[chrislangley4253]

any suggestions on a place to buy that contact cleaner? 

 

[wualta]

St. Louis should have at least one old electronics shop inhabited by crusty old men. Find that one and you'll have your choice of contact cleaners. On AK we like Caig's DeoxIT, which is available online via Zzounds, Amazon and Parts Express.

 

[ardgedee]

DeoxiT is available in RadioShack brick and mortar locations now. You can use RS's website to see if your friendly local stocks it. They also have a lower-cost house-brand contact cleaner.
 
Like most things Radio Shack sells, you can get it cheaper online but it beats waiting for the postman when you're in a hurry.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

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Mostly it gives you backwave control, but it also gives you opportunities to tune. There's room for damping material, and of course you can fool with the earpads as well. In my case, since a previous owner had messed up my YHD-2 somehow, the drivers needed a new home.

Comparing with the LCD-2, the YHD-2 would need a tiny touch of tighter bass (depth is fine, but it's somewhat uncontrolled), and a slight increase of highs, IMHO. Perhaps that could even fit into the tiny yhd headset if some thought went into it.
Pads could give it more comfort, but maybe also more bass that it doesnt need.....
 

 

[wualta]

 
 
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DeoxiT is available in RadioShack brick and mortar locations now.

 
It's spensive to buy DeoxIT that way (a 2-pack of 0.5oz aerosols); at least you can lay your hands on some right away, and it may be all you ever need, but for approx the same $, you can get a 5oz can of the stuff from Amazon or Zzounds. And who knows, the local Shack might even have that.
 
Call around. If the thought of walking into a radio-TV electronics supply shop with yellowing blister packs clinging to the walls and old chainsmoking guys (also turning yellow) estivating inside with framed autographed photos of Charlotte Peters on their crumbling desks gives you the jimjams, I understand. Try local electronics repair shops, including the ones attached to stereo shops, if there are any left. The stuff works so well, you're going to want to try it on lots of different things.

 

[ardgedee]

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Call around. If the thought of walking into a radio-TV electronics supply shop with yellowing blister packs clinging to the walls and old chainsmoking guys (also turning yellow) estivating inside with framed autographed photos of Charlotte Peters on their crumbling desks gives you the jimjams, I understand. Try local electronics repair shops, including the ones attached to stereo shops, if there are any left. The stuff works so well, you're going to want to try it on lots of different things.

Oh yes, by all means patronize the local businesses first. The ones around here didn't get enough attention, and the last of them (Huron Radio, RIP) folded a couple years before the Maker Revolution* got a new generation interested in building things. Setting aside Radio Shack, the nearest electronics supply to me that accepts walk-in customers is about twenty miles away now. Don't let it happen to you!
 
But yeah, the Radio Shack has both the twin pack and larger 5 oz cans. Which is more than they had a couple years ago - a small improvement, all things considered.
 
(*Anything that fosters public interest in craftsmanship and learning how things work is Good and Should Happen More, even if the boosterism is sometimes cloying.)

 

[rhythmdevils]

Do you guys think 160 is a good deal for a Yamaha CR-1020 in good shape except for the internal lights?  Thing is, I don't know how to fix it if/when something goes out inside so I have to find one cheap enough that I can sell it broken and not loose too much. 

  it's a local sale so no shipping costs. 

 

[wualta]

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Do you guys think 160 is a good deal for a Yamaha CR-1020 in good shape except for the internal lights? 

Is the price negotiable? Can you inspect/audition it before you buy? If it's in really good shape, then yes, in my opinion. But as with all stuff this old, you can't generalize. Gotta go case by case. 
Don't forget, we've got a fast-growing thread right here on HF about using vintage gear to drive modern headphones, so check out the madness over there, and stop by AK and AA as well. Leave no clue ungoogled.

 

[ourfpshero]

is this the 'good' t20? just got it, want to be sure

 

[rhythmdevils]

Yeah that's the V2.  The new one has the cascading flowery emblem on the left side of the cup colored white, and there's some orange writing as well as the yellow. 

 

[wualta]

Yup, that's the one we've been calling the good ol' T20v2.
 
To explain this v business, at the risk of boring everyone: Simply put, until recently, Fostex's nomenclature was so inconsistent and/or ambiguous that we had to come up with our own naming system just so we could be sure which headphone we were talking about or buying. Happily, Fostex made a functional design break with the current line (completely new driver). What's printed on the box finally matches what's on the 'phones themselves. What's on the 'phones is finally consistently different from what's on earlier models. So we've graciously let Fostex have their way with the newest models' names.
 
What you have is Fostex's bread-and-butter studio headphone that was built between about 1986 to about 2006. Its predecessor, also labeled T20, put Fostex on the map, headphonewise. We call that one the T20v1 because though the v2's outer shell is different and upgraded for pro-audio duty, the insides of the two 'phones are pretty much the same. However, due to big differences in earpads and baffle shape, they don't sound the same, a difference that doesn't matter so much to their target market but which gives those of us able to discern e'en the sound of electrons tripping across crystal boundaries fits. 

 

[ourfpshero]

thx for the answers. I have a t20 v1 , and i read up on wikiphonia, but wanted to be sure this was the v2 and not the modern t20. they sound completely different, but my v1 was custom damped by bolermaker and i dont remember the stock sound very well.
 
also, my t20v1 i recabled, and the solder joints keep falling apart, giving me fits. any suggestions?

 

[ericj]

Quote:

So, back to the monsoons.
 
I've been doing other things for the last couple days but also thinking about how I'm going to handle this.
 
I've figured out that i can tension the membrane with nothing more high-tech than blue tape. Whether the tension is going to be correct, eh, who knows. Tension will have to be done before i reassemble.
 
4/40 1/4" screws and nuts and washers will work to reassemble. Tested that with the 4/40 3/8" screws i use to attach transistors to heatsinks (and may use them for reassembly - I don't believe they are too long. 1/4" would be Just Right). 
 
For the larger holes (where the base attaches) I'll just go over to my friend's house and use normal pop rivets, just like sonigistix did. But failing that, I think 6/32 screws would work fine.
 
I am currently testing the substance i believe i can use to repair the tear in the membrane i made. Ozark Trail AirStop Vinyl Repair, as found in the sporting goods department at any wallyborg.I have mentioned this stuff before. I've dabbed some on the membrane down by where the cable solders on and will wait 24 hours before testing adhesion and checking to make sure it didn't damage the plastic. I know i could just use a piece of tape, but that tape will fail in a few years unless i get, like, archival grade tape or something. Perhaps someone on the list has suggestions there, I guess.
 
I'm guessing i can repair the trace with Permatex QuickGrid. I imagine Donald may have suggestions for other substances. But i already have the QuickGrid.
 
It will come as no surprise to Wualta that i plan to re-adhere the membrane with a thin layer of Permatex Flowable Silicone.

Well i finally revisited these.
 
I had already repaired the trace with a dab of AirStop on the non-metallic side and then painted the trace itself with QuickGrid. Last night i coated the trace repair with AirStop. A bit of advice for those who may go after me: AirStop dissolves QuickGrid, so you probably want to apply some AirStop to a throw-away brush and coat your trace repair with a single brush stroke. Or else you'll be bringing away QuickGrid on the second stroke.
 
It seems to have worked.
 
The panel is reassembled with 4/40 3/8" screws and nuts and washers and lock washers. It sounds ok, and now i can detect some rattle in the other driver.
 
Some difficulty reinstalling the grilles with the screws in place. I'm not in love with the grilles (I think they look flimsy) and my grilles are sort of damaged anyway. Now I'm thinking that maybe i should just fabricate a sort of sock to cover each panel to keep crud out and make them look uniform. Potentially based on an actual sock of the nylon or lycra persuasion, though i naturally have some trepidation about shopping in the lady's sock aisle.

 

[MDR30]

Plug/cable T50RP
 

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You can easily install a Neutrik RA 3.5mm plug to any cable you want - they have a small footprint.

Oh, my YL is in da house. :-D

 
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Just curious-- what's wrong with the cable Fostex provided?
 

 
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Nothing, I just want to get a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable as well.

 
You need a plug that's quite thin, alas the standard Neutrik is too wide. The reason for changing cable is, in my case, to get a practical connection to my mp3-player when I walk about.
 
If you could get hold of the original cable it would of course be easy to cut and solder a new 3,5 mm plug. But I've never seen one, and haven't been able to find extra pads in Europe either.
 
The only solution I have found are thin computer/mp3 interconnects, and many with me would welcome an angled plug small enough to fit the T50RP jack.
 
Asia, America - are you listening?
 

 

 

 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

also, my t20v1 i recabled, and the solder joints keep falling apart, giving me fits. any suggestions?

I believe the T20v1 requires aluminum solder.  Is that what you're using?  I think my pair even says that on the side of the driver, and Don warned me of it as well.  Unless I'm thinking of a different headphone, but I'm pretty sure.