[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

No thoughts on my proposed SFI/Sextett transplant?

 
You probably saw my posts about it before...  It seems to me like a better idea with the SFI's than other ortho drivers because they aren't as good with bass response.  But for a better ortho driver, it seems like you would want to be hearing the bass produced by the planar driver itself without the passive radiators.  Also, I'm not sure ortho drivers have the problems that the radiators were designed to address. 
 
So I think the difficulty might be that for one thing the radiators are tuned specifically for that Sextett driver's characteristic.  But also that orthos put out a lot more backwave than conventional dynamics, so a lot more sound will be forced through the radiators and could make them turn into fart cannons or something. 
I would love to see what happens though. 

 

[Armaegis]

My understanding of the passive radiators was that they let the pressure *out* to reduce the midbass peak. I figure with the bipole SFI, it will more or less strive to equalize the pressure on either side of the baffle. I could be totally wrong on the matter though... I'm just a guy with a dremel and a dangerous sense of curiosity 

 
Right now I'm trying to decide if I should try to mount the driver directly to the baffle or onto the ring gimbal. Either way, I'll have to mill out that 35mm wall.

 

[nick n]

Can you post some pictures here and there as this gets going?

 

[Armaegis]

I'll be starting up a new thread with more details to explain all my pics, but in the meantime... http://www.head-fi.org/gallery/album/view/id/43719/user_id/136355
... it has been a productive night 

 

[nick n]

Wow great so far! I would have to see and deal with the insides for myself i got lost in the pics slightly. Where do you get the micropore tape from?
What is that driver from exactly? 
 
Going to be interesting when you get the other thread rolling.

 

[Armaegis]

The first bunch of pics was mostly disassembly and the disintigrating damping material that had to be removed. Pic 12,13,15 you can see the before/after of me chopping out the 35mm wall. After that it's just the gimbal, some hot glue, and early assembly. I did not actually glue the driver in; I applied a layer of glue to the inside of the gimbal to thicken it up a bit, then pressure-fit the driver in place.
 
I didn't even know that was micropore tape. It came with the drivers when I got them. I've removed it anyways as they were rather dirty. I'm not sure where to buy some more, but I'm guessing a pharmacy might have some?

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Nickchen created his Yamahalux for EddieE: http://www.head-fi.org/t/111193/orthodynamic-roundup/16440#post_7273237
 
Sometimes this is shortened to YamaLux.

 
I have one too and love it.
 
 

 

[Skylab]

Well, my Pioneer SE-100 arrived:




I have them connected to my Pioneer SX-1250. And in addition to the nice cosmetic match, something like the 1250 is important, as I consider the use of tone controls mandatory with the SE-100. On their own, as Wualta predicted, they are rather bright. Clean and clear, very transparent, but BRIGHT, and entirely lacking bass weight. The SX-1250 has FAR better than normal tone controls, though, offering bass adjustment at 50 Hz and 100 Hz, as well as treble controls at 10 kHz and 20 kHz. I found that -2dB at 10 kHz, and plus 2 dB at 100 Hz as well as 4 dB at 50 Hz did very well. So adjusted, the sound is really pretty good. For the $40 I paid for these, no doubt it is exceptional. The headphones themselves are in good condition, but not better than that. Missing a plastic cap, and generally looking their age, but structurally and electrically good. The transformer box, after application of Brasso to the metal, and a sanding with 0000 steel wool and then Old English Scratch remover to the wood, looks really very good. And it seems to operate flawlessly.

More thoughts later on the sound, but certainly the sound, once given a little tweak, is at least good.

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

Well, my Pioneer SE-100 arrived:




I have them connected to my Pioneer SX-1250. And in addition to the nice cosmetic match, something like the 1250 is important, as I consider the use of tone controls mandatory with the SE-100. On their own, as Wualta predicted, they are rather bright. Clean and clear, very transparent, but BRIGHT, and entirely lacking bass weight. The SX-1250 has FAR better than normal tone controls, though, offering bass adjustment at 50 Hz and 100 Hz, as well as treble controls at 10 kHz and 20 kHz. I found that -2dB at 10 kHz, and plus 2 dB at 100 Hz as well as 4 dB at 50 Hz did very well. So adjusted, the sound is really pretty good. For the $40 I paid for these, no doubt it is exceptional. The headphones themselves are in good condition, but not better than that. Missing a plastic cap, and generally looking their age, but structurally and electrically good. The transformer box, after application of Brasso to the metal, and a sanding with 0000 steel wool and then Old English Scratch remover to the wood, looks really very good. And it seems to operate flawlessly.

More thoughts later on the sound, but certainly the sound, once given a little tweak, is at least good.

Rob now all you need is a 69 GTO in the driveway for true  vintage experience buddy

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Well, my Pioneer SE-100 arrived: Clean and clear, very transparent, but BRIGHT, and entirely lacking bass weight.
More thoughts later on the sound, but certainly the sound, once given a little tweak, is at least good.

You've put your finger on the sound of many early attempts to market an affordable electrostat in the early '70s. Too often, they were bassless with a rising (but crystal clear) treble. The exceptions were the Koss ESP.9 and the OEMs of the Stax SR-3 that preceded Stax setting up its own distribution for the NA market. The gross imperfections of most headphones and speakers of the time made tone controls a necessity, so your SE-100 (which dates to 1971 or '72) fits right in. No one hesitated or thought it strange or felt guilty about using tone controls back then. Of course, as transducers improved, simple tone controls became less and less helpful, so on TOTL receivers manufacturers began to supply things like selectable turnover points and even midrange/presence controls and eventually, dorky graphic equalizers.
 
As you have time, I'm curious about three things: Do they take bass boost (and actually produce bass) without distorting? How's the headstage? and Is there any difference in sound quality between the three sensitivity settings on the transformer box?
 
 

 

[Skylab]

That all makes sense. I will definitely listen to the three things you asked about. I wondered about the different setting on the transformer box as well. I didn't expect these to arrive until Monday - won't have too much time today as I had already started today's project of re-capping the crossovers in my Pioneer HPM-100's when these arrived

 

[rhythmdevils]

I was looking at those on ebay too.    I'm glad I didn't bid.

 

[wualta]

Yes, but now that we know Rob has a weakness for HPM products, we have to force him to buy an SE-700...
 
It was made for big fat Pioneer receivers!         .
And the JB-21 on the right is what Pioneer wanted you to use with said big fat receiver ----------------->

 

[wualta]

 

[Skylab]

OK, I will start to look for a pair! How rare are they?