[gotzskilz]

I just recently won some pioneer SE-l40's on ebay and got them for what im guessing is a pretty reasonable price of $24.50? Well as you can see they are in need of some cleaning. I was wondering if it would be possible to restore this to there original sheen and what would be some good methods in doing so? Also, I was wondering what is the best way to get the most out of these awesome headphones with today's audio devices?
 
Thanks
 

 

 

[gotzskilz]

anyone?

 

[gotzskilz]

bump

 

[Vaughn]

I've rehabilitated a lot of vintage audio gear and I've found that a "Magic Eraser" is just about the best thing for cleaning up fascias on electronics. There is probably a thin plating on those and (it is difficult to discern from the  photos) likely it has corroded in various spots. You won't able to do anything about that but give it a rub down with the magic eraser and you will be surprised how good it looks.
 
I'm not sure but there is a good chance that those are 8 ohm headphones, which is going to make it a little difficult to mate with modern portable devices. Most headphones at that time had an 8 ohm impedance. This wasn't a problem then as they would have been driven by the headphone jack on your typical receiver or integrated amp, which was taken directly from the actual amplifier. Modern devices (receivers,etc) have a dedicated amp in them for headphones, usually of low quality and made from parts just barely qualified to complete the task.
 
If you plan on trying to run these from a portable device you have a lot of fiddling ahead of you. You could try to find a portable amp that will power them or find a couple of drivers from a modern headphone that will fit and transplant them.  At the end of the day it is probably going to be a lot more work than it is worth. I know they are pretty cool looking, but facts are facts and this is most likely why no one has responded to this thread. I don't mean to sound discouraging, just realistic!

 

[gotzskilz]

I completely understand. I am just planning on cleaning them up, get them functioning, and probably use a DIY amp to power them for occasional use. Then eventually ill upgrade the drivers and update them to modern specs with the older looks. Thanks for the help.