[Armaegis]

Quote:

I actually don't buy the importance of mass damping.  I think it must have some effect, but IME acoustic damping has a much much bigger effect.  

I would just give the fuzzy reply of "it depends on the headphone". My recent experiments with an HD25-1-ii showed considerable change with mass damping; debatably moreso than the acoustic damping. 
 

 

[symphonic]

The rugby helmet idea is not so far off. Only the chin strap would be annoying.
 
If you're making headphones just for yourself, they don't need to be so adjustable. For my ideal headphones, I want the headband to very closely hug my head and have the cups be as light as possible. Home made stuff can also be more replaceable than durable. You have different design limitations than manufacturers. It can be flimsy, so long as I can fix it.
 
I'm tending to think you have a point rhythmdevils. Hopefully I can quantify it with measurements by using different baffles. These neo magnets are already pretty heavy.

 

[gurubhai]

Quote:

Not sure yet.  As for the sound, the only thing I want to say yet is they are extraordinarily clean and smooth and linear which makes them such a joy to listen to, they really sound like they're getting out of the way.  As for neutrality, it's hard to say because of the above.  They're good enough that I can't judge them after 5 minutes (one of the only times that's happened to me with a headphone)

Which other headphones do you consider as clean, smooth & linear?
 

 

[ourfpshero]

In wikiphonia it mentions "The easy mod for the T40v1 gives it a very 'statlike sound"
 
I have a t40v1 and cant find which mod it talks about. Is it a normal damping mod?

 

[gurubhai]

Ludoo's search engine works again so here it is  : T40v1 mod

 

[nick n]

Was it someone from here that grabbed those Leeeeeeak 3000 ( changed name to avoid web searches finding us)

with the bad vent foam from that U.K. site?  Are those an exceptional set or a curiosity piece? I looked ( not all that deep ) around for some description of the sound here but nothing. Just a tiny few sentence blurb on Wikiphonia.

 

[wualta]

The Leaks, qua Leaks, are hard to come by, but their clone, the WharfRat (sorry; Wharfeydale) ID2, is more common and is writ up here by our resident semiretired Orthoninja, Kabeer, and shows up here and there on the Greater Metropolitan Web. The innards are similar to the Fostex T50/NAD RP18, but of course the sound can be shaped by earpads and internal reflections and all the things we've learned in this thread to our horror and delight. Search Tip: a surprising number of British folks misspell Wharfedale.
 
And Bad Vent Foam would be a great name for.. you guessed it.

 

[dBel84]

and they have been measured by Tyll - innerfidelity , I have modded the pads to be more comfortable and they are truly fantastic , stock they get uncomfortable pretty quickly. I need a huge stash of stax pads , or learn how to use a sewing machine more effectively..dB

 

[Antistase]

Quote:

I've got the LCD-3 here for a week or so and I couldn't even last an hour before taking the grills off and looking inside.    I'm surprised by the materials they used for damping.  They have a very light, thick fluffy material that seems like a fleece, looks and feels like the stuff they make fleece jackets out of.  This is right up against the driver with some adhesive (but fairly far away from the diaphragm because of the size of the magnets).  Then they just have a disc of what seems to be synthetic felt that is not very dense at all, very easy to blow through which is in front of the grill.  They came to me with an added layer of TP between the felt layers.
 
I may get a chance to play with the damping which will be fun.   

 
So it seems they realised the LC2 was overdamped as they have one felt disc on the drivers and one on the external grill. I'd been scratching my head for weeks since the LCD2 arrived. It looked very peculiar for a such an expensive headphone to sound so nasal and congested. My Wharfedale ID1 has been my reference headphone since I switched to orthos and  it was beating the very expensive LCD2 in all possible departments but LF. And the SS-100 was better as well. The LCD2 were the worst headphone in my collection composed of 9 vintage headphones with the exclusion of my Monitor 10.
It took me some time but finally I had to decide between trying to get something out of them or sell them without hesitation.
I looked at my ID1 and I considered LCD2's drivers being big enough to play very nicely in free air. I took the external discs out and that was all it took to sound decent. As I think the LCD2's HF shelf is just excessive (you can't just ear cymbals when they are very low respect the rest of the program), I applied ortho-knowledge and covered the felt over the drivers with a layer of microporous tape plus another square in the middle.  That felt is glued to the drivers and I didn't dare to peel it off, but I think that applying a smaller size of the tape directly to the back of the drivers will be more effective.
At that point the LCD sounded open and natural and the bass was still there intact. The last touch was to remove the internal  resonance in the cups filling them with natural wool fibers. 
 
The results is that now the LCD2 has the dynamic and musicality of the ID1 with better bass and control. The ID1, on the other side, is more refined IMHO. However the LCD2 are less demanding in terms of amplification and let me use the best initial watts of my SET amp. I'm sure I gave up something in the trade but it is way better than stock.
 
Still... close to 1KBP and not that much better than a cheapo built, plastic, funky looking vintage Wharfie...
 

 

[nick n]

Quick fix to the stock PRO30's that had sort of been sitting around. Quite a nice result.
 A disc of the 3 layer Acousti acoustic foam, left the edge clear to stuff a ring of felt in for the tiny badge vents, a layer of felt for the outer vents and original foam disc to secure it. A couple of nearly stripped screws and call it done. Felt in the picture is just a demo piece I can actually use scissors.
These won't be sitting around as much as before  now. 
Reminds me forgot to cut the center of the tan felt out in one side.Back in.

 
EDIT:  The above felt is of course a donut shape with the hole the size of the driver. Replaced the original thin green foam disc there with a donut of that opencell white foam ( 1/2 inch /13mm thick but compresses easily )used for padding/upholstery, to compress the felt against the circumference venting better.
Driver backing rests directly on the top of the Acousti circle in the back of the cups there.

 

[wualta]

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Antistase /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I looked at my ID1 and I considered LCD2's drivers being big enough to play very nicely in free air. I took the external discs out and that was all it took to sound decent.
...  I ... covered the felt over the drivers with a layer of microporous tape plus another square in the middle. ... At that point the LCD sounded open and natural and the bass was still there intact. The last touch was to remove the internal  resonance in the cups filling them with natural wool fibers. 

Demonstrating very nicely that the sheer tinkerability of orthos puts them ahead, at least for brave DIYers. And it appears you could go back to the stock configuration without much difficulty. Bravo.
 
Having a large diaphragm confers all sorts of design freedom as a tradeoff for the size, weight and expense of troweling dense magnetic flux over a large area. But now, from the largest to the smallest:


Quote:

Quick fix to the stock PRO30's that had sort of been sitting around. Quite a nice result.
 A disc of the 3 layer Acousti acoustic foam, left the edge clear to stuff a ring of felt in for the tiny badge vents, a layer of felt for the outer vents and original foam disc to secure it.
 

I'm of course pickled tink that you haven't stopped tweaking the Pro 30 and very much look forward to further elaborations and descriptions (eg: what is "Acousti", and why does it have 3 layers, and what's its claim to fame?), but migawd, we have got to get you a camera with decent macro capability and maybe a tripod. Toot sweet.
 

 

[nickchen]

If I had an LCD2, I'd redamp it dead sure, I also found it a bit overdamped and too mids heavy. Less damping would mean darker sound though, so we would might end up somewhere in the RP18 Kapton territory...

 

[rhythmdevils]

I'm gonna paper damp the LCD-3. 

 
Quote:

Which other headphones do you consider as clean, smooth & linear?
 

 
Not many at all.  Just a few possibilities that I haven't heard very much.  007 and HD800 if it weren't so bright and had real man bass. 

 

[gurubhai]

Quote:

I'm gonna paper damp the LCD-3. 

Do share the flimsy details.

 

[nick n]

 
Quote:

I'm of course pickled tink that you haven't stopped tweaking the Pro 30 and very much look forward to further elaborations and descriptions (eg: what is "Acousti", and why does it have 3 layers, and what's its claim to fame?), but migawd, we have got to get you a camera with decent macro capability and maybe a tripod. Toot sweet.
 
->My feelings exactly. I find when I rub the two sticks together the image capturing box doesn't charge up as fast anymore and the sputtering sulphur on the wooden flash rod has burned all my white shirts.
Good idea there's my  present to myself soon.
 
Funny are those vents surrounding the badge lip on the PRO30? They're tiny almost microscopic.
Acousti is this stuff.
http://www.acoustiproducts.us/en/acoustipack-extra-s.asp
graphs etc here : http://www.acoustiproducts.us/en/technical-information.asp  bottom talks about the decoupling
good heft to it.
 
You were also wondering how I'd approach an open design SFI a bit ago.  I now have what could be described as a semi-open pair.
I removed everything in these and while I was in there for another tweak I figured hey why not see how they sound with an open back, it's just a simple press fit to the ears.
Needless to say I gutted these taking out the neoprene disc backing that was there to close them off, and applied  Acousti foam (yeah I know

but it's here staring at me , calling me )  to the inner wall sides and in the exact pattern as the vents in the back there. So that's the size of the venting.
<- Not my picture just too lazy to look further. Same pair.
So not entirely open but enough to make them semi.  All ranges of bass are fuller and the thing sounds a little more airy and spacious.   I really need to put epoxy on these screws. Only thing I can think of trying to fine tune would be some of that pulled cotton.