[nick n]

Of possible interest to some lone solitary searcher in the future:
( and good for curiosity's sake )
I just picked up the Electrets I ordered from that german version auction site.
 
Named specifically PREFER Brand ES-801DD Direct Drive Professional Series Electrostatic Stereophones  Japan ( made in Japan- yep the J.A.Pan company ) He had it listed as 80100 but it's 801dd same as the Maruni.
All of that IS actually on the outside earpieces, and it's a mouthful to be sure.
These are alternately seen once in a triple blue moon under the Maruni Brand name.
Who actually oem'd them is anyone's guess at this point. Certainly not common.
 
Here's what I could find on the history of the company, translated from the only site I could find of substance. Not much really. Mentioning a different can there, which I am going to go look for even though it's most likely dynamic ( yikes )
 
"Prefer Headphone HiFi Headphones HD-66V Black - Silver Ummels Company BV, the founder of Brand Prefer, was founded in the Netherlands in 1964. Ummels BV was in his early days, the distributor of Sony products in the south of the Netherlands. Later, this centralized distribution and Ummels BV launched its own range of products with the brand Prefer. Through its activities in the audio field was bekannt.Die Worldwide Prefer Prefer brand manufactures a wide range of quality cables for the audio and video, and audio mixers, amplifiers, limiters, preamps, microphones, etc. Prefer recognized in the early years, the market for one High-quality audio and video cable was available and, together with some well-known manufacturers its own range. Prefer products found their origin in consideration with the retailers and the market demand. Prefer emphasizes high quality of the individual components in order to produce a reliable product. Prefer working with the retailers as a distribution system and could such a good warranty and technical service guarantee"
 
One other solitary review I found  other than in here, but of the Maruni version:
 
"The Maruni Japan ES-801 is an electrostatic headphone.
Steven C (December 2002):  The full model name is "ES-801 Direct Drive - Professional Series Electrostatic Stereophones" ... which gives a clue about the age. My best guess is a 70s vintage. They are constructed as follows:

1. machined aluminium shells with black plastic spacers
2. chrome steel and black leather headstrap in the traditional STAX/Herton/Teledyne style
3. coiled lead with a 3.5mm TRS (phono-style) stereo connector.

I found these units at a local antique store ... Outwardly they are in immaculate condition, and required only a newly-wired TRS connector to operate perfectly.
The Marunis are now finding service as monitors on my mixing desk. They sound extremely neutral and quite musical - for their age, the bass and treble response are surprisingly accurate. Their only limitation seems to be somewhat low sensitivity, compared to modern AKG and Sennheiser dynamics that I've used.
If anyone can offer advice on best amplification for home use, I would be grateful...
Eric M. (February 2003): Hi, I have a pair of these and I am using them on my Michaelson and Austin TVA 10 pentode valve amp and they sound very good.They are comparable to my Koss pro 4a's."  <==== hmm soon to find out what they are like compared to other stuff I have.
 
 
The construction is solid and hardly uses any plastic except for the silver earside baffles, and the black of the housings. Even then the black plastic is extremely solid and you'd mistake it for density of metal when you knock on it unless you looked close.
Feel very solid and are a lot larger than I had figured. Modern cans could really take a lesson from the construction quality and materials.
I think they are classy looking, pictures don't cut it.
The metal headband actually has an excellent ratcheting mechanism to adjust them ( ball bearing and spring? ), and the clamping force is minimal. Real leather earpads and headband padding.
Runs off a 6.3 TRS plug and contains the transformers in the cups where the part that attaches to the headband assembly mounts. They crammed it in there pretty tight.
 So that's why it's called Direct Drive = no adapter box it's all built-in.
I plugged em in and my heart sank. Intermittent left side. Deoxit carefully applied on inside contacts then playing around with the slight adjustment of the TRS plug depth tells it's a lame plug. ( just like the issue in the review )
99% sure. Phew!!! but need to solder on a new one to be sure, at least I know this does audio/paranormal show voices beautifully. ( Paracast )
 
 
Everyone at least likes pictures so:
On to the pics and description of the guts.
Size comparison to a typical multibit screwdriver and decent details of outers:

 
Earside baffle shot minus pads ( there's a pad in the background ), and metallic driver dustguard/protector membrane inside that faces ear.

 
Backside of driver in it's housing and we see yet another application of the mysterious yellow woolish material for damping behind that. Driver back has an aluminum cross bar support (?) pretty much flush with driver surface.
 

 
Pulling back the woolish dampening reveals the transformer, and what seems to be 2 layers of thin black fabric that acts as a dustguard/ color darkener/sound dampener (?) over top of the exterior metal mesh on the cups as seen in the first 2 pics there. You can see the cross section of the tiny transformer there. Wasn't going to attempt pulling that out.
 

 
Will reterminate with a decent metal TRS with metal strain relief in the next day or so. It will suit these better.
I think I finally learned patience. Wow.

 

[wualta]

The woolish stuff is probably rock wool or mineral wool. Serves the same purpose here as fiberglass but is safer to handle. It's doing its thing, which is absorbing treble frequencies. In this case, it's the enclosure rather than the diaphragm being damped. Orthos could use stuff like that too. Whatever happens, don't throw those away. 
 
It's a Maruni, all right; looks just like their ES-801, aka ES-801DD (Direct Drive).
 

 
Construction looks roughly similar to Stax's electrets. Let us know if you get some bass out of them. 

 

[nick n]

Are those yours? 
I recall reading that someone else had them in here but they were toasted? I hope they didn't toss them. 
No I would never get rid of them.
Couple of weeks and hopefully I'll have some new electrolytic caps in the tube amp and they'll get a decent run on that to see what sort of bass can be had.

 

[ludoo]

Quote:

Are those yours? 
I recall reading that someone else had them in here but they were toasted? I hope they didn't toss them. 

 
I bought a pair of Marumi, mint in box, some three years ago but they were completely dead. I broke them down for parts.

 

[wualta]

Well, I meant don't toss the rockwool pads, but sure, keep the headphone too. Salvage whatever crawls from the wreckage.

 

[nick n]

Quote:

Quote:
I bought a pair of Marumi, mint in box, some three years ago but they were completely dead. I broke them down for parts.

What an absolute disappointment. They didn't even kick in after a bit of an overnight run at ALL? I can imagine the let-down you must have felt.
 
 
       "  Salvage whatever crawls from the wreckage."
 
You know honestly every time I open up one of these used home packed jobs the thought always slightly crosses my mind and I half expect some odd bug to fall out and crawl across the table and infest my otherwise sterile abode, but best not to think of that sort of thing.

 

[avid2010]

Hi guys, need some help with replacement ear pads, I am buying new earpads to replace the old ones in the vintage headphones. I am looking at pure leather options as I find the faux leathers too warm/hot.
 
I have been researching thru this thread and the web and have so far only found ESW9 to have pure leather for 'medium size' headphones. The ESW9 earpads are mentioned to have a 3 inch outer diameter. That makes it about 76mm. I am doing a HP50 transplant to an ATH-7 frame. The diameter is 80mm which is the same as the YH100. Back in 2009, BoilermakerFan mentioned the Koss R10 and the ESW9 pads are the ideal size for the YH100... However the ESW9 pads would be 4mm smaller, is it insignificant?
 
If anyone knows of other similar/same sized pads that are pure leather, please let me know as it is always better to have other options. Thanks.
 
Would be great if there were real leather pads for the HP50 and the YHE-50 too. I guess one day I may have to learn how to diy pads from a raw piece of lambskin fabric.

 

[wualta]

The expert earpad-procurators on the thread will swoop in with suggestions, but I wanted to add a word of encouragement about sticking a Yamaha 46mm driver in something close to the enclosure it should have had from the beginning. Earpad quality (both sealing and density) is critical for open-back, so good luck and keep us up to date on progress.

 

[RexAeterna]

The woolish stuff is probably rock wool or mineral wool. Serves the same purpose here as fiberglass but is safer to handle. It's doing its thing, which is absorbing treble frequencies. In this case, it's the enclosure rather than the diaphragm being damped. Orthos could use stuff like that too. Whatever happens, don't throw those away. 

It's a Maruni, all right; looks just like their ES-801, aka ES-801DD (Direct Drive).



Construction looks roughly similar to Stax's electrets. Let us know if you get some bass out of them. 

from what i know fiberglass and mineral wool is great for frequencies from 100hz down to 20hz and reason use for bass traps. cinder blocks(actual cinder blocks. not concrete.cinder is different mixture of materials than concrete blocks) has same type of absorption around the 100hz region but that's it,that's why they make wonderful speaker stands. i think for dampening cups all you really need is fiberglass/mineral wool and some polyfill/cotton to help the midrange and high frequencies. from my understanding that's the whole point of dampening is to stop as much resonance as possible. not just for speakers but headphone enclosures as well so basic materials like mineral wool and polyfill get the job done perfectly of completely eliminating resonance across the full frequency band. anything other then that and the more fancier modding i see is more for tuning for personal preferences i'm guessing.

 

[wualta]

Fiberglass has another function in bass traps similar to that in sealed speaker cabinets, but that's beyond the headphone realm. Also note that to get appreciable absorption of low frequencies, you need a heckuva lot of fiberglass, which again puts this beyond headphone use. The little woolipads™ (I wish they were available as a separate product!) are good for absorbing treble. They're too porous to damp resonance in the typical vintage ortho driver and too floofy and light to damp vibrations in an enclosure, but they sure can control those pesky treble reflections. You're right that the whole point of damping is to control resonance(s), and any moving system has them. Different frequencies call for different techniques. To quell vibrations in a solid, you use yet other techniques. Problems caused by reflections in air are dealt with yet another way. Once you know which type of unwanted vibration you're dealing with, you can get as busy as you like setting them against one another or mopping them up with all the various materials available. Read books on how to soundproof a studio to get a feel for what's involved. Fascinating stuff. Always keep in mind crazy old Nikola Tesla who latched on to this idea of resonance very early on.

 

[wualta]

The RE70 Retro Face has arrived, and while the baffle may not be as thin as I'd hoped: about 1/16 inch, it's not too bad, and there's a driver holder for the 40mm driver, so a YHD driver would fit, or an SFI.
 
Unusual touches: the baffle has vents, ever-so-slightly damped by a layer of nonwoven netting, but the cups do not. There are earpad gaskets.
 
I don't think the cups pop off the headband. Still working on that.

 

[nick n]

Can you post up pics of the teardown? They do look nice from a distance ( please )

 

[RexAeterna]

Fiberglass has another function in bass traps similar to that in sealed speaker cabinets, but that's beyond the headphone realm. Also note that to get appreciable absorption of low frequencies, you need a heckuva lot of fiberglass, which again puts this beyond headphone use. The little woolipads™ (I wish they were available as a separate product!) are good for absorbing treble. They're too porous to damp resonance in the typical vintage ortho driver and too floofy and light to damp vibrations in an enclosure, but they sure can control those pesky treble reflections. You're right that the whole point of damping is to control resonance(s), and any moving system has them. Different frequencies call for different techniques. To quell vibrations in a solid, you use yet other techniques. Problems caused by reflections in air are dealt with yet another way. Once you know which type of unwanted vibration you're dealing with, you can get as busy as you like setting them against one another or mopping them up with all the various materials available. Read books on how to soundproof a studio to get a feel for what's involved. Fascinating stuff. Always keep in mind crazy old Nikola Tesla who latched on to this idea of resonance very early on.

yea, i don't see anyone trying to shove 6'' thick fiberglass in a headphone enclosure lol,so you got a very good point. i'm guessing good mixture of materials would help a lot with certain resonance problems. just find what's, what basically and how each property of the material works. i only had issues with resonance with one headphone and that's the current fostex t50rp i picked up to give them a shot since i remember really like the yamaha hp-1 i auditioned sometime ago. seems mixture layer of mineral wool and few cotton balls in the cups solved everything for me and wow how the headphone transformed. pads were horrible as well so i swapped them with some extra leather sextett pads i had and stuffed them with some cotton to add some fluffiness. after that these fostex are something else,but what do you expect from people who been experienced with planers for years and make some of the best full range speaker drivers?

i would like new flagship come with them though cause i already know they can wipe the floor and easily outperform Audeze and hi-fi man offerings in the high-end planer market. just fostex needs to work on their marketing. they're not great at all on that part.

 

[nick n]

I put a new Neutrik plug on the end of the Prefer ( Maruni's ) and they are fully functional. No imbalance at all.
 
I had to go back in and also readjust the cable where it enters the left cup as well so maybe it was that alone that was the issue, at least I kept the original plug. Either that or they just needed a bit of running to quickly get into shape again.
GAWD dangit these sound good ( < not the exact expletive I want to use it's a family friendly place this is )
Running it through some test tracks now and it sure handles bass decently, and these tracks have mucho bass.  Nice crystal clear fast response, and where the bass actually is in the tracks it's body rolls/rumbles along great. Oh yeah wow. Wish I could describe it better but it's like a full thundercloud depth versus say a rainstorm depth, you can feel it coming in your bones. It's got depth to it. In no way so far have I been able to break it's back with crazy bass.
 Obviously not anything like my Ultrasone Pro2500's ( quantity =2500's vs. quality ) , I'll have to do a side by side with a few things if I can take these off ever.
 
Right now taking into account and subtracting newness factor ( as best as possible ), I would take a set of these over the SR-5's I have if I absolutely had to choose between the two. I'll see how I feel about that after bit of time.
 
I will most likely come back and edit this part out in case another pair comes along, don't want to give away our secrets.
 The Audio Technica 705's I have ( the new ones ) have bass as well contrary to popular belief, but this Prefer soundstage is MUCH wider and more organic I guess is the word.  The pads are supraaural on these Prefers but are larger than the entire ear. I wonder what would happen if I modded a pair of 705's for pads this size.
 
 
* I'll see about updating this as I do some swaps/a/b/c/d/e/f/e/g 'ing.
 
It's really a shame crime that those ones Ludo got were useless.
 
thanks for looking

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Can you post up pics of the teardown?

Construction on these is elementary for anyone who's poked their way inside a headphone. Nothing unusual except the AKG-style circle-segment baffle vents that lets almost-unmodified backwave into the earcup. Thread member sulvaat is the de facto expert, since he's already done an SFI transplant into the RE70 back in June (post 17461). The photo on the right is his. Peel off the earpads (they're not attached with doublesticky), undo the three tiny screws, and you have the photo on the left.
 
Notice no acoustic treatment in the cups at all, which is what we'd expect for the price.
 

...................................................................................................PHOTO BY SULVAAT
 
The side of the baffle you can't see is covered with a thin-thin layer of that black unwoven fabric. It's what your ear touches when you wear the RE70. Peels off easily.


Quote:

Originally Posted by nick n /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
GAWD dangit these sound good. I would take a set of these over the SR-5's if I absolutely had to choose between the two. No question. Incredible. ...   I wonder what would happen if I modded a pair of 705's for pads this size.

 
Wow. From dead dog to princess bride in one swell foop! I've had Maruni anything on search for months, maybe a year, and nothing. With this Prefer rebadge you've widened the field somewhat. Thanks. And if you put big enveloping earpads on your 705s, you'd probably get better low bass, just because of the better seal.