[smeggy]

Wish I had more time and energy to get these things done quicker. Our work stuff is sapping me and my weekends. Hopefully I can get back to normal soon.

I paid a visit to the local plastics supplier and picked up a couple of sheets of other stuff to try, harder this time to see if there's any benefit over UHMW. I doubt it but I'll try them anyway. I think I'm at the point of material stasis as far as performance goes. I think the rigidity and density are where most of the advantages are in the housings so I would think any of the good modern engineering plastics will do well.

As to the wood contributing to the sound over plastics, I have my doubts. I don't think the wood has much influence on the sound, more the shape, volume and density. It is an easy material to work with and there are a good selection of woods and tools readily available. That's it's real advantage. And it's easier to get looking good than plastics in DIY.

 

[Sambones]

So, basically, any material that is heavy and rigid will grant the same kind of advantages. Mass loading cheaper plastics was mentioned earlier, so would this be the effect that most people achieve with blu-tack/dynamat?

 

[smeggy]

similar, mass loading is good but it also needs to be combined with a good bit of rigidity to be ideal. I first tried filling the back og the original baffle with epoxy putty to do mass loading and it was ok, the shell was still a big problem though. I tried using dynamat type stuff and felt in the shell and it's not bad, still not ideal.

 

[dBel84]

Steve beat me to it , more of an amplifier choice issue - some folk have lost sight of how good single ended can be and need fenancy plugs

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don says they're the best damped TP's he's yet heard, and he really likes the sound. Great job Smeggy! They're Macassar Ebony and IMHO absolutely stunning! Maybe Don can be talked into taking and posting a few pics?

That he did and that they are. When I first put them on, I thought "ROCK ON!!" very punchy sound with great vocal presence. It is never good to compare them to other phones but as I have been using the zebra wharfies as reference since I got them to my liking, it was difficult not to notice the differences.

It still amazes me what smeggy has achieved with these headphones, I liked the heavily modded stock T50rp but they are nowhere in this league.

..dB

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dBel84 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Steve beat me to it , more of an amplifier choice issue - some folk have lost sight of how good single ended can be and need fenancy plugs That he did and that they are. When I first put them on, I thought "ROCK ON!!" very punchy sound with great vocal presence. It is never good to compare them to other phones but as I have been using the zebra wharfies as reference since I got them to my liking, it was difficult not to notice the differences. It still amazes me what smeggy has achieved with these headphones, I liked the heavily modded stock T50rp but they are nowhere in this league. ..dB

4-pin XLR FTW!

Smeggy, dampen my Burl Madrone TPs like Steve's please.

 

[smeggy]

will do, not far from completion now...

 

[Sambones]

Thanks for the answers on my earlier questions.

Does anyone know if Fostex still sells replacement parts for the T20/40 version 2? I called the number that I think is their tech support number, and I hopefully got a message to the right person, but it's kinda weird, and they're also out for the day.

Alternatively, does anyone have a pooched pair? I just need a replacement diaphragm unit.

 

[lecky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by morphon /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm looking for some comparison between these: 1. Stock 2. Basic mods 3. Supermods (there's a thread for the Thunderpants, but no reviews in it yet.)

Hi Morphon,

I'm somewhere along the journey with my T50RPs, but have heard some Thunderpants. I'm a HD580 owner - essentially the same as the HD600, both are amped adequately in terms of power at least.


The basic advantages and otherwise are quite different on the Fostex than the Senns. The Senns are open and transparent, without much bass, and can sound a bit distant and relatively slow, sound lovely with classical and poor with hip hop. The Fostex are closed, sound more dynamic and forward and with a more solid mid and bass can be fast and detailed and can sound excellent across genres.

In stock form the Fostex are unpleasantly congested in mid and bass, coloured and blurred a bit, this undermines a lot of the potential strengths. At this point I'd prefer the HD580s.

As soon as you get into modding you're alone a bit, because people do so many different things, and taste in sound comes into it, but for me:

With mass damping of the baffles and cups (dynamat), and some careful light damping of the driver the Fostex becomes much more listenable, the sound can be balanced top to bottom and made a lot more clear, but I couldn't get rid of the last bit of congestion. At this point, whilst the two were very different the balance of strengths to weaknesses put them more or less on par, depending what music you listen to.

For me the next big step up is using Stax O2 pads (expensive but worth it). Retuning them with the congestion has gone, there's a lot more clarity, bass is better - clear, detailed with enough quantity and going deep, serious soundstage steps in, many instruments are placed well outside your head more effectively than with the 580s, comfort is greatly improved. At this point the HD580s are cowering in a corner, they're made to sound thin and distant. From a DIY point of view I haven't done anything technically difficult at all. Just lots and lots of time changing and listening and changing again.

It's very difficult to compare these to my memory of the Thunderpants, both because it's all but impossible to accurately compare from memory over any extended time, but also because they were set up to Smeggy's taste, which might or might not quite be mine, I suspect mine are tuned a bit warmer. But they did sound excellent. I think it's very reasonable to assume that stiffer cups and baffles will help very significantly.

The fact that you can tune them to your ear make ortho tuning very rewarding, and that can't really be compared to anything else.

 

[sachu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don says they're the best damped TP's he's yet heard, and he really likes the sound. Great job Smeggy! Actually they made their way to Portland more for a cable change. I need a 4 pin XLR termination. As soon as Nate sends the cable to Don that will get taken care of. Had I planned ahead, the trip from Seattle to Portland would have made much more sense, instead of Seattle-Texas-Portland. Oh well. They're Macassar Ebony and IMHO absolutely stunning! Maybe Don can be talked into taking and posting a few pics?

Yeah..my originals can't be opened up but they do sound pretty good. There are some obvious flaws that come to the forefront but they also have some strengths over the more linear TPs.

Now, the second Kingwood ones was bought from Kabeer. I guess, Smeggy had damped it to Kabeer's liking, which is more like a V shape in the frequency response

Extreme extension on both ends of the freq spectrum..and this is the one that Don sorted out.

All in all, even with the decades of rock concert exposures and old age Smeggy still manages to have a pretty good ear.

Steve, I will try to listen to your TPs before they leave Portland. A visit to Don's place has been overdue for a couple of weeks now

 

[Kabeer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu /img/forum/go_quote.gif I guess, Smeggy had damped it to Kabeer's liking, which is more like a V shape in the frequency response

LOL I'd like to clarify V-shape is FAR from my taste

. If you remember what a YH-1000 sounds like youd eat your YH-2 headband!

 

[sachu]

haha..just kidding bud.

But yeah those kingwoods did have a distinct V shaped freq response.

 

[smeggy]

I give up trying to guess what peeps would like and just do them to sound how I'd really like them

That's how Steve's are done.

 

[sachu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I give up trying to guess what peeps would like and just do them to sound how I'd really like them

That's plenty good for me dude. Seems we two have pretty similar tastes as far as I can tell when it comes to headphone listening.

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lecky /img/forum/go_quote.gif In stock form the Fostex are unpleasantly congested in mid and bass, coloured and blurred a bit, this undermines a lot of the potential strengths.

This really applies to most orthos I've heard. Yamahas aren't quite as bad as the Fostex stock. This includes the HE-5 I heard in a meet last month, at least to my ears.

The YH-1000 I heard at the meet was unmodded and sounded pretty good.

I'm currently listening to my T20v2 which I got out for the meet. They've been in storage for a year probably. I forgot how good they sound. My other headphones have just been sitting there.

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dBel84 /img/forum/go_quote.gif some folk have lost sight of how good single ended can be and need fenancy plugs ..dB

Single ended, hmmm that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that's what the poor peeps use in the ghetto.

Hah, really my road to balanced started because I was getting a lot of ground loop hum from various pieces of equipment, and it was driving me crazy. Then there was the added benefit of double the power, which pays off in spades for the K1000. While I have no intention of going back I'll certainly admit that there are many fantastic SE systems out there.

Smeggy: ever work with Amboyna Burl? I've worked with it a few times and it's a gorgeous wood that turns and finishes superbly. It would make wonderful TP cups IMO.