Today I sat down to do my next mod, the screen mod. Since it is cheap, easy, and very good in terms of comfort and sound I wanted to make a guide, so there it is, the K340's screen mod guide:
First thing I did was use a very small cutter made for electronics to cut a rought circle in the plastic screens:
Next, I used a rounded file to smooth the surface until it was completley rounded:
Lst thing I did to preaper the screens for the fabric was to smooth the plastics completley with glass paper (I used a paper number 150):
At the end the plastic will look like this:
Now, after getting the plastic grills ready for the fabric, I had to choose the fabric. As expected, I used a very light fabric so it wont affect the sound. Applying the fabric is very is. you put it over the plastic, strech it a bit so it will fit well, and tie it in the back so it wont move. I used a special glue made for fabric and plastic. It costs about 5$ and will last for at least 10 grills
after letting the glue set for 30 minutes what I recived was this:
As can be seen in the next photo, the diffrence is amazing:
The diffrence once on the headphones is even bigger and the electret can be seen much easier:
before:
After:
Please pardon my bad English, I hope it is easy to understand this mod with the pictures
Now, to the most important part, the sound. Well, not yet. First I want to mention that since I have large ears, the plasric grills were putting preasure on my ears and after about an hour my ears would hurt. Now, the headphons are much more comfortable. The velour pads with the streched elastics, with the new screens make these cans one of the best in terms of comfort.
Well, now wee can go on to the sound
After a few hours of listening I can honestly say that this is the best mod ever! The bass in punchier and "fuller", yet very detailed and tight. The mids and highs are even better now with much better resolution, detail, accuracy, and decay. The sound also became much "larger" with wider and deeper sound stage yet very good imaging, the best I have heard so far in headphones (and I have heard many of them including the W5000's, O2's, and many others).
This is a very easy and cheap mod with amazing affect on sound. I do hope this guide will help others in getting it done. I will probably have a recable in the next few weeks once I'll decide on a cable. I will also play around with the filling of the cup, and the size/shape of the hole in the back of the cup. I also hope I'll be able to find a nice wooden part to make these woodies
Anatoli.
During my first mod attempt I broke one part of the headphones. Since I had to order the parts from AKG in Germany, I bought a few extra parts for modding.
Before the package from AKG arrived I tweaked the elastics so the can will sit on my head better.
Yesterday the package from AKG finally arrived. First 2 thigs I did was put the new plastics where the old ones were, and put on the velour pads.
Unfortunatley, the velour pads affect the sound a bit, and I lost abit of the mid-high magic of the K340's.
Today I sat down to do my next mod, the screen mod. Since it is cheap, easy, and very good in terms of comfort and sound I wanted to make a guide, so there it is, the K340's screen mod guide:
First thing I did was use a very small cutter made for electronics to cut a rought circle in the plastic screens:
Next, I used a rounded file to smooth the surface until it was completley rounded:
Lst thing I did to preaper the screens for the fabric was to smooth the plastics completley with glass paper (I used a paper number 150):
At the end the plastic will look like this:
Now, after getting the plastic grills ready for the fabric, I had to choose the fabric. As expected, I used a very light fabric so it wont affect the sound. Applying the fabric is very is. you put it over the plastic, strech it a bit so it will fit well, and tie it in the back so it wont move. I used a special glue made for fabric and plastic. It costs about 5$ and will last for at least 10 grills
after letting the glue set for 30 minutes what I recived was this:
As can be seen in the next photo, the diffrence is amazing:
The diffrence once on the headphones is even bigger and the electret can be seen much easier:
before:
After:
Please pardon my bad English, I hope it is easy to understand this mod with the pictures
Now, to the most important part, the sound. Well, not yet. First I want to mention that since I have large ears, the plasric grills were putting preasure on my ears and after about an hour my ears would hurt. Now, the headphons are much more comfortable. The velour pads with the streched elastics, with the new screens make these cans one of the best in terms of comfort.
Well, now wee can go on to the sound
After a few hours of listening I can honestly say that this is the best mod ever! The bass in punchier and "fuller", yet very detailed and tight. The mids and highs are even better now with much better resolution, detail, accuracy, and decay. The sound also became much "larger" with wider and deeper sound stage yet very good imaging, the best I have heard so far in headphones (and I have heard many of them including the W5000's, O2's, and many others).
This is a very easy and cheap mod with amazing affect on sound. I do hope this guide will help others in getting it done. I will probably have a recable in the next few weeks once I'll decide on a cable. I will also play around with the filling of the cup, and the size/shape of the hole in the back of the cup. I also hope I'll be able to find a nice wooden part to make these woodies
Anatoli.
