[dBel84]

Yep, needs Alu solder. Do not mess with them unless you are prepared to track down the near unobtanium..dB

 

[Kabeer]

Anyone got an idea why there is a "silver" T30 and a 'black" T30? Any more differences than cosmetic?

 

[Twinster]

Question about Yamaha HP50a headphone. Here a picture of the headphone and notice the plug is only mono? Is that normal??
 

 

 

[dBel84]

yes, the HP50 was a mono headphone supplied with early yamaha keyboards. You will need to rewire it to use it in stereo. The easiest way is to replace the 2 core cable with a 3 core and split the left right signal in the left cup - single entry point. The alternative is to pop the cups twist them through 180deg and make them dual entry  - my recommendation is the single entry route ( from experience of having done both) 
..dB
 
edit - I should probably note that there was an HP50s - stereo version of same headphone

 

[Twinster]

Thanks dBel84.  Found the info on http://wiki.faust3d.com/wiki/index.php?title=Yamaha_HP-50A also.

 

[wualta]

 
 
Quote: Kabeer:

Anyone got an idea why there is a "silver" T30 and a 'black" T30? Any more differences than cosmetic?

 
Cool! Now I know the T30 photo on the cover of the 1980 catalog wasn't just over-retouched. But I don't in fact know if the Chrome T30 is different under the skin from the plain-jane boo-hoo no-chrome 1978-era T30. The specifications are the same. Interestingly, the '86 catalog shows the T30 back to its original somber tones and the specs remain unchanged.

 

[EddieE]

Quote:

Plug/cable T50RP
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?
 

Many thanks for the detailed reply. I do have the original cable but a) can't (yet) solder and b) actually want to keep the quarter inch cable and have a mini one as a secondary. I guess if I could solder or when I learn I could get a replacement cable (easily available) and re-terminate it, but for now I just want to take the quick and easy option of buying a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable.
 
Your response is what I expected - that no right angle seems to fit the socket on the left cup. It's a shame as a straight trs looks kind of odd sticking out there, but looks aren't all that important. Thanks again for the reply.
 

 

[dBel84]

I know that people did use one of the right angled 3.5mm plugs to make fostex cables. It is posted in one of the related threads but I honestly couldn't tell you where. Could be this thread, the TP thread or the T50RP thread - lots of digging / searching to find it but it is out there. Most likely dating back around 2009, this is when a lot of that experimentation was going on..dB

 

[EddieE]

Quote:

I know that people did use one of the right angled 3.5mm plugs to make fostex cables. It is posted in one of the related threads but I honestly couldn't tell you where. Could be this thread, the TP thread or the T50RP thread - lots of digging / searching to find it but it is out there. Most likely dating back around 2009, this is when a lot of that experimentation was going on..dB

I'll keep looking. I did do a pretty thorough search before asking the question to the thread but I guess knowing it is there somewhere gives me motivation to keep trawling... Thanks.
 

 

[mypasswordis]

Quote:

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. 

 
Even within the T20v2 I once speculated there may be different sounding versions. I've owned three T20v2s, and one of them had a thicker bold font written on the cups than the other two and I believe also sounded different. The difference could have just been due to the use/wear of the headphones/pads and I never had a chance to really compare (swap pads, damping schemes, and all that) before I gave them all and a T40 away. Or I think I sold one T20v2 and gave away the other two, I forget.

 

[chrislangley4253]

added some polyfil to the cups of my t50rps.. They seem to be exactly what I would call neutral right now. I really dig them as a contrasting pair of headphones to my grados. I'm itching to get some dynamat on the back of the cups and some blu tak on the baffles.. or should I just use some dynamat for that too?
 

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

added some polyfil to the cups of my t50rps.. They seem to be exactly what I would call neutral right now. I really dig them as a contrasting pair of headphones to my grados. I'm itching to get some dynamat on the back of the cups and some blu tak on the baffles.. or should I just use some dynamat for that too?

I'd either use dynamat on the front of the baffle, plasticine/newplast on the back, or both.  The dynamat worked great for me.  I haven't tried the plasticine yet but its supposed to be better than the blutak.  Considering the bultak didn't seem to do anything but make a mess, it shouldn't be that hard for the plasticine to surpass it.

 

[chrislangley4253]

Quote:

Quote:

I'd either use dynamat on the front of the baffle, plasticine/newplast on the back, or both.  The dynamat worked great for me.  I haven't tried the plasticine yet but its supposed to be better than the blutak.  Considering the bultak didn't seem to do anything but make a mess, it shouldn't be that hard for the plasticine to surpass it.

thanks for the suggestion
any idea what another name for plasticine might be? I'm not sure if I can find that here... Nevermind. I found some on amazon, now I know what it is

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

Anyone have any SFI 32 or 120 ohm ribbon tweeters for sale, or know of a source?

 

[sulvaat]

I would like to report my work on a tribute to an old headphone. I have never heard nor seen the ATH-2 until I came upon the wikiphonia site. Wonderful piece of work that site is, much thanks. Recently, Audio-Technica came out with a ATH-RE70 which is a tribute to the ATH-2 but with dynamic drivers. I discovered it after searching for a good foster can for my SFI project. I loved the look of the ATH-2 and even more so the ATH-RE70 so I chose this can for an SFI mod. Incoming pictures!
 
 
These are the 120 Ohm drivers I got from Ebay.

 
The foster phones. Retro-face!

 
Unassembled right cap. I used some electronics super glue around the rim of the driver to lock it into place and add more sealing.

 
Blutak added. I later went back with a butter knife and smoothed it out making a clean and neat seal.

 
Used a rotary drill to make some vent ports since these are closed back by design. These is one of these on the top and bottom of the back of the caps. They are invisible from view after reassembly. 

 
Braided cabled, 28awg silver plated with a Radioshack 3.5mm jack plug.

 
Finally the finished product with HD-25 leatherette pads.

 
What is not pictured is my damping material. I forgot to take pictures of that, whoops! Anyway, I used what I could find around the house. Bit of old spandex like material for sports, a 3 ply material consisting of 2x heater vent filter material and 1x dryer sheet. Those where cut to the diameter of the driver and held into place by the blutak. Then I cut some wool I got from an old coat that nobody wore anymore into the diameter of the cup back with holes for the screws.
 
The cable is shorter than most, only .8 meter because my portable amp sits at my waist, this makes it neat and tidy for my size.
 
The sound is far superior than I had imagined. At first I was put off comparing it to my HD-25's because they where not as bright as the Senns. However, after about 120hrs of burn in they opened up and sound great! For the 88 bucks I spend making these they sound different but just as good as my HD-25's. This was a great project, I had lots of fun learning about orthodynamics.