[digitalmind]

I always thought it sounded quite badly, so I recently attacked it.

I balanced it last week:

It still sounded badly, though a bit quicker.


Then, today, I went mad:

The victim:

No going back now.

Definitely no going back now!

Couple minutes later, test fitting.

Finished!

Needs felt in front of it, though it looks cool this way. It's a better finish than it seems on the pictures, the rods sticking out of the drivers mounting make it look like it isn't perfectly round, but it is.

It still sounds badly, though the soundstage has become hugely wide. Vocals sounds nasal so I'll have to expirement with dampening behind the drivers. Ofcourse, I still need to finish it with some speaker felt.

 

[NelsonVandal]

Cool to see someone doing as crazy mods as I do. IMO the front chamber is just as important as the rear chamber. Using different foam in the pads, cloth/no cloth, fill up empty space in front chamber etc. If the baffle is open or closed or something in between also make a big difference. Happy modding! Please report on further tweaking.

Oh, and junk in front of the driver also makes a lot of difference, but removing it is really a no return mod.

 

[digitalmind]

Crazy mods are cool! I've added dampening material and nice black felt.

 

[mrarroyo]

How does it sound following the "cover up"?

 

[dBel84]

I am curious too as I have had these for a while now and although I enjoy using them, they have a distinct signature. The bass can be well controlled by a high grade amp but it is still a little much for me. I have found that it sounds best with my Cavalli-Kumisa III , which is very neutral. I had seen a woodied version with a grill/cover plug and wondered how this would change their sound? thanx for the crazed attack, you are either a brave man indeed or in need of some lithium

..dB

 

[vo328]

Wow... those 770s look surprisingly nice in the last couple of shots!

 

[Sh0eBoX]

that's pretty intense! great job though it looks very clean after the felt was added. btw your pads are beat up! ever consider getting replacements?

 

[SysteX]

That's awesome. How about an update on the sound now that you have the backing material in?

 

[digitalmind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif How does it sound following the "cover up"?

Better, though still not entirely there...
Soundstage has increased, as has bass control though surprisingly the bass has increased a bit in volume. Soundstage has become wiiiiiiiideeeee, like Ultrasone wide. Overall, the sound is quicker and better in the highs. Vocals still sound a bit weird. They sound like they are played live at a concert, through a concerts sound system, rather than directly from the artist. Will need to play around with more dampening, although I do quite like the effect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dBel84 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am curious too as I have had these for a while now and although I enjoy using them, they have a distinct signature. The bass can be well controlled by a high grade amp but it is still a little much for me. I have found that it sounds best with my Cavalli-Kumisa III , which is very neutral. I had seen a woodied version with a grill/cover plug and wondered how this would change their sound? thanx for the crazed attack, you are either a brave man indeed or in need of some lithium ..dB

The bass can be controlled with a powerful solid state amp, but it'll still be a slow headphone. In all honesty, if a open woodied DT770 sounded like this one in the beginning, I would never buy one... There's still some way to go before this sounds as it should. Opening these up has given them a real "concert" sound, instead of a monitoring sound like they used to have (sans the big bass).

Quote:

Originally Posted by vo328 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow... those 770s look surprisingly nice in the last couple of shots!

Thanks, I was pretty surprised at how nice the speaker felt works and looks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh0eBoX /img/forum/go_quote.gif that's pretty intense! great job though it looks very clean after the felt was added. btw your pads are beat up! ever consider getting replacements?

Thanks, though I still have some finishing to do. For instance, I just quickly shaved off the lettering but that needs more sanding at a higher grit to become smooth.

Yeah, the pads are beat up. I'll get new ones eventually.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SysteX /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's awesome. How about an update on the sound now that you have the backing material in?

See my reply to Mrarroyo.

I like the way there are now, fully black, but I'm also playing with the idea of painting them some other color. Hmm.

 

[NelsonVandal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalmind /img/forum/go_quote.gif Better, though still not entirely there... Soundstage has increased, as has bass control though surprisingly the bass has increased a bit in volume. Soundstage has become wiiiiiiiideeeee, like Ultrasone wide. Overall, the sound is quicker and better in the highs. Vocals still sound a bit weird. They sound like they are played live at a concert, through a concerts sound system, rather than directly from the artist. Will need to play around with more dampening, although I do quite like the effect.

Funny, this is almost exactly the way I experienced DT880 and 990 Pro. I never bought them, and got Sennheiser HD650 instead. By this mod you have made yourself a pair of 990 Pro's

. They use the same drivers.

 

[digitalmind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NelsonVandal /img/forum/go_quote.gif Funny, this is almost exactly the way I experienced DT880 and 990 Pro. I never bought them, and got Sennheiser HD650 instead. By this mod you have made yourself a pair of 990 Pro's . They use the same drivers.

Interesting on the drivers, I suspected that.
I'm going to experiment with different amounts of filling tonight. I think it needs more, though not sure what the effect will be. I love this huge open soundstage!

 

[The Monkey]

Do you happen to have any pics (or advice) regarding the balanced recabling?

 

[digitalmind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Monkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you happen to have any pics (or advice) regarding the balanced recabling?

No, but I can make them if you want. It's really very simple.
There's a small PCB in the left cup which routes the cables to the black cable from the left to the right cup (and finally to the right driver). You can simply solder your wires for the right cup onto there. For the left driver, just solder them onto the driver. There's plenty of space to work with, and fairly large soldering spots.

Replace the ground line with the negative signal, and the plus with the positive. Dump the ground, though connect it to your wires shielding on the amp side.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I'm working on my own mod for these and am finally at the stage of reconnecting the drivers, however, I don't know which one is which (by this I mean which is ground on the driver itself). I tried figuring out by the wires, but for some reason one side has brown and white and the other has green and yellow.

Hmm, I found a little thing I wrote just after taking them apart. The green was the left prong and the yellow the right. I'm guessing the green was ground. I would guess that brown is the ground on the other one.

So is it the left prong (when looking at the back of the driver enclosure with the prongs pointing downard) the ground?

 

[digitalmind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkswordsman17 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm working on my own mod for these and am finally at the stage of reconnecting the drivers, however, I don't know which one is which (by this I mean which is ground on the driver itself). I tried figuring out by the wires, but for some reason one side has brown and white and the other has green and yellow. Hmm, I found a little thing I wrote just after taking them apart. The green was the left prong and the yellow the right. I'm guessing the green was ground. I would guess that brown is the ground on the other one. So is it the left prong (when looking at the back of the driver enclosure with the prongs pointing downard) the ground?

If you have the drivers turned that the connecting plates are pointed upwards, the left one is the ground. Green (or green striped with yellow) is a common color for ground when either black or brown isn't available. So you're right, the green and browns are the grounds (or negative poles if you go balanced).