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Sony CD3000 Thread
Jan 2, 2021 at 7:23 PM Post #436 of 451
elwappo99 said:
I'm also looking for some help. I've got a pair and getting pads was easy enough. However, the headband is pretty worn and the elastics in the headband are loose. I've looked everywhere, but haven't found good instructions on fixing the headband.
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There used to be a Yahoo site in Japanese that went thru disassembly and repair, but sadly that's gone along with Yahoo. Taking it apart isn't that hard though - just take pictures of everything as you go. I have attached some pictures of what my lambskin repair looks like afterwards.

The head band was just wrapped with lambskin and sewn together. I forget exactly how I sized it, but I folded both sides of the joint over and glued the fold with Gorilla glue for extra strength. You can use those rotary hole making dodads from Walmart to make evenly spaced holes, then sew everything together. Obviously I wasn't able to get it as tight as the original so it's kinda crinkly at the joint, but it doesn't look too bad in real life.

The elastic tensioner wasn't as hard. The original used (from what I remember) a thick paper core to keep it rigid. I replaced it with thick plastic from a pastry container using the original to match the size and shape. This needs to be stitched to the yoke to keep it held in place. Use a needle to make holes in the core beforehand, and glue lambskin (or other leather) on either side. Stitch around the yoke through the holes made previously and you're done.
 

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Sep 9, 2022 at 4:12 PM Post #438 of 451
I know this is an old ass thread, but I recently acquired a used pair of these after wanting one since I was in high school (more than 2 decades ago). When I received them and plopped them on my head I realized pretty quickly why some people have held these in such high regard over the years. They are imaging and detail monsters. After listening for a couple of hours I identified a couple of things that to me inhibited them from being considered in the same realm as some of the higher end stuff I've heard and owned over the years - namely sibilance with some less-than-great recordings, a general lack of body and the anemic bass (at least relative to the other headphones I possess). Out of curiosity I logged onto head-fi to see if people have managed to alleviate some of the shortcomings via mods, etc... over the years. The only real commonly spoken of mod was replacing the stock cable which I undertook the next day

The first cable I replaced the stock one with was some off-brand custom made one that was originally made to be used with Sennheisers. It didn't really seem like it would be a huge upgrade just based off of the fact that it was thinner than the stock one, but I went ahead with it anyway since it was terminated with a 4-pin XLR and I had read that going balanced with these made a noticeable difference. In the end, I think I actually made the sound quality worse in that the higher frequencies while extended before were now extended to the point of being grating. While the sound quality was overall quite good I just couldn't see myself picking these up over my other headphones as-is

Since the cable replacement made quite a difference (albeit in the wrong direction), I ultimately decided that I would invest in a more robust, reputable one as a last shot attempt to turn these headphones into ones that would warrant head time. I ended up buying a used Wywires red cable from a user on here as I've read some good stuff about this brand and its products on here and installed it on the Sony's yesterday. I could already tell based on the thickness of the wires that this was a promising endeavor and I was right - this thing turned the CD3000's in absolute world beaters. Everything that they did well they did even better now and many of the weaknesses were either curtailed to the point that they weren't distracting of were ridden of completely. I honestly can't believe how damn good these things sound now - easily in the top 3 with respect to everything I've heard over the years.

Morale of the story - if you are lucky enough to own a pair of these and want to improve them quite substantially for not too much cost and effort - upgrade the cable immediately to one that you've either listened to and liked or one that was not made with cost savings in mind. Trust me on this!!

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Sep 9, 2022 at 9:46 PM Post #439 of 451
Yup, running them balanced and used warm sounding and larger gauge copper cable and this thing is pretty darn nice.
 
Nov 5, 2022 at 5:01 PM Post #440 of 451
Hi everyone,
does anybody know if someone has ever created replacement parts for the Sony MDR CD 3000 ? I have several CD 3000 and the plastic parts on the lower part of the headband have cracks, and they surely will break soon. I'd like to replace them with 3D printed parts (or equivalent), eventually painted with an alu paint to keep the original look of the headphones. I contacted ES-Lab (which created the ES-R10) to know if they had this kind of replacement parts, but they have not.
I might pay for these parts if someone is able to create them, but knowing that this problem is rather common on CD 3000, the person who is able to produce this kind of parts surely will sell a lot of them on ebay, for example.
Thanks for your attention.
 
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Dec 3, 2022 at 6:28 AM Post #441 of 451
Hi sorry to make this a request! Has anybody out there in head fi land got a right CD3000 driver for sale or willing to sell..Mine has died..I considered selling them for spares but I can't!!! I would miss these so much..
 
Dec 3, 2022 at 7:50 AM Post #442 of 451
jujuju said:
Hi sorry to make this a request! Has anybody out there in head fi land got a right CD3000 driver for sale or willing to sell..Mine has died..I considered selling them for spares but I can't!!! I would miss these so much..
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Hello,
did you consider to repair it ? Sometimes there is just a small soldering to do on the driver itself. If it's more serious and you need to replace the driver, you also can look for a CD3000 sold for parts, with at least one working driver.
I'm curious about your problem : did you listen to music at a high volume ? I wonder why drivers can fail.
 
Dec 3, 2022 at 11:05 AM Post #443 of 451
Thanks for the reply and help..There was an imbalance as it was a bit quieter that side..I had a DAP that had an Eq setting to make the right side louder..I used it and it seemed great but it has probably finished it off..I will have a look inside though..
 
Apr 28, 2023 at 1:17 PM Post #444 of 451
So just to update I managed to replace the broken driver..I got lucky from a fellow head fier!!!
After installing the new driver the sound is sublime..I had a good listen through my Sony wm1a and Hiby r6 pro..I then decided to listen to my Utopias through the same devices..The Utopia has now been re-homed..My God the clarity of the 3000 is unbelievable..I have to say I have owned 3 X mdr r10s before (2 bass light and 1 heavy) and these recabled to Xlr with a copper cable are pretty darn close to the R10...
 
Oct 8, 2023 at 1:39 PM Post #447 of 451
Hello,
I found a site where we can download files for 3D printers to produce Sony MDR CD 3000 parts :
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1278767
but I don't know if the design is perfect or not. Has anyone tried to print these parts ? (I don't have any 3D printer yet).
Regarding the headband suspension, we can find leather parts on ebay, from China. I didn't find any complete headband anywhere on the internet.
 
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