Modding the K340...

[swt61]

I myself am pretty happy with the bass output of mine with My new Darkvoice/Kenrad setup, and now I hear my DAC has mucho bass after modding, so I think I'm set, but still would love to hear how they sound Larry.

If they sound really great will you come up with some kind of outward homage to Grado? Not sure what that would be, but you're just the guy to figure that out.

 

[philodox]

"Onward... I ditched the stock bass driver and have tweaked the mount to accept a Grado "bass" driver, at the same level as stock. I have them on and ready to go. I'm not finished putting them back together, so no results are known to me yet. I suspect I will be happy! I am real curious on how the overall design will sound with the Grado drivers (electrets will still be used). Comparing the stock AKG sound to how they sound on their own, I see no reason why I shouldn't like the result."

I missed this part the first read through.

Cool!

Will it not be an issue using the Grado driver with the electret since one will be 685ohms and the other will be 32ohms? Or will it just lower the overall impedance?

 

[jbloudg20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox "Onward... I ditched the stock bass driver and have tweaked the mount to accept a Grado "bass" driver, at the same level as stock. I have them on and ready to go. I'm not finished putting them back together, so no results are known to me yet. I suspect I will be happy! I am real curious on how the overall design will sound with the Grado drivers (electrets will still be used). Comparing the stock AKG sound to how they sound on their own, I see no reason why I shouldn't like the result." I missed this part the first read through. Cool! Will it not be an issue using the Grado driver with the electret since one will be 685ohms and the other will be 32ohms? Or will it just lower the overall impedance?

It should severly change the impedance... to the sound of ~30ohms according to my calculations.

I would imagine they would need one hell of a current beefy amp.

 

[SonicDawg]

When you guys do the bi-entry recabling, how do you hold the other side of the cable in place, with just one metal plate for one ear cup? I hate it when the unheld side rattles as I move my head around

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicDawg When you guys do the bi-entry recabling, how do you hold the other side of the cable in place, with just one metal plate for one ear cup? I hate it when the unheld side rattles as I move my head around

Make an equivalent and screw it into the other cup. That's what Larry does with his mods...

 

[tyre]

Just wanted to chime in and say that I'm not ever going to mod my K340's. They're staying completely stock. I have faith that the engineers at AKG knew how to produce these headphones to work at their optimum. Besides, I think it's a bad idea to mod a pair of out of production headphones, these aren't easily replaceable as a pair of Grado's.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyre Just wanted to chime in and say that I'm not ever going to mod my K340's. They're staying completely stock. I have faith that the engineers at AKG knew how to produce these headphones to work at their optimum. Besides, I think it's a bad idea to mod a pair of out of production headphones, these aren't easily replaceable as a pair of Grado's.

I am somewhat in agreement. With the old screens, they are not as sonically transparent, but do do a better job at protecting the electret driving from pressure from the ear than Larry's ones. Considering there don't seem to be any NOS electrets any more, that's not such a bad thing.

I found the coiled cable somewhat irritating, though it did actually look to be of high quality - when you factor in this is just a headphone from the '80's, I find it very impressive actually to have a decent 4 conductor cable on a single cable entry headphone.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyre Just wanted to chime in and say that I'm not ever going to mod my K340's. They're staying completely stock. I have faith that the engineers at AKG knew how to produce these headphones to work at their optimum. Besides, I think it's a bad idea to mod a pair of out of production headphones, these aren't easily replaceable as a pair of Grado's.

I respect your opinion though I don't agree with it.

 

[arielext]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyre Just wanted to chime in and say that I'm not ever going to mod my K340's. They're staying completely stock. I have faith that the engineers at AKG knew how to produce these headphones to work at their optimum. Besides, I think it's a bad idea to mod a pair of out of production headphones, these aren't easily replaceable as a pair of Grado's.

that's why I have 2 of them! .. well in the future, none at my place now. One is beging modded by Larry and one will stay stock, so I can switch between them.

 

[swt61]

Well having owned my pair for 20 years before having Larry modify them, I feel I'm at least as qualified as anyone to speek on the subject. Larry's mods quite simply unleash these headphones and take them to a much higher level. Keep them stock if you like, but you're missing out on a top tier headphone in doing so.

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 Well having owned my pair for 20 years before having Larry modify them, I feel I'm at least as qualified as anyone to speek on the subject. Larry's mods quite simply unleash these headphones and take them to a much higher level. Keep them stock if you like, but you're missing out on a top tier headphone in doing so.

Totally agree!

 

[tyre]

.

 

[swt61]

It's quite hard to tell where the major differences come from once modded by Larry, because he does them all at once. I would guess that the cable (whether you subscribe to them or not) and the new screen have a lot to do with the new sound, but can't discount the other mods as being largely benifitial. The wood is strictly esthetic on the K340's, but does play a part in SQ in other headphones.

But the point is that you are simply guessing that they won't sound better modded. I'm quite aware of the differences first hand as are others, and you really should attempt to hear some modded ones before deciding either way. But I do respect your decision to want to keep them stock, I just don't agree that they're better, because AKG designed them that way.

 

[SonicDawg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyre Well, as far as the recable, I'm not a cable believer so I don't think it makes any difference. Adding wood to the case might make a small difference, but I'm doubtful about that also. Changing the cotton dampening has an impact on the sound but not necessarily for the better. I don't really know the specifics of the crossover bypass mod, so it's hard to guess what impact that would have. Is the electret driver just connected directly in parallel with the dynamic driver (and not connected to the step-up transformer anymore)?

While I respect the engineering ability of the AKG R&D team, I have to say that the K340 in its stock form is simply not as well-rounded and refined as the modded version. I guess it all comes down to personal preference, but I can't see how better defined bass and extended high's of the mod can be a bad thing, despite that it goes against a decades old design.

 

[arielext]

I just want my babies back