[Oregonian]

I was  reading the tour comments and I noted a well written comment from one reviewer saying he didn't find the listen enjoyable. I thought something must be up, so I blew the  whistle to call the Dog home.

I left a screw out on the baffle assembly.  I built all the first units, so I own it.  The screw wasn't loose under the pad so this was my error in assembly.  The effect of that screw missing is to non-linearize and reduce the bass and harden the sound.  The hole was likely covered well by the pad but as the pad compressed from multiple shipping and uses (as should be expected) it probably allowed the hole to be exposed. 

I've fixed it up and will send it to the next reviewer, MLE.  If any of the earlier reviewers want to hear it again it's worth it. 

Count me in. It left here to go to Seattle so might have been degrading. Either way I'd like to make sure what I heard was real before I buy one, so please put me back on the list.

 

[miceblue]

Well if Oregonian is in, I'd be interested in hearing the Alpha Dog properly tuned.

 

[hans030390]

I would be willing to re-evaluate the AD.

 

[eac3]

  I left a screw out on the baffle assembly.  I built all the first units, so I own it.  The screw wasn't loose under the pad so this was my error in assembly.  The effect of that screw missing is to non-linearize and reduce the bass and harden the sound.  The hole was likely covered well by the pad but as the pad compressed from multiple shipping and uses (as should be expected) it probably allowed the hole to be exposed. 
 

 
Just to make sure I understand. There is supposed to be a screw present. When present, it is supposed to be loose. The Alpha Dogs on tour did not have said screw in the first place.

 

[mrspeakers]

   
Just to make sure I understand. There is supposed to be a screw present. When present, it is supposed to be loose. The Alpha Dogs on tour did not have said screw in the first place.

 
No, this is an assembly screw on the baffle.  There are 20 screws in each headphone,14 get taken out repeatedly to tune each phone (tuning can require 0-10 iterations).  We did a simple process change back in October to fix this, we build and tune one phone at a time and have trays for the screws so we never have one left.  Old mechanic's trick. 
 
 

 

[vincent215]

is there anyway that you can mark the factory position of it Dan?

 

[JeremyR]

  is there anyway that you can mark the factory position of it Dan?

The screw he is talking about you should never see.
 
As for the bass screw, he marks the number of turns on the the inside of the headband. He has a youtube video out there to explain how to adjust the bass screw.

 

[mrspeakers]

Correct, this is not a user service screw or anything.  The reason it affects the sound is that it exposes the inside of the cup to the ear-side of the baffle with a pinhole, that affects the sound.

 

[koolas]

I played with screw a bit, and I think I ended up with half-turn brighter signature than the default setting. Must say I love it this way. I was wondering what would happen if I opened port even more, but it says on the tool not to abuse it, so I'm leaving it as is. Sound is great, definitely worth $600

There is one thing in particular that blew me away, and it is binaural sound. I just got one of those binaural records by Dr. Chesky's, and listening to it right now. It feels epic, essentially epic

 

[pdrm360]

Does anyone know adjusting the bass on the Alpha Dogs how effect the mids and highs?

 

[Greed]

  Does anyone know adjusting the bass on the Alpha Dogs how effect the mids and highs?

 
There were impressions regarding the bass screw earlier in the thread. Try to search 

 

[kstuart]

  Does anyone know adjusting the bass on the Alpha Dogs how effect the mids and highs?

Since headphones are right over your ears, increasing the bass on headphones will lower the mids and highs.

 

[kstuart]

Remember that when you are sitting in a room listening to speakers, you can feel the bass as well as hear it with your ears.
 
So, when we use headphones, if we connect the exact same "flat" sound that we heard on the speakers, it will sound like there is less bass.
 
In other words, if you have headphones with perfect flat frequency response, they will sound a little "bass light" to most people.
 
Thus many headphones increase the bass to try to make it sound comparable to using speakers.  In the process, this lowers the level of everything else (mids and highs).   This is why headphones that are considered to be "detailed" are ones that do not increase the bass in this way.

 

[pdrm360]

  Remember that when you are sitting in a room listening to speakers, you can feel the bass as well as hear it with your ears.
 
So, when we use headphones, if we connect the exact same "flat" sound that we heard on the speakers, it will sound like there is less bass.
 
In other words, if you have headphones with perfect flat frequency response, they will sound a little "bass light" to most people.
 
Thus many headphones increase the bass to try to make it sound comparable to using speakers.  In the process, this lowers the level of everything else (mids and highs).   This is why headphones that are considered to be "detailed" are ones that do not increase the bass in this way.

 
I wanted to know adjusting the bass on the AD could change the flat frequency response of the mids and highs parts.

 

[kstuart]

  I wanted to know adjusting the bass on the AD could change the flat frequency response of the mids and highs parts.

In theory, it ought not to change the response of the frequencies above the bass, except (as I mentioned) relative to the bass (i.e. the whole mid-and-treble will be down as a whole, relative to the bass).
 
However, you are changing things inside a closed acoustic space, so it is possible that there could be unanticipated effects.
 
This is where MrSpeakers might be able to shed some light, of course.