mvw2
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2007
- Posts
- 1,879
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- 106
So I broke out some small flat head screwdrivers and started playing with my Custom 3 earphones.
First off, the ring slides up easy, just a dab of CA glue. From here you can start prying at the seam and break the CA glue holding the earphone casings together. Slowly work your way around the perimeter slipping the earphone in two. Pretty soon you'll have two halves like below.
Lifted ring and two halves apart:
Close up of the inside.
From here you can see the basic layout of the earphone. The cord comes in top and gets wired to the circuit board. Wiring seems pretty straight forward, just two tabs, easy.
From here I started prying around the perimeter of the transparent silicon casing. This casing is glued on the bottom side around the earphone port to seal the sound. You can work your way around and eventually break the internals free from the case.
Internals broken free.
The BA driver setup consists of two drivers. One is fired directly into the earphone nozzle. The second BA driver is buried in the silicon encasement. There is a small metal port that is attached to the plastic casing and sort of angle fed into the nozzle. This port sticks up through the silicon casing and to the port of the bass driver. It does seem to function pretty well.
A shot of the port that sticks into the silicon encasement for the bass driver.
Now my intent for this foray was to see how the wiring was set up and gauge how easy it would be to swap wiring if need be. The wiring looks pretty simple to do. This earphone has a metal pin that is sort of melted into the plastic casing that holds the wiring form getting pulled out. This same pin also acts as the memory wire for the ear guide. I assume it's some sort of aluminum. When swapping wiring, it might be best to leave that as alone as possible to maintain the functionality. You might break it free for ease during the swap, but you would need to maybe epoxy it back in place when you're done.
Another shot of the internals and wiring.
It's kind of hard to get a good pic of the drivers, but they basically cross each other inside the silicon. The high frequency driver is angled down straight into the nozzle. The bass driver lays length wise and fires just into the opening that the bass port sticks into. The bass driver is decently substantial in size and does contribute to the good bass definition of this earphone.
Once you do fiddle with this, the earphone does snap back together and stay together fine. There's actual locking points on the casing as well as the ring holding it together at the cable. It won't be glued, but it stays together. Since the bass driver is effectively floating in silicon, I am curious how the bass might get tightened up if it was more securely attached and ported into the nozzle.
One reason for me taking this apart was to see about the nozzle filter. I want to remove it and see how the top end improves. The treble driver is comparatively strong relative to the bass driver but has roll off on the top end that is significant enough to warrant a little fiddling.
Well filter removal didn't go well. I ended up just shoving a paperclip through the filter, lol. The filter itself is extremely thin on its own, very minimal materal really. Removal does open up the midrange and top end a little bit. I ran through a pink noise track, and the response sounds pretty flat across most of the spectrum. It seems better than stock actually and doesn't carry any real top end emphasis. I guess I don't get what the filter's for. I think it's better without. Sensitivity goes up a touch. The top end is a little more extended. The sound is just a little bit more forward, open, sparkly than before. Just don't see a downside at all. Big ??? for why Klipsch added anything at all. Maybe it was mostly just to keep stuff out of the drivers and that was it. It may be little other than a built in wax guard really. However, it does influence the response a little, enough to have gains from its removal.
First off, the ring slides up easy, just a dab of CA glue. From here you can start prying at the seam and break the CA glue holding the earphone casings together. Slowly work your way around the perimeter slipping the earphone in two. Pretty soon you'll have two halves like below.
Lifted ring and two halves apart:
Close up of the inside.
From here you can see the basic layout of the earphone. The cord comes in top and gets wired to the circuit board. Wiring seems pretty straight forward, just two tabs, easy.
From here I started prying around the perimeter of the transparent silicon casing. This casing is glued on the bottom side around the earphone port to seal the sound. You can work your way around and eventually break the internals free from the case.
Internals broken free.
The BA driver setup consists of two drivers. One is fired directly into the earphone nozzle. The second BA driver is buried in the silicon encasement. There is a small metal port that is attached to the plastic casing and sort of angle fed into the nozzle. This port sticks up through the silicon casing and to the port of the bass driver. It does seem to function pretty well.
A shot of the port that sticks into the silicon encasement for the bass driver.
Now my intent for this foray was to see how the wiring was set up and gauge how easy it would be to swap wiring if need be. The wiring looks pretty simple to do. This earphone has a metal pin that is sort of melted into the plastic casing that holds the wiring form getting pulled out. This same pin also acts as the memory wire for the ear guide. I assume it's some sort of aluminum. When swapping wiring, it might be best to leave that as alone as possible to maintain the functionality. You might break it free for ease during the swap, but you would need to maybe epoxy it back in place when you're done.
Another shot of the internals and wiring.
It's kind of hard to get a good pic of the drivers, but they basically cross each other inside the silicon. The high frequency driver is angled down straight into the nozzle. The bass driver lays length wise and fires just into the opening that the bass port sticks into. The bass driver is decently substantial in size and does contribute to the good bass definition of this earphone.
Once you do fiddle with this, the earphone does snap back together and stay together fine. There's actual locking points on the casing as well as the ring holding it together at the cable. It won't be glued, but it stays together. Since the bass driver is effectively floating in silicon, I am curious how the bass might get tightened up if it was more securely attached and ported into the nozzle.
One reason for me taking this apart was to see about the nozzle filter. I want to remove it and see how the top end improves. The treble driver is comparatively strong relative to the bass driver but has roll off on the top end that is significant enough to warrant a little fiddling.
Well filter removal didn't go well. I ended up just shoving a paperclip through the filter, lol. The filter itself is extremely thin on its own, very minimal materal really. Removal does open up the midrange and top end a little bit. I ran through a pink noise track, and the response sounds pretty flat across most of the spectrum. It seems better than stock actually and doesn't carry any real top end emphasis. I guess I don't get what the filter's for. I think it's better without. Sensitivity goes up a touch. The top end is a little more extended. The sound is just a little bit more forward, open, sparkly than before. Just don't see a downside at all. Big ??? for why Klipsch added anything at all. Maybe it was mostly just to keep stuff out of the drivers and that was it. It may be little other than a built in wax guard really. However, it does influence the response a little, enough to have gains from its removal.