[Sambones]

Maybe I'm not a true audiophile, but I don't think I'm willing to go that extra 27 miles for perfect sound....Wow.....

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Maybe I'm not a true audiophile, but I don't think I'm willing to go that extra 27 miles for perfect sound....Wow.....

Ah, but if you build it right, it can serve double duty as a storm shelter!
 
That basement sub horn is a "bit" extreme, but with a partially finished basement, it wouldn't be too hard to integrate a couple of tapped horn subs and build in the horns to the wall between the finished and unfinished areas.  Dampen the outside of the horn enclosures and the areas around and under them can still be used for storage. 
 
If we ever build a new house, I will have the basement excavated to 11 feet deep too, so I can have a full 9' ceiling in the finished basement portion.  I'd go an extra 3 miles and have a root/storm cellar cut in too with a 6-1/2' or 7' ceiling so there would be more dirt on top of the reinforced roof.  Have the outside built properly with drain tile, proper angles, dual sump pumps, and the sealers to make sure it stays dry.  I'd want the walk-out too so a separate shop area can have a large set of French doors and a separate door to the finished area. 

 

[wualta]

That sealer is very important. Nothing worse than humid bass. Makes mold grow on the woofer.
 
The funny thing is that there's no guarantee that after you do all this stuff that the final result will be something whose quality is commensurate with the effort involved. It's still just a couple of speakers stuck  in a room. Of course, it's likely to sound about as good as "couple of speakers stuck in a room" will ever sound. But what do you do if you decide you want to do something as trivial as toe them in?
 
Not that you all shouldn't rush right out and begin construction immediately, it's just a random thought. [smirks horribly]

 

[BoilermakerFan]

 
Quote:

That sealer is very important. Nothing worse than humid bass. Makes mold grow on the woofer.
 
The funny thing is that there's no guarantee that after you do all this stuff that the final result will be something whose quality is commensurate with the effort involved. It's still just a couple of speakers stuck  in a room. Of course, it's likely to sound about as good as "couple of speakers stuck in a room" will ever sound. But what do you do if you decide you want to do something as trivial as toe them in?
 
Not that you all shouldn't rush right out and begin construction immediately, it's just a random thought. [smirks horribly]

 
Actually, the room would be constructed in such a way as to follow Frank Lloyd Wright's designs where the Music Room has no right angles and is laid out in such a way to have very good acoustics before the room treatments are even applied. 
 
Adjustments could be easily accommodated with a acoustic rubber seal or two and a single pivot point so they could be adjusted L & R as well as U & D.  They would be modular too.  So the last piece of the horn mouth would be detachable.  Actually, the whole damn thing would be removable.  Even though I wouldn't plan on moving anytime soon (we're still in our first house and have been here for 10+ years already) I always consider resale, so the opening in the walls would be cut in such a way as to be easily repurposed into openings for shelves or deep cabinets.  

 
When designed from the ground up, or during a remodel, it's really not to difficult to incorporate features that can be quickly remodeled to those which would be desirable for new owners during when putting the house on the market.  I have a couple of features like that already in this house.  "Permanent" equipment or built-ins that would be removed before the house goes on the market.  In a down market like now it would suck to have to remove a very handy piece of equipment like a $3K air compressor system or home automation system until the house sells, but it covers you from any legal issues over "permanent fixtures or equipment" at closing time.  The automation center pulls out, and a large mirror-covered bookcase/secret storage compartment goes in (the mirror can covers the network, but only the data switch and phone distribution blocks would stay).  The mirror stays latched close with those cool magnet child safety latches too, so you need two and have to know where to put them to even open the mirror to see it's covering a hidden compartment.  They were originally used to keep my son from constantly opening and swinging the mirror around, but then I thought the idea that it completely stealths the cabinet or compartment was just so cool.  I've incorporated those magnetic latches into a couple of pieces of audio furniture I'll get around to building someday too.  I can hide away my valuable headphones and wires are completely hidden.  No visible drawers where other amps are tucked neatly away and safe. 
 

 

[Sambones]

That's not just a safeguard, BMF, but it's a convenience too. It's been my experience with computers, but I'm sure it extends to speakers too: invisible equipment makes it act better. It just feels better to not have any visible "spaghetti" or equipment. It makes working on it sheer hell, but it's nice when everything works.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

That's not just a safeguard, BMF, but it's a convenience too. It's been my experience with computers, but I'm sure it extends to speakers too: invisible equipment makes it act better. It just feels better to not have any visible "spaghetti" or equipment. It makes working on it sheer hell, but it's nice when everything works.

 

 

[BoilermakerFan]

 
Quote:

That's not just a safeguard, BMF, but it's a convenience too. It's been my experience with computers, but I'm sure it extends to speakers too: invisible equipment makes it act better. It just feels better to not have any visible "spaghetti" or equipment. It makes working on it sheer hell, but it's nice when everything works.

Quote:

 

 
Which is why all testing will be done with everything out and exposed.  And tapped horn subs aren't nearly as large as that massive in-foundation horn sub.  I also really like Decware's Imperial S.O. horn sub.  They could be much easier to accommodate behind the walls.  I currently have 7' or 8' from my finished wall to the actual basement wall and in the next house, that distance would be at least 4' (and probably closer to 10' in a ranch style house with walk-out basement) so I'd have room to get around the gear from all sides.  Plus I would have my custom stereo console in the center area as my TV stand too.  The console is 8' long, about 28" deep, and 30" tall on paper right now.  I can always tweak it as needed.  A Fonken GR in each end with two SDX7s for the bass extension in the bottom center for most listening sessions.  The Imperials and integrated horns would cover the front L, C, R and run on a F5s to be used primarily for movies. I'd probably use OB, MiniFonkens, or Castles for the sides and rear on a 5.1 system. 
 
A separate chair side cabinet with a couple pairs of headphones and amps tucked next to the couch and chair. Looking into ways to improve upon the basic design of  Pong chair from Ikea.  I'll probably convince the wifey we need one this summer when we go to get a new bed and mattress so I can live with one for a while and decide what I want to improve in my custom chairs. 
 
Ah, but enough OT talk...
 
I'm come up with a potentially great way of making my ear pad adapters.  Need to order the tools tomorrow and see if it works. 
 
If anybody else in the thread besides SWT61 and Smeggy are wood workers, I may draw up the simple chair-side table with integrated storage and publish it for you guys...

 

[Sambones]

So, I'm planning on selling my CE-H's, as I'm a little strapped for cash, with some big expenses coming up. Here's some shots of the recable from my phone's camera. The channels are reversed, but I can fix that pretty quickly. I'm also planning on using the old sleeve for the quarter-inch jack (that has Concept CE-H printed on it) as a cover for the cable, where it splits to go to the cups.
 
How'd I do?
 

 

[Noccer]

Hi Guys,
 
First post - have just resurrected my old Yamaha HP1s (had been laying about 15 years) to listen to my Beresford Caiman DAC and they sound great - but the head strap is pants so thought they were for the bin.
 
Went to local Hi_Fi shops and they said Grados - they had never heard of HP1s - they weren't born then - have looked at the front and back of this thread (haven't the stamina for the 993 pages in the middle! !!).
 
Am listening to them now and just ace - though maybe the Caiman helps - so to save me reading 995 pages - do I fix the headstrap or buy summat else - and I want same sort of  semi-enclosure. Boy they do sound great on this DAC - the base is the big surprise - but surely in 35 years headphones will be a lot better ?? Bits I have seen of this thread put that in question.
 
Steve

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Hi Guys,
 
First post - have just resurrected my old Yamaha HP1s (had been laying about 15 years) to listen to my Beresford Caiman DAC and they sound great - but the head strap is pants so thought they were for the bin.
 
Went to local Hi_Fi shops and they said Grados - they had never heard of HP1s - they weren't born then - have looked at the front and back of this thread (haven't the stamina for the 993 pages in the middle! !!).
 
Am listening to them now and just ace - though maybe the Caiman helps - so to save me reading 995 pages - do I fix the headstrap or buy summat else - and I want same sort of  semi-enclosure. Boy they do sound great on this DAC - the base is the big surprise - but surely in 35 years headphones will be a lot better ?? Bits I have seen of this thread put that in question.
 
Steve

Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet, then.  

 
The answer to your enquiry about whether of not things had improved over the past 35 years, is perfectly summed up with a yes, and no answer.  

 
Materials sciences have greatly improved.  Basic driver technology is still following the same orbits.  Planar magnetic, planar electrostatic, conventional electro-dynamic, and balanced armature.
 
Most "new" ears do not know what real music sounds like, so anything goes.  Very few of us old farts still hanging about who can still hear and have a reality based reference.
 
That's about it in a nut shell.
 
There are a number of new flagship headphones released in the past year that show a great deal of promise.
 
kwkarth

 

[KANA]

dear Steve,
 
I had YAMAHA HP-1 with the broken head strap. I wanted to repair this headphone too, and resolved. Then, the structure was very simple. I just cut leather in the same size, and punctured it. And that's all.

 So I recommend you to repair your broken HP-1.
 
And here are my orthodynamic headphones.
 

 

[wualta]

While agreeing with KWK, let me add that yes, headphones have, overall, gotten much better. The average headphone of the 1970s sounded limp and gutless and hollow and nasal. Nowadays you can  buy cheerful-cheaps like the Koss KSC-75 and get great sound for pocket change. That never happened 35 years ago.
 
However, I would argue that the Yamaha HP-1 had much more performance built into it than 99.9% of its non-electrostat contemporaries, and if it had been allowed to live up to its potential, it would have been a world beater in its price category. Bringing this performance out 30 years later is relatively painless, so it's a why-the-hell-not  fun / educational project.
 
That's the modest intent of this thread, so though there are many adventures on the Ortho road, you don't need to read the giant lab notebook that this thread has become to live them to the full. An old HP-1 with a chewed-off head strap is an excellent place to start.
 
Don't forget you have the special search engine and the Wikiphonia to help. So pull up a phillips screwdriver and tuck in. By the way, people have made replacement HP-1 head straps from pants. Well, trousers. Blue jeans, to be exact.

 

[ujamerstand]

Yes, do take a look at these tutorials on how to replace the pads and the headband. http://home.hccnet.nl/joop.nijenhuis/headwize/indexse.htm
 
They should give you a clear idea of what to do with them.
 

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

While agreeing with KWK, let me add that yes, headphones have, overall, gotten much better. The average headphone of the 1970s sounded limp and gutless and hollow and nasal. Nowadays you can  buy cheerful-cheaps like the Koss KSC-75 and get great sound for pocket change. That never happened 35 years ago.
 
However, I would argue that the Yamaha HP-1 had much more performance built into it than 99.9% of its non-electrostat contemporaries, and if it had been allowed to live up to its potential, it would have been a world beater in its price category. Bringing this performance out 30 years later is relatively painless, so it's a why-the-hell-not  fun / educational project.
 
That's the modest intent of this thread, so though there are many adventures on the Ortho road, you don't need to read the giant lab notebook that this thread has become to live them to the full. An old HP-1 with a chewed-off head strap is an excellent place to start.
 
Don't forget you have the special search engine and the Wikiphonia to help. So pull up a phillips screwdriver and tuck in. By the way, people have made replacement HP-1 head straps from pants. Well, trousers. Blue jeans, to be exact.

Well said!
 

 

[Noccer]

Wow, this is a lively forum - thanks for all your replies. The HP1 headphones are going to get a new headband (shame I have lost one of the screws) - thanks for the link to instruction for repair - and I'll keep on using them. Although I have had them from new, they are probably getting a better signal now to process than they have ever had in the past - when I think of the old tape decks and radio I used to play through them as a student, I never heard them at their best.
 
Steve