[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

How many of these rare ortho headphones do you think are in the hands of collectors who don't listen to them?  I don't mean folks on this forum who are into sound, I mean people who aren't really that interested in their sound, but more just their rarity. 

Well, if the 80/20 holds true, then probably 20% are in the hands of collectors who aren't interested in their sound and would never dream of modding them.  It might be a little higher, maybe a little lower... 

 

[rhythmdevils]

What's 80/20 from?  Is that a general rough number for users vs collectors?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

What's 80/20 from?  Is that a general rough number for users vs collectors?

The 80 / 20 Rule. Most things in life are 80/20. 20% of the population controls 80% of the wealth, 20% of a company's customer will account for 80% of their revenue and profits, 20% of the parents do 80% of the volunteer work at a school, only 20% of the coveted headphones are owned by individuals who make 80% of the posts here, or 80% of the posts in this thread are made by 20% of the total members posting... Or as I kind of flipped it, 20% of the collectible headphones are probably owned by individuals who never listen to them or mod them. A sad version would be that probably only 20% of the original thousands made are still in usable condition, probably 80% are broken or trashed many years ago. I'm sure there are many, many more sitting in cabinets, like your folks AKGs were, waiting to be rediscovered.

The 80/20 rule is just a natural breakdown of most things. Sometimes it shifts to 70/30 or 90/10, but for most things it just seems to settle out to 80/20. On Fridays, the productivity ratio can drop to 60/40, only 40% of the employees are even doing 60% of their normal productivity rates.

 

[iQEM]

 
Send me one

, should be fun to compare.
 
In all fairness, I am currently using the LCD-2 as my reference for bass. So, the Kapton ones have even more bass

?
Dunno if I would actually enjoy that.
 
 
 
 

 

lol right now i only had 1 cans (work) for everything which is NAD RP-18 kapton, my DIYcans SFI's are all in comma inside the drawer without any cables attached...h34r:
so you should try ask the other to lend kapton NAD for you...

i only say the bass similar to LCD2 but not even more bassier than LCD2, we comparing both version of NAD's right ? not with LCD2's...

 

[gurubhai]

I have the mylar version, slightly modded to enhance the bass.
A friend of mine recently got a pair of NAD too, but his pair is also mylar driver/balance sounding. His stock pair currently sounds a bit light in bass compared to my modded pair.
 
 

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

Your cry of NAD defiance has roused the troops! prepare for a bombardment of information and anecdote.
 

Yep, it has already become quite cosy here

  I'll have to look after that video link later, it's on the blacklist of the office's proxy...
 
Quote:

The 80 / 20 Rule. Most things in life are 80/20. 20% of the population controls 80% of the wealth, 20% of a company's customer will account for 80% of their revenue and profits, 20% of the parents do 80% of the volunteer work at a school, only 20% of the coveted headphones are owned by individuals who make 80% of the posts here, or 80% of the posts in this thread are made by 20% of the total members posting... Or as I kind of flipped it, 20% of the collectible headphones are probably owned by individuals who never listen to them or mod them. A sad version would be that probably only 20% of the original thousands made are still in usable condition, probably 80% are broken or trashed many years ago. I'm sure there are many, many more sitting in cabinets, like your folks AKGs were, waiting to be rediscovered.

The 80/20 rule is just a natural breakdown of most things. Sometimes it shifts to 70/30 or 90/10, but for most things it just seems to settle out to 80/20. On Fridays, the productivity ratio can drop to 60/40, only 40% of the employees are even doing 60% of their normal productivity rates.

Great post!!!! 

 
 

 

[iQEM]

Quote:

I have the mylar version, slightly modded to enhance the bass.
A friend of mine recently got a pair of NAD too, but his pair is also mylar driver/balance sounding. His stock pair currently sounds a bit light in bass compared to my modded pair.
 
 

 
and i end up selling the mylar one (without any tweaks, except modded kabeer's blutak sealing) right after i purchase the kapton one from ebay.de...
tweak the kapton stock one are more chalenging for me than keep the mylar-one-already-sound-balance...

 

[dyna10x]

On a slightly different tack I just want to report my success with modding my stax lambda pros. After dipping my toes into the ortho waters with a fostex t50rp I learnt how easy it is to mod headphones and also discovered the weaknesses of the lambda pros sound (lack of midrange goodness and etch). I got to the point of thinking I would get rid of them as the fostex showed them up badly. Well after reading iqem's lambda modding exploits I did the following:
1. A bead of plasticine around the driver and the back of the baffle to seal and damp it.
2.Lined the inside vertical wall of the back grill with micropore tape.
3. Filled the space inside of the back grill with sound proofing foam (soft open cell variety) I got from an old washing machine with a hole cut leaving the driver membrane uncovered.
4. Placed a layer of thin but dense felt across the rear inside of the grill which is held against the grill by the foam
5 Replaced the thin foam across the front of the driver in the earpads with the same felt that is used against the back grill.
Resulted in a much improved midrange, great reduction in etch and improved bass  and dynamics. I actually enjoy listening to them now.
Thanks ortho ninjas

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

and i end up selling the mylar one (without any tweaks, except modded kabeer's blutak sealing) right after i purchase the kapton one from ebay.de...
tweak the kapton stock one are more chalenging for me than keep the mylar-one-already-sound-balance...

Slowly but steadily I develop towards wishing that my pair turns out to be a kaplon one...
 
 

 

[iQEM]

On a slightly different tack I just want to report my success with modding my stax lambda pros. After dipping my toes into the ortho waters with a fostex t50rp I learnt how easy it is to mod headphones and also discovered the weaknesses of the lambda pros sound (lack of midrange goodness and etch). I got to the point of thinking I would get rid of them as the fostex showed them up badly. Well after reading iqem's lambda modding exploits I did the following:
1. A bead of plasticine around the driver and the back of the baffle to seal and damp it.
2.Lined the inside vertical wall of the back grill with micropore tape.
3. Filled the space inside of the back grill with sound proofing foam (soft open cell variety) I got from an old washing machine with a hole cut leaving the driver membrane uncovered.
4. Placed a layer of thin but dense felt across the rear inside of the grill which is held against the grill by the foam
5 Replaced the thin foam across the front of the driver in the earpads with the same felt that is used against the back grill.
Resulted in a much improved midrange, great reduction in etch and improved bass  and dynamics. I actually enjoy listening to them now.
Thanks ortho ninjas

very nicely, yes...the owner of the lambda that i had tweak before says it improved and now sounds very similar to his fave SR303 at home, even have the deep bass swing that he never heard comes from a lambda vintage before...
a revision, it's a lambda, not lambda pro...i had crosscheck and the owner confirm it's a vintage lambda, non pro...
well, i think many of Stats users should try damping em, before upgrade the amp or upgrade to total higher setup like many ppl do..

Slowly but steadily I develop towards wishing that my pair turns out to be a kaplon one...
 
 

i'm still believe your upcoming NAD are the kapton one, since Kabeer claim on the link that i share on last page that the difference are on the Y splitter...
kapton are round, and mylar are rectangular...you might want to read it all again and check the picts from your NAD seller to make sure...
i help tweak on my friends mylar version NAD too, so if there's any issues from your upcoming NAD just let us know...

 

[nickchen]

Thank you!!
 
One reason why I want mine to be the bassy one is that I can eventually equip it with super comfortable W11 pads then, I have enough supraaural orthos meanwhile. My buddy NoXter once had those pads on his W1000, great comfort I must say. Actualy it was the only thing I liked about the W1000 at all besides its looks...

 

[Kabeer]

I have the mylar version, slightly modded to enhance the bass.
A friend of mine recently got a pair of NAD too, but his pair is also mylar driver/balance sounding. His stock pair currently sounds a bit light in bass compared to my modded pair.
 
 

Yup the mylars vary a bit from one to another in bass heavyness. But they are all more balanced sounding stock.
Obviously it means it requires less damping, its one or the other.

 

[nickchen]

The eagle has landed. Your systematic was obviously correct, they have the round Y-splitter and have considerable bass, hello kaplon RP18!
 
First impression (besides the slightly muffy vintage smell) is that I don't miss that much SQ-wize. I am sold to that bone dry bass and its rich mids, and I am confident that some presence can be digged out quite easely. Technically, one can hear that this is really a different leage than all the other orthos I've tried until now, I expect it to end up somewhere close to my beloved MS Pro Ulti when everything is tuned in properly.
 

 
Reacts quite well on pad rolling and has enough ooomph for all sorts I tried, but I haven't found ideal pads in my inventory. Sounds okay with J$ pads and with those cheap Superlux ones, but I guess it deserves something "better".
 
Got a slight buzz from one side when it plays hefty deep bass, nothing serious, propably dirt...

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

The eagle has landed. Your systematic was obviously correct, they have the round Y-splitter and have considerable bass, hello kaplon RP18!
 
First impression (besides the slightly muffy vintage smell) is that I don't miss that much SQ-wize. I am sold to that bone dry bass and its rich mids, and I am confident that some presence can be digged out quite easely. Technically, one can hear that this is really a different leage than all the other orthos I've tried until now, I expect it to end up somewhere close to my beloved MS Pro Ulti when everything is tuned in properly.
 

 
Reacts quite well on pad rolling and has enough ooomph for all sorts I tried, but I haven't found ideal pads in my inventory. Sounds okay with J$ pads and with those cheap Superlux ones, but I guess it deserves something "better".
 
Got a slight buzz from one side when it plays hefty deep bass, nothing serious, propably dirt...

That's one impressive pile of pads! It's amazing what a big difference just a pad swap can make.
(Don't forget though that there is another ortho that's actually the Eagle... for a second there, reading just from the forum overview, I thought you had got one of those as well!)

 

[rhythmdevils]

There are some pretty awesome pictures in a Brochure posted in an ebay auction for an HP1.  They don't seem to be on the wikiphonia, not sure if they have been posted here.  I tried to post them, but the editor didn't want me to.  Happy cute homely girl listening to HP1's.