[minya]

Well, last weekend I was listening to some rather bass-heavy music at rather loud volumes (but I don't think it was *THAT* loud...), which my PortaPros easily dealt with. Today, I put them on - start listening - and whenever the music gets rather loud (especially bassy) I can hear a slight dim 'rattling' in the right driver.

I've heard of this happening, esp. with Grados, but I'm rather worried. The PortaPros certainly aren't audiophile grade phones, but they're not $15 pieces of crap either, and I'd expect them to hold up to loud volumes better than this. Is this something I can fix myself, or should I send them back to Koss? (They're about 2 months old!)

Please tell me this is just an isolated incident with possibly poorly-made phones or perhaps the driver just got rattled out of place. This isn't something that regularly happens to sub-$100 phones, is it?

- Chris

 

[jedai]

It also happended to my KSC-35 recently - rattling static on loud passage. I opened the foam cushion and blew the driver both inside and outside. It seems to cure the problem. Blow the driver and then check if the problem is gone. Hope it also works for your PortaPro which uses the same kind of drivers.

 

[LTUCCI1924]

HI: You can sent them back if necessary. They have a life time guarantee.

 

[minya]

Quote:

Originally posted by LTUCCI1924 HI: You can sent them back if necessary. They have a life time guarantee.

Yes, I know, but that costs $6 and these are 2 months old. I don't want to nor should I need to send the phones back.

I'm going to give what jedai said a try... hope it works. Thanks for the info.

- Chris

 

[Ebonyks]

Yeah, my sporta pro's do the same thing when i blast dark ambience. I think it's just a flaw of the phones, i damaged mine pretty good showing them off. Good thing i'm 5 mins from koss

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally posted by jedai It also happended to my KSC-35 recently - rattling static on loud passage. I opened the foam cushion and blew the driver both inside and outside. It seems to cure the problem. Blow the driver and then check if the problem is gone. Hope it also works for your PortaPro which uses the same kind of drivers.

This may be a naive question, but by "blew the driver" do you mean just using a compressed air blower?

I have the same problem with the KSC-50's. Does anybody know if it's possible to put those back together if you open them up, and if so what's the correct way to take them apart?

Thanks.

 

[minya]

Quote:

Originally posted by Davie This may be a naive question, but by "blew the driver" do you mean just using a compressed air blower? I have the same problem with the KSC-50's. Does anybody know if it's possible to put those back together if you open them up, and if so what's the correct way to take them apart? Thanks.

Yeah, he meant taking off the foam pad (the cushion) from the driver and then blowing in it. I wouldn't recommend a compressed air blower, because those can be awfully strong. I just tried it myself five minutes ago - and though the pad is a bit difficult to take off and replace correctly - blowing in it seems to have solved the problem.

I'm sure the KSC-50s have removable ear cushions. Remove the cushions and blow into it, then put them back on and give them a try. That should definitely help.

- Chris

 

[Vince]

The same thing happened to mine - the left driver sounded buzzy for bass heavy passages. I was going to send them back, but the problem seemed to go away (I think). Since I've read the comments about this happening to other headphones, I am hoping it is some kind of break in phenomenon. I've had mine since April. My break in is probably a little slow because a couple of months after I got them I also got my Etys that I of course listen to alot more.

Vince

 

[JaZZ]

If that's happening with my Portapro, I just give the corresponding driver a hit, assuming that there's some foreign matter in it. And this seems to be the case, because the rattling is disappearing every time.

Another possibility is that there are some hairs sticking in the foam pad which touch the membrane during loud bass (= great excursion) passages – one thing that's reported with Grados.

I'm quite sure that it's no real defect in most of the cases, just pollution.

JaZZ

 

[Vince]

JaZZ,

Pollution sounds like a plausible reason for my case, because I first noticed it after I tried LTUCCI1924's mod of cutting holes in the pads. I felt it did indeed improve their sound, but it might leave the drivers easily exposed to dirt and hair. Another thing that bothered me with the mod was that when I take them off, very often the left and right sides slam together. This is not too much of a problem in general, but it worried me when the holes were there exposing the bare plastic.

I will try this mod again but with smaller holes. I think I cut the holes too big the first time I tried it.

LTUCCI1924 - have you had this issue with your mod?

Vince

 

[LTUCCI1924]

Vince
HI: I have had no problems with my mode on my portapros or 35 but keep in mind that after I use my portapros I hang them up and nothing gets in them. Now the 35 I keep in a shoulder bag that could have some de-bree in it but still no problem. Also I have long white hair and have no problem with that. If trying to clear then out and still have the problem I would send them back to koss for free check up and if need be free replacement.