Orthodynamic Roundup

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Quote:

No, there's more to it than that, and you know it.
Har.

 
I forget so easily - because my vintage PMB orthos do not sound closed-in, but they do not have head-shattering bass either....
It could have something to do with the open-back designs though, come to think of it....

 

[wualta]

Quote:

 
I forget so easily - because my vintage PMB orthos do not sound closed-in, but they do not have head-shattering bass either....
It could have something to do with the open-back designs though, come to think of it....

Sure. Open-back is especially risky. It means you have to get the [preferably large] diaphragm right up on the ear, or else have really really good sealing and density in your pads. An extreme case would be the oil-filled pads Koss and Sharpe used back in the day. With tight seals come other problems: cavity resonances, a rise in the natural resonance point of the diaphragm (illustrated clearly by the cocktail-straw-under-the-pad trick on Stax Lambdas)..
 
Since everything affects everything else, it's very tricky to have it all in a headphone. You could say that there's never a single cause for anything you might hear a headphone do. It's as if you were engaged in game of 3-D chess with it.
 
If you start out with an excess of bass you can afford to trade some of it off, and get away with using a tight seal (as in the Lambda), or antiphase tricks like the baffle vents in AKG 'phones, the ones that replaced the passive diaphragms in earlier models. As far as I know, no one has transplanted an ortho driver into an AKG (or AKG-like) chassis. It might work.

 

[kalbee]

I've got one set of SFI's in a K271mkII but the transplant was halted because it is disturbingly difficult to work with it. Until I lengthen the cables going to the drivers, the mere concept of drivers fixed to baffle is simply unthinkable. Not to mention with no fillers and damping inside at the moment, the sound is quite literally a brilliant mess. At least in the case of the K271mkII, the large cups hide a surprisingly shallow cavity.

 

[Armaegis]

I've got an unfinished SFI/Sextett transplant sitting on my bench. In mine, the drivers are mounted in the ring/gimbal system. I've got a ton of foam and felt in there to try and soak up all those treble reflections. Actually, I've gotten some better damping materials lately... I should give those a try. 

 

[kalbee]

I had to enlarge the openings on mine. I really should find myself a better lit space to do dremel work (I sit in the corner of my garage stairs... poor light conditions or what) because it wasn't done that well.
Just for reference, roughly what kind of stuff did you put in there?
 
On another note, I did acquire myself some of that duct seal putty today and will be testing it out once this headache leaves me. Seems quite sticky... hopefully potential fillers won't all be stuck onto it. Maybe a layer of sand hmm...

 

[Armaegis]

Here's my build log: http://www.head-fi.org/t/569510/ortho-transplant-orthosex-sfi-into-akg-k240-sextett-lp-in-progress
 
I've got some scraps of acoustic foam I can try in there. 

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Are the Unipolar the only electrets that can do bass or what? Then again, in stock form, I don't think they went too much below 80 Hz or whatever either.

I haven't run test tones through them but the Sony ECR-500 have plenty of bass.  I use mine daily at work driven by a Kyocera R-851.

 

[vid]

Shame I lost an ECR-500 auction by $0.01 last year... See if you can hear a 30 or 40 Hz tone on them?

 

[proid]

I find a good deal on the Hp-3 but look like i doesn't come with stock pads?

 

[GREQ]

Quote:

I find a good deal on the Hp-3 but look like i doesn't come with stock pads?
 

It's just as well. Most stock pads today have no 'padding' left in them.
Looks similar though, so it shouldn't really affect the sound.

 

[wualta]

Yes, those non-stock pads may turn out to be a blessing if the covering is soft and pliable.
 
Doing a quickie look-around for the duct seal stuff, I find it's more often called "duct seal compound" or even "duct sealant". Amazon sells it (though the shipping kills the deal), Lowes, Home Depot.. shouldn't be hard to find, around $2.50 a pound.

 

[proid]

Quote:

Yes, those non-stock pads may turn out to be a blessing if the covering is soft and pliable.
 
Doing a quickie look-around for the duct seal stuff, I find it's more often called "duct seal compound" or even "duct sealant". Amazon sells it (though the shipping kills the deal), Lowes, Home Depot.. shouldn't be hard to find, around $2.50 a pound.

Are there any other pads that i can find to replace the stock pads without changing the sound?

 

[wualta]

Depends on which "sound" it is you don't want to change. Depends on where you live, too. Many enterprising folks on the thread have found all sorts of substitute earpads. Some even have made their own. Use the dedicated search engine: http://headfi.qix.it/megathreads/orthodynamic-roundup

 

[vid]

Quote:

I haven't run test tones through them but the Sony ECR-500 have plenty of bass.  I use mine daily at work driven by a Kyocera R-851.

 
Quote:

See if you can hear a 30 or 40 Hz tone on them?

 
Here.
 
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/1k_hz.wav
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/50_hz.wav
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/40_hz.wav
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/30_hz.wav
 
The idea being to compare at which point (50, 40, or 30 Hz) the response seems to start drooping in volume compared to the volume at 1 kHz.

 

[scompton]

Quote:

 
 
Here.
 
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/1k_hz.wav
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/50_hz.wav
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/40_hz.wav
http://personal.inet.fi/muoti/eimuoti/hz/30_hz.wav
 
The idea being to compare at which point (50, 40, or 30 Hz) the response seems to start drooping in volume compared to the volume at 1 kHz.

I'm teleworking today so I check it tomorrow.  It's pretty rare with any headphone to here 30Hz without turning up the volume.  I tend to listen at low levels.