[seeberg]

...And I paid about fifty cents for these. Sennheiser HD410 SL's- they had a bunch of hair all up in the foam and that part seems to be shot, as you can see in the pics, but despite that, these seem to be a decent pair of ubercheap headphones. They have an interesting sound, clear highs, smooth mids, a little lean on the bass- this could be a fault of how I'm driving them though. The presentation is a bit laid back, and the separation is good, nothing spectacular for it or the soundstage.

They have more oomph out of my reciever's 1/4" jack than out of my Z-Audio Mu, but this could be a fault of the battery, which might need changed. The cable is quite microphonic- it seems to be made out of the wrong type of materials- I suspect this is flexible PVC, which I don't like in any application.

I should contact Sennheiser for replacement pads if they have them, cause these really need them

But I also have an excuse to call besides that, I want HD600 grilles for my other coveted Sennies

These are a very interesting specimen of a mid-eighties open back headphone, and seem to be quite well put together- this doesn't surprise me since other newer 'phones in the HD4xx series are built this way, with a three piece design.

So far this takes top honors of my finds at used goods thrift stores, as I've found Sony V6's and two different pairs of Pioneer SE series closed back 'phones, among other audio goodies, sources and such. I may decide to keep these if there's no percieved value in them, and I'm going to repaint the side lettering with matching paint to the "Made In Germany" lettering on the headband. I don't know if they may serve as a portable 'phone though, since they use a 1/4" jack from stock- I'd have to use my Grado mini adaptor, and probably my amp to drive them- they seem a bit too thirsty for portable headphones at present, although my preference may change, especailly considering what I got them for.

I guess this is what a good eye for seeing through the junk rewards me with, and it isn't a bad prize in the least.

,
Abe

 

[skudmunky]

Very cool! You really need some new pads for those.

I recently found some Koss K-6 Stereo Headphones from the 70s or 80s as far as I can tell. I resoldered some contacts, and they actually don't sound to bad. I'll get some pics of them online soon.

 

[sgrossklass]

Nice find. These apparently were an early attempt at a portable headphone by Sennheiser, as far as that's feasible with 600 ohm drivers. Specs were, IIRC, a 20...18000 Hz freq response, and the usual 94 dB/mW. Those pads look like DIY replacements, original ones are still available though only in grey I think (Sennheiser art.no. 33175). Expect to be replacing the orange/yellow back foam at some time in the not too distant future, the stuff is very likely to be brittle after all those years. (Still have to do that for my '420SL. I think the earpieces are only clipped together.) At least be careful with the stuff. The paint on the side lettering doesn't look too great, agreed - on the '420SL, it's gold in color, and it's not even that unlikely that it was more orange originally on your '410SL. As for the cable, that must be the original microphonic steel cable. Matching replacement cables are 37974 (1/8" plug) and 48798 (1/4"); one should also be able to make a HD580/600 or HD650 cable fit in case you've got a spare handy (would require trimming the connectors a bit).

 

[jagorev]

Wow. Nice. I find it fascinating that they're still following the same design principles for the HD 497 (detachable earcups, removable cord, open back, lightweight).

 

[seeberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skudmunky Very cool! You really need some new pads for those. I recently found some Koss K-6 Stereo Headphones from the 70s or 80s as far as I can tell. I resoldered some contacts, and they actually don't sound to bad. I'll get some pics of them online soon.

Oh yeah, good news- I was able to gut those DIY crap pads and use my Ratshack pads I'd normally use on my Grados. They fit like a freaking glove

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgrossklass Nice find. These apparently were an early attempt at a portable headphone by Sennheiser, as far as that's feasible with 600 ohm drivers. Specs were, IIRC, a 20...18000 Hz freq response, and the usual 94 dB/mW. Those pads look like DIY replacements, original ones are still available though only in grey I think (Sennheiser art.no. 33175). Expect to be replacing the orange/yellow back foam at some time in the not too distant future, the stuff is very likely to be brittle after all those years. (Still have to do that for my '420SL. I think the earpieces are only clipped together.) At least be careful with the stuff. The paint on the side lettering doesn't look too great, agreed - on the '420SL, it's gold in color, and it's not even that unlikely that it was more orange originally on your '410SL. As for the cable, that must be the original microphonic steel cable. Matching replacement cables are 37974 (1/8" plug) and 48798 (1/4"); one should also be able to make a HD580/600 or HD650 cable fit in case you've got a spare handy (would require trimming the connectors a bit).

600 Ohms?! No wonder I can't drive them with anything but my reciever

And yeah, the foam was VERY brittle. just touching it with tweezers made the stuff crumble, so I completely gutted the HD410SL's of all foam, and it was a nasty removal process. I'm not going to replace the cable; if anything I'll just put an alligator clip with it and call it good. What's nice is that even without that foam and the pads changed to Ratshack, the 410SL's still sound decent. I may just have to keep them the way I have them now, and I'll post updated pics tonight. Thanks for the specs, btw.

,
Abe

 

[sgrossklass]

Do try to get some replacement foam for the back, as it's likely to be used for damping. Time to look through the heap of assorted PC add-on card packaging, you might find thin mats of soft foam there. (At least I did.)
As for driving those, my iAudio G3 does just fine with my HD420SL (for a fairly quiet home environment anyway), with more bass than on the receiver. (The latter also sounds grainy IMHO. Official member of Team I Want An Amp...) Admittedly this uses a fairly recent codec.