[Rob80b]

Do you know if I can wash a driver from outside? I mean what appears in the picture below? Is this called membrane? Is this what you call thermoplastic? Thank you.

The highlighted part?...if so that's just the baffle..I would not worry about it but a damp Q-Tip might work.
For the actual driver it's always best to leave well enough alone. : )

 

[Mike F]

The highlighted part?...if so that's just the baffle..I would not worry about it but a damp Q-Tip might work.
For the actual driver it's always best to leave well enough alone. : )

I thought he meant the white marks on the actual driver, but I agree - best left as it is.

 

[chesebert]

I think for most dynamic headphones, tuning probably has more to do with the final sound quality than the driver itself. The only exception in this business is Focal, which I hate to admit produced some really great/amazing drivers and decided to just let the drivers dangle essentially in free space.

 

[headstef]

Do you know if I can wash a driver from outside? I mean what appears in the picture below? Is this called membrane? Is this what you call thermoplastic? Thank you.

This big elliptical thing is the "white" (or "silver") metal mesh, that replaced the older black "paper" or "silk" mesh/baffle. The actual driver is behind that mesh, you can see its semi-transparent plastic dome/membrane/diaphragm which is the moving part (together with its red colored coil). The red color is due to the insulating enamel/substance that covers the wire of the coil along its full length (without it the coil spirals would be short-circuited with each other).
What has been spilled on the mesh? Maybe you can remove what is left with some cotton sticks or soft paper but do not press much. If the diaphragm below is not contaminated, I don't think that a change of driver is really needed. You can disassemble everything carefully to inspect (the metal mesh cannot be removed from its plastic frame).

 

[headstef]

The drivers in the HD-580 pair at the hands of my cousin look like this, though not that bad (random picture from the net):

Someone has pressed the central part of the membrane, causing temporary deformation (I hope).
For anyone with a similar problem, there is a very easy fix: Cut a very thin strip of electrical insulation tape (start with 1mm wide) and place it on the deformed part. Pressing with a very small paintbrush can help the tape strip to stick on the membrane - leave a part of the strip unstuck. Carefully pull the strip to remove it; this will usually bring the dome back to its shape. Repeat in all parts of the dome necessary. Usually it can be done easily without removing the driver, just working through the opening above the dome.
An other solution is sucking but it is at your decision how to do it carefully. Avoid really touching the membrane to suck.

 

[pietcux]

Do you know if I can wash a driver from outside? I mean what appears in the picture below? Is this called membrane? Is this what you call thermoplastic? Thank you.

Thermoplastic is the correct word to describe any plastic which is used today, it means that it can be formed when it is warm or even hot. Even you Nike shoes or in this case all parts of the HD660S2 are thermoplastic which are not metal. Nothing wrong with that. The driver is only visible in the cutout in the middle. the other stuff is a mesh covering the open area around the driver and has probably acoustical purposes. There is nothing that you want to wash hereit is meant to be invisible behind the foam pad, not selected for beauty rather for functional purpose.

 

[headstef]

@rafaelo Looking at your headphone inside photo again, it seems possible that whatever has been spilled on the driver area, it's been spilled through the outer side (not the earpad side). In this case it may have affected the driver too. Again, by fully disassembling you can check that, also you can clean the silver mesh more effectively, both sides.

 

[Rob80b]

Let us know how it fares compared to the Bryston!

Haven’t actually plugged them in side by each but so far the HD660S2 sounds excellent off the HDVD800.
Still undecided on the HD800, maybe it’s slightly warmer with smoother highs on the Bryston.

 

[Rob80b]

Again what comes to mind over and over again with the S2 is “full range”….just a super satisfying listen all round, a real pleasure to enjoy music, any music.

 

[SchwizzelKick66]

I can relate to that and to maybe rectify the situation, or maybe even to make it worse I had a little itch to scratch which is currently "out for delivery"....

Oh boy. What did you do Rob???

 

[Rob80b]

Oh boy. What did you do Rob???

What any sane person would do...add a Sennheiser amp to power Sennheiser headphones. : )

And right now the S2 are still ahead of its older brother for overall musical enjoyment.

 

[Beagle]

The drivers in the HD-580 pair at the hands of my cousin look like this, though not that bad (random picture from the net):

Someone has pressed the central part of the membrane, causing temporary deformation (I hope).
For anyone with a similar problem, there is a very easy fix: Cut a very thin strip of electrical insulation tape (start with 1mm wide) and place it on the deformed part. Pressing with a very small paintbrush can help the tape strip to stick on the membrane - leave a part of the strip unstuck. Carefully pull the strip to remove it; this will usually bring the dome back to its shape. Repeat in all parts of the dome necessary. Usually it can be done easily without removing the driver, just working through the opening above the dome.
An other solution is sucking but it is at your decision how to do it carefully. Avoid really touching the membrane to suck.

Just blow from the other side. Or take better care of the headphones.

 

[Beagle]

Maybe we could get a NDH-30 for cheap with the HD560S....

Uh, no.

I hope Sennheiser releases the HD800S2, Technical chop + Muscality = their winning flagship..

Or mucouscality.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Found wood cups in closet from old build.... (this is a pic of old build below)

So, thought i'd bolt them on the 580 . Not my idea, some guy on another forum bolted amaranth (Kennerton?) cups on his 650 (pic below)

Sound Impession: similar funny enough, but leaner and sharper.... eek...
Oh yeah, they're open back, and now closed, so velour pads work no more......

Slapped on Meze 99 Classic pads.... pleather .... made for closed..... Hey this is not too bad at all.....

Ok time to swap it back to original and move on with my day....



But I'm come this far.... should I ... try on ... same baffle essentially right??

Bolts on... check...
Meze 99 Pads check....

and... we reach here...

Wowey, these don't sound like Sennheiser anymore. Reminds me of Dt770 80 ohm but with tamer treble, and slightly more forward mids, and perhaps a touch less subbass, but the midbass is full force and makes this a very warm listen.

I wouldn't really tell another person to go through this. If you're curious what these are, they are Fischer Audio Fa-002 cups. They basically just bolt on with 4 screws. I believe the Kennerton (same company or parent company) make the Magister cups or similar (pic above with red cups on HD650)

ANYWAY, don't do it! But if you're curious as I was (and this was years ago when I saw that pic above with red cups)..... then you end up here.

I would imagine this would work on the 660s2 as well!

 

[jonathan c]

Again what comes to mind over and over again with the S2 is “full range”….just a super satisfying listen all round, a real pleasure to enjoy music, any music.

Well said. Whether driven by Icon Audio HP8, Liquid Platinum, LTA MZ3, Violectric V281, or Woo WA3 …. I do not attempt comparison of ‘S2’ with other headphones: by attribute or by totality. ‘S2’ convincingly delivers music!