[wje]

Very nice work!  You have the right tools for the job and it's great to see creativity in action.
 
Enjoy!

 

[kopral 21]

nice job.. good idea... goood tolls.. hope i get some tools like you'r .. i plant to build new bambo cup.. 

 

[westinlennox]

Sweet mod.  I have been planning on trying this myself...

 

[PintoDave]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! Its been awhile since I updated here!

Changed the connector out for a Rean 1/8" and cut new cups out of some cocobolo, much nicer tonewood, deffinite difference in sound signiture.

Also got an Onyx Manta headband from turbulent labs, which really enhances these headphones and gives them a much higher quality feel and comfort.



Definitely don't feel cheap anymore, nor do they sound cheap!

Next up are some custom gimbles and eventually a viablu mini 1/8" plug. Just can't justify the cost of it yet, but the plug is so darn nice its almost erotic!

 

[pwyll]

Quote:

...
My wife got me a drill press of my own for x-mas. I need to get some forstner bits of my own and I plan to start pumping out some wood cups for you guys, at an affordable price, think $10 - $40 per pair depending on wood type. Need to experiment with techniques first though.

 
Are you still thinking about offering cups at some point?
 

 

[PintoDave]

pwyll, I may some time down the road, but at the moment I don't have the time to produce them on any given schedule. Work has be pretty busy, as well as some legal things going on in the personal life. I plan to buy a nice lathe or shop smith, though. Then I will be able to produce cups at low cost, and at my own residence. I have been doing most of my work at my parents when it comes to cup turning, however.
 
I did get an afternoon to finish the custom gimbals!
 
They are made from 3" diameter aluminum tubing, with a 1/4" wall and 2.5" inner diameter.
 
I had no way of cutting through such large pipe, nor did my dad's shop. So I added another tool to my own "shop" (read "shed"), and bought a 14" heavy duty cut off saw with a 24 grit wheel.
 

 
 
This cut through the tubing with ease, and quickly. A bit rough edge, but nothing some sanding didn't take care of. I started with 80 grit to get the deep scratches out from the cut, then worked up to 120, 220, 320, 400, 600 and finished with 800, which left a nice shine!
 

 
Next up was to drill the holes for the adjusting rods and the cup suspension pins. I also cut a notch for the cable on the left side ring. The adjusting rod hole was tapped to 6-32 to accommodate the 6-32 threaded 1/8" stainless steel rod used. The suspension pins are made from the same 1/8" stainless steel rod and cut at 11/16" lengths, nothing done to make them pretty but file the rough cut edges.
 

 
Here are the rings with all corresponding parts, layed out. The black caps for the adjusting rods are recycled from the stock Grado gimbals. The same 1/8" shaft collars with tap screws were reused, and 1/8" o-rings are used between the cup and the gimbal to keep things centered and uniform.
 

 
I pained the rings satin black, however when the finances allow, I plan to have them powder coated semi-gloss black, to avoid scratches and chips down the road. For now, they look pretty darn nice!
 

 
 
And even better on the headphones!
 

 

 
I'm not 100% comfortable with the press and friction fit of the suspension pins, and am currently playing with ideas to make the more secure, for more peace of mind they won't come apart at inconvenient times.
 
Other than some ideas with the suspension pins, these cans are done! Really nothing left to mod on them now.

 

[pwyll]

  pwyll, I may some time down the road, but at the moment I don't have the time to produce them on any given schedule. Work has be pretty busy, as well as some legal things going on in the personal life. I plan to buy a nice lathe or shop smith, though. Then I will be able to produce cups at low cost, and at my own residence. I have been doing most of my work at my parents when it comes to cup turning, however.

 
It's frustrating how life insists on happening despite personal plans sometimes.  Good luck with everything going on, and with everything you want to get going 
 
 

 
I did get an afternoon to finish the custom gimbals!
 
...  
Other than some ideas with the suspension pins, these cans are done! Really nothing left to mod on them now.

 
Beautiful job.  I would say "inspiring," but that would imply I would like try to do something even remotely similar and that's way beyond my means or skill--so will call your work enviable.
 
Thanks for sharing 

 

[willyvlyminck]

Lund sThe first thing I noticed after putting them on was the l-cush pads are now.much more comfortable with the driver further away from the ear.

The highs are not as harsh, softer and similar to my sennheiser he 280 cans. The bass is much more present as well, not so much left in the background as before. I am not a huge basshead but I like my trance and rock to have some body to it and a present beat through out. A lot of the trance I listen to haas a ot of bass tracks that now more defined and noticible. The mids are still pretty much the same, smooth.

I listen to them every chance I get, and don't feel that I wasted any time or money in them!

The soundstage is much better as well, which is what I was aiming for with the 11.5mm distancers.

Why did you choose the SR80i instead of the 60, because those are cheaper and you actually rebuild the whole Thing so that only the divers matter, wich brings us to the Driver question, but as far as I could read the Prestige Serie have all the same Driver, or how do you see this?

 

[willyvlyminck]

  pwyll, I may some time down the road, but at the moment I don't have the time to produce them on any given schedule. Work has be pretty busy, as well as some legal things going on in the personal life. I plan to buy a nice lathe or shop smith, though. Then I will be able to produce cups at low cost, and at my own residence. I have been doing most of my work at my parents when it comes to cup turning, however.
 
I did get an afternoon to finish the custom gimbals!
 
They are made from 3" diameter aluminum tubing, with a 1/4" wall and 2.5" inner diameter.
 
I had no way of cutting through such large pipe, nor did my dad's shop. So I added another tool to my own "shop" (read "shed"), and bought a 14" heavy duty cut off saw with a 24 grit wheel.
 

 
 
This cut through the tubing with ease, and quickly. A bit rough edge, but nothing some sanding didn't take care of. I started with 80 grit to get the deep scratches out from the cut, then worked up to 120, 220, 320, 400, 600 and finished with 800, which left a nice shine!
 

 
Next up was to drill the holes for the adjusting rods and the cup suspension pins. I also cut a notch for the cable on the left side ring. The adjusting rod hole was tapped to 6-32 to accommodate the 6-32 threaded 1/8" stainless steel rod used. The suspension pins are made from the same 1/8" stainless steel rod and cut at 11/16" lengths, nothing done to make them pretty but file the rough cut edges.
 

 
Here are the rings with all corresponding parts, layed out. The black caps for the adjusting rods are recycled from the stock Grado gimbals. The same 1/8" shaft collars with tap screws were reused, and 1/8" o-rings are used between the cup and the gimbal to keep things centered and uniform.
 

 
I pained the rings satin black, however when the finances allow, I plan to have them powder coated semi-gloss black, to avoid scratches and chips down the road. For now, they look pretty darn nice!
 

 
 
And even better on the headphones!
 

 

 
I'm not 100% comfortable with the press and friction fit of the suspension pins, and am currently playing with ideas to make the more secure, for more peace of mind they won't come apart at inconvenient times.
 
Other than some ideas with the suspension pins, these cans are done! Really nothing left to mod on them now.

Asthonisching result, intresting would be to know, at what cost you did get this result considering the RS2i cost 499 USD, and come they Close to the Sound of the latter?

 

[PintoDave]

  Asthonisching result, intresting would be to know, at what cost you did get this result considering the RS2i cost 499 USD, and come they Close to the Sound of the latter?

 
Total that I have spent is about $270 including all of my current modifications. That includes the headphones, wood, raw materials for the gimbles, headband, and the cable and connector.
 
As far as comparison, I think this is the closest I could get to the RS series. I have not used the RS2i but I have used the RS1. The RS1, of coarse, sounds more balanced across the sound spectrum, but the RS1 also uses a better driver. The SR-80i I have here, with the modifications, sounds smooth and pleasant, to me, and is truly a pleasure to put on and listen to music with at the end of a long day.
 
What I have found made a bigger difference with how they sound, is using a tube amp. I built an SSMH amp and it really brings them to life!
 

  Why did you choose the SR80i instead of the 60, because those are cheaper and you actually rebuild the whole Thing so that only the divers matter, wich brings us to the Driver question, but as far as I could read the Prestige Serie have all the same Driver, or how do you see this?

I actually purchased a set of SR-60 cans after I did my SR-80i, for comparison reasons. I can tell you that, in my experience, the SR-60 sounds much more "raw" compared to the 80i. The highs seem to be harsher, but I do like the mid-range on the 60 drivers just a bit more. Bass seems to be even across the board there. A lot of the music I listen to hits everything from lows to highs, and I just find that the tamed highs on the 80i allows me to listen longer before my ears can't handle it anymore.

 

[willyvlyminck]

This is the way, I will go too, altrough I am not a diy unfortunately,but according to what you say,there seems to be a difference in drivers,but I will start with the 80 as wel. I have only the in ear IGI, and I like the great dynamics. I listen mainly to prog - avant rock, the kind you find on US label Cuneiform, Magma, Present, etc.

 

[PintoDave]

As a side note, the sr60 I have is my guinea pig set for mods and cup materials. It currently has a set of mahogany cups with starquad cable, DIY leather headband and my prototype set of aluminum gimbles. Not pretty but they sound decent

 

[WillyW0nka]

Would you consider selling a set of those aluminum gimbals?

 

[PintoDave]

I have considered selling them, but the amount of time involved with producing them (I have less free time now than when I made these), and the limited tooling that I have available to me, the cost of time investment and materials comes out to around $100 - $120 for a set. and they cannot be guaranteed against defects.
 
The aluminum tubing I used for cutting the rings from is a high strength grade, and expensive. I did do a set for a fellow here, using lower grade aluminum and brazed a copper rod to the ring, also did a set by brazing a steel rod to the aluminum. Total amount of time to produce those two sets as well as a prototype for experimenting techniques took about four weeks with a total of about 30 hours from start to finished and mailed product.
 
While I personally would pay the mentioned price for a set of these, that is purely because I admire the strength, and appearance of them. I also handle my Grado's with care, and if I were to sell them to those who are not as careful with their headphones, I cannot guarantee any build quality.