[DefectiveAudioComponent]

I bought the anniversary edition for my (then little) brother, years ago, because I thought they were extremely difficult to damage. They still work perfectly (with new pads). But I don't like the sound of the annversary edtion much.

 

[Duggeh]

Picture of my set with the headband and the horrible old 2 pin din plugs removed.

 

[charliex]

Very nice....

 

[wualta]

Interesting, Duggeh. In the US market, there never was such a thing. Goes to show that what was original in one market might be totally different in another. Assuming that's a Sennheiser headpad, heh heh.

Those were originally blue-padsters? When were they made, do you know?

 

[Kees]

Mine seem to look slightly different (cable is not original, there was a grey cable on the grey phones). The grey phones actually seem to be more grey than the ones in Duggeh's pictures (mine are grey in reality, not white)

 

[Klarnet Basowy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, the originals were never released in black. I had a pair of HD-414 original 2000ohm with the headband pad intact and fresh earpads and in the original box with the original brochure.

Not true: the HD414x (2000 ohm) of the late seventies is black, and is an "original" HD414. I have it (although unlistenable because defective in one channel).

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klarnet Basowy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not true: the HD414x (2000 ohm) of the late seventies is black, and is an "original" HD414. I have it (although unlistenable because defective in one channel).

Please can I correct - the originals came out in 1968 and were grey only.

The black versions came later (but still electrically the same as the originals) - if you bought black in the late '70's, the headphones had already been on the market for 10 years!

The Sennheiser signature re-release in 1995 were black.

 

[Klarnet Basowy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Willett /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please can I correct - the originals came out in 1968 and were grey only. The black versions came later (but still electrically the same as the originals) - if you bought black in the late '70's, the headphones had already been on the market for 10 years! The Sennheiser signature re-release in 1995 were black.

Yes, but they are electrically the same of the '68 version. Or originals means only the one produced in the first year of production?

 

[Kees]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klarnet Basowy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, but they are electrically the same of the '68 version. Or originals means only the one produced in the first year of production?

The re-release are different (50 Ohm instead of 2000 Ohm).
The original grey ones and the black ones that came a few years later (except the colour and plug they are the same) are "originals" as opposed to the re-release.

 

[Canman]

My dad still has his black 414 from the 70's. I bought some new yellow earpads for him years back but compared to today's standards they sound flat and closed in.

 

[Klarnet Basowy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kees /img/forum/go_quote.gif The re-release are different (50 Ohm instead of 2000 Ohm). The original grey ones and the black ones that came a few years later (except the colour and plug they are the same) are "originals" as opposed to the re-release.

Yes, yes, I know, my post was a bit "ironic".

 

[Klarnet Basowy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canman /img/forum/go_quote.gif My dad still has his black 414 from the 70's. I bought some new yellow earpads for him years back but compared to today's standards they sound flat and closed in.

Listen to them for a prolonged period, I think you will notice how "pleasant" they are. Maybe not in pair with today detail standards, but they do a great service to the music, especially acoustic. (I have at home an HD424 perfectly working, which is an HD414 with slightly different driver housing, and I like it).

 

[John Willett]

The original HD 414 came out in 1968 - I think they were 2,000 Ohms - later the black version came out and there were other impedances also available - I seem to remember three different impedance versions.

If you talk "originals" you really need to think 1st edition grey version.

A 2nd edition of a book may be identical in all respects to the 1st edition - but it's the 1st edition that has the premium price.

 

[djay1948]

I remember how happy we were in 1968 when the Sennheiser 414 (gray) appeared in the local Hi-Fi store (Audiolab in Cambridge, MA). These were the first "open-back" phones we had ever seen, and, even though the highs seemed a bit recessed, the lows were amazing for such a lightweight and comfortable headphone. I used these happily for years until the Koss Pro 4AAA
came out. Then it was back to the old, heavy, closed-back phones for a while. I held on to the Sennheisers for a few more years until the cable finally gave-out. These were exciting times for speakers, too. Professor Bose of MIT had recently installed a pair of his experimental speakers at Audiolab. Each speaker cabinet formed 1/8th of a sphere and contained, I believe, 15 identical drivers. They were intended to simulate the perfect speaker shape: a pulsating sphere. But they needed to be placed into the corners of a room, so they were a bit impractical. They never went into production, but boy, they sure sounded great in the store.The new Advent speakers had just come out, as well. Great time for Hi-Fi geeks.

 

[fallsroad]

I had a pair of the black/yellow pad 414s from the early 1980s. Pretty decent sound, though my 650s would crush them head to head.

I had them for fifteen years, treated them very badly, and all they ever asked for were new pads periodically when they disintegrated. They eventually gave out, and what money I had went into a new pair of Grados.