[BWAS1000]

I've always liked the look and comfort of beats, but never fancied the price and bass heavy sound. So after lurking through eBay I found some lookalikes for 10 dollars. Don't even have the logo. So I got to thinking, since the drivers in that will be horrible, why not throw in some Koss 60 Ohm drivers on there? So that's what I plan to do. I've never modded any headphones before so I made this thread a while in advance to ask for help, tips, advice, whatever you guys can give. I was planning to use a KSC75 as the donor pair, unless there is a cheaper pair with the drivers. Also, anyway I can make it single entry with a removable cable?

 

[nikongod]

For the ~$30 it will cost this sounds like a fun project/experiment. 
 
Some things you should look out for and be aware of:
1: Driver size. The physical diameter. No, I don't know what they are. Crack the cheap knock-off headphones open and measure. 
 
2: Odds are good that nobody really knows how to open the headphones you have. You will be very alone here. To some this is scary, to others exciting. 
 
3: Actually, you will be alone for most of this. 
 
4: If at all possible, try to make this reversible. It would suck if you hot-glued some nice(ish) drivers into a cheap headphone body only to have the headphone shell break in half 2 weeks later... Try to minimize glue usage. 
 
5: Before you start any of this, you may want to try your hand at recabling the stock Koss headphones. Just to get a feel for it and gain experience. Its kind of rough trying to gain experience when you are on your own....
 
6: The actual headphone "housing" often has an effect on sound.

 

[line6scott]

I did something similar. I put some Koss KSC75 drivers into a Sennheiser HD202 housing. I also made a detachable cable out of an old stereo Mogami guitar cable and some 3.5mm jacks I already had. I also did a 100ohm resister mod. Wired in series with the signal sides. They sound pretty good. I use them with my portable setup. I'd post pics, but it says my account is not allowed to for whatever reason... 

 

[BWAS1000]

  For the ~$30 it will cost this sounds like a fun project/experiment. 
 
Some things you should look out for and be aware of:
1: Driver size. The physical diameter. No, I don't know what they are. Crack the cheap knock-off headphones open and measure. 
 
2: Odds are good that nobody really knows how to open the headphones you have. You will be very alone here. To some this is scary, to others exciting. 
 
3: Actually, you will be alone for most of this. 
 
4: If at all possible, try to make this reversible. It would suck if you hot-glued some nice(ish) drivers into a cheap headphone body only to have the headphone shell break in half 2 weeks later... Try to minimize glue usage. 
 
5: Before you start any of this, you may want to try your hand at recabling the stock Koss headphones. Just to get a feel for it and gain experience. Its kind of rough trying to gain experience when you are on your own....
 
6: The actual headphone "housing" often has an effect on sound.

 
 

  I did something similar. I put some Koss KSC75 drivers into a Sennheiser HD202 housing. I also made a detachable cable out of an old stereo Mogami guitar cable and some 3.5mm jacks I already had. I also did a 100ohm resister mod. Wired in series with the signal sides. They sound pretty good. I use them with my portable setup. I'd post pics, but it says my account is not allowed to for whatever reason... 

I realise I'd be out of luck with the specifics, but I mean any general Driver transplant tips? I was planning to use KSC-75s, unless there are cheaper 60 Ohm Driver headphones.

 

[nikongod]

  I did something similar. I put some Koss KSC75 drivers into a Sennheiser HD202 housing. I also made a detachable cable out of an old stereo Mogami guitar cable and some 3.5mm jacks I already had. I also did a 100ohm resister mod. Wired in series with the signal sides. They sound pretty good. I use them with my portable setup. I'd post pics, but it says my account is not allowed to for whatever reason... 

 
I think you need more posts. 
 
If they are hosted off-site (flickr, Picasa, imageshack, etc) you should still be able to link to them, or embed them. 

 

[line6scott]

I realise I'd be out of luck with the specifics, but I mean any general Driver transplant tips? I was planning to use KSC-75s, unless there are cheaper 60 Ohm Driver headphones.

If there are, I don't know about them. There may be cheaper ones out there, but I doubt they will be as good. The koss drivers are tough to beat for the price.

 

[line6scott]

I think you need more posts. 

If they are hosted off-site (flickr, Picasa, imageshack, etc) you should still be able to link to them, or embed them. 

Yeah, I figured. I guess I can use off sight.

 

[BWAS1000]

If there are, I don't know about them. There may be cheaper ones out there, but I doubt they will be as good. The koss drivers are tough to beat for the price.

I wonder how good the 32 Ohm ones are. I want a UR20 but it may not be smart if it sounds like butt.
 

Yeah, I figured. I guess I can use off sight.

Well pics or it didn't happen

 

[line6scott]

  I wonder how good the 32 Ohm ones are. I want a UR20 but it may not be smart if it sounds like butt.
 
Well pics or it didn't happen

 
There you go!

 

[BWAS1000]

 
 
There you go!

Looks pretty cool. I have 13.28 in ebay Bucks so I can get the knockoff literally for free. I'm looking forward to this mod. IF thats all the tips you guys have I guess jsut sit tight until I update it with the actual mod.

 

[line6scott]

  Looks pretty cool. I have 13.28 in ebay Bucks so I can get the knockoff literally for free. I'm looking forward to this mod. IF thats all the tips you guys have I guess jsut sit tight until I update it with the actual mod.

Make sure not to overheat the soldering terminals on the Koss's. the glue that holds on the little PCB that has the terminals on it melts and detaches easily. If it comes off, you are pretty much guarantied to break the little copper wire that forms the speaker coil. Take your time. Don't overdue it and use good copper cabling if you re-cable. I'd make it detachable if you have the stuff. If you don't have it on hand, I wouldn't. I did this as a test, to see if the open back Koss drives sounded good closed. Failed. But after I drilled the holes though, they sounded really good.  

 

[BWAS1000]

 
Make sure not to overheat the soldering terminals on the Koss's. the glue that holds on the little PCB that has the terminals on it melts and detaches easily. If it comes off, you are pretty much guarantied to break the little copper wire that forms the speaker coil. Take your time. Don't overdue it and use good copper cabling if you re-cable. I'd make it detachable if you have the stuff. If you don't have it on hand, I wouldn't. I did this as a test, to see if the open back Koss drives sounded good closed. Failed. But after I drilled the holes though, they sounded really good.  

I think the fake beats have a detachable cable already, I'll jsut use those I guess.