[Bilavideo]

 

Alright, humble pie time.  I complained earlier about boomy bass after punching two holes and I was really wrong.  It was the recordings and not the headphones.  I downloaded Audacity and noticed that the majority of what used to be my reference recordings were clip-tastic.  Dream Theater (kind of surprised), Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza (not really surprised), Coheed and Cambria (kind of surprised), at least half of my CD collection, majorly bricked and sounded grainy and boomy through my modded phones.  Then I put on albums that I used to think sounded kind of flat and, holy smokes, everything was so clean, delicate, full.  Compared to more expensive phones I don't know, but I had a serious grin on my face.  Pink Floyd, Rush, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, the first Lye By Mistake album, and, unsurprisingly, Audacity says none of them are clipped.
 
Good thing the MDR-V6 ain't a horrible fallback phone for the mundane stuff.  And now I got some partially modded SR325is for the woohoo, good stuff.  I know enough folks have kissed your a$$, BIll, but you really are the man and I look forward to catching up to the rest of you guys.
 
So who's got the ugliest recipe for humble pie cause I need a fat one?

eujaee, thanks for the PM and welcome back.  I know exactly what you're talking about.  I've had times when I thought there was something missing in my setup only to discover that it was the recording.  It's funny how the more discerning things get the more a bad recording really stands out.  I'm glad you got to audition these things with some good recordings.  No matter what, at the end of the day, it all comes back to the tracks.
 

 

[hi-fiber]

Hi guys!
 
Dayuumm its so hard to make woodies...
Heres mine... Finished this weekend. they still look like crap...
 
but the midrange sounds so thick... will this still need a tube amp?
 

 

[cswann1]

Quote:

 

eujaee, thanks for the PM and welcome back.  I know exactly what you're talking about.  I've had times when I thought there was something missing in my setup only to discover that it was the recording.  It's funny how the more discerning things get the more a bad recording really stands out.  I'm glad you got to audition these things with some good recordings.  No matter what, at the end of the day, it all comes back to the tracks.
 

 
Yes, evaluating any hardware should be done with recordings you know very well and are of very good quality.  With the horrible mastering of popular music today that's getting to be a tall order, the quality part I mean.

 

[chrislangley4253]

Quote:

I'll see what I can get you.  Many folks like the PS1000 look.  Others like the SR325 look.  I'm partial to the look of the old PS1s, which is basically what the RS1 and SR60 are imitating.
 
 

Thanks so much. I was kind of astounded when I realized that my buddy was a metal machinist and that he could easily fabricate me some aluminium shells. I'm chopping at the bit to get some specs to him to make SURE he can in fact make them. If not, dad has some round saw blades either way i'm getting seriously moddy here real soon. I bet I end up doing both.

 

[Bilavideo]

 

Hi guys!
 
Dayuumm its so hard to make woodies...
Heres mine... Finished this weekend. they still look like crap...
 
but the midrange sounds so thick... will this still need a tube amp?
 

I don't think they look bad at all but you might want to enlarge the quarter-mod hole, that is if you're feeling that the mids are too thick.  A wider aperture will give you a more open sound.  Right now, you're limiting HF dispersion, which you really don't need to do with that much wood.
 

 

[hi-fiber]

i will do that soon mr bill...
s there some way you could prevent the wood from burning/charring? mahogany is just a hard wood to hole.

 

[sml1226]

i will do that soon mr bill...
s there some way you could prevent the wood from burning/charring? mahogany is just a hard wood to hole.

lubrication of some kind will keep it cool while cutting. You just have to find the right stuff. DOn't want to stain it and don't want it to really absorb it and change in some way there.

 

[hi-fiber]

i used linseed oil to finish my woody, ill try if that will work... if youll look closely, the insides of my woody is just charred...

 

[charly777]

@Bill
 
I PMed you lately but I think you might not have receiced the messages...Could you confirm?

 

[sharkz]

Quote:

i will do that soon mr bill...
s there some way you could prevent the wood from burning/charring? mahogany is just a hard wood to hole.

I've found the best way to not burn the wood is to either slow things down a bit (drill speed and how fast you are feeding the chuck into the wood) or to just sand things off. Any time I have had burning, it has never been deep enough that I haven't been able to sand it out. Just need to get past the burned material. The purpleheart was especially bad, its kind of an oily wood and the heat and oil on the outside of the wood formed a hard, charred coating. Took quite a bit of machine sanding to get it all worked down.
 
 

 

[mcgsxr]

Agreed on the approaches to charred wood - with my variable circle cutter, there is NO speed that will not toast the wood, the head doing the cutting is just too big not to smoke. 
 
The hole saws can be slowly pushed through the material without smoking, but it helps if the wood is not too oily - east indian rosewood is great to work with. 
 
Black and white ebony, african blackwood are both oily, and smoke a lot during the process, but can be easily sanded to look good.  It is the cracking and checking that makes the black and white ebony useless to me.

 

[shipsupt]

I've found the best way to not burn the wood is to either slow things down a bit (drill speed and how fast you are feeding the chuck into the wood) or to just sand things off. Any time I have had burning, it has never been deep enough that I haven't been able to sand it out. Just need to get past the burned material. The purpleheart was especially bad, its kind of an oily wood and the heat and oil on the outside of the wood formed a hard, charred coating. Took quite a bit of machine sanding to get it all worked down.
 
 

Let me start with the caveat that I am not a wood worker, just a DIY'er like many of you...

Seems like many of you are using hole saws to cut your hardwoods. Besides the normal recommendations, slow the bit speed and the feed rate, a sharp bit is critical, I also recommend stopping frequently, backing out and removing dust and debris and chiseling out the remaining wood instead of leaving a large piece of wood in the hole saw to be removed at the end of the cut. Leaving dust and the "plug" in the saw creates a lot of heat. This will take a long time but can really cut down on heat and make for a clean cut.

I haven't tried the following tip, but it seems like it could be useful for some of the challenging woods you are cutting;

After drilling a pilot hole for your cut, use the hole saw to very lightly score the wood’s surface. When the scoring is complete, remove the hole saw and set aside. Next, drill several 1/4" holes along the inner edge of the score line (keeping them within the circle, and spacing them out around the perimeter). Make sure that these holes penetrate completely through the work piece. At this point, you can pick up where you left off with the hole saw… you’ll be able to make a complete hole cut, and all of the sawdust will automatically clear out through the ventilation holes.

Always great to see the beautiful work displayed here!

 

[sharkz]

 
Quote:

At this point, you can pick up where you left off with the hole saw… you’ll be able to make a complete hole cut, and all of the sawdust will automatically clear out through the ventilation holes.
 

 
This is interesting and I will definately give it a try, however there are still issues. As I said, many of the harder woods are also very oily. The issue is that the dust that comes out isn't the consistancy of a standard sawdust. When I cut Padauk or Purpleheart, the dust is almost more like a clay. I know that sounds weird, but the oil causes the dust to clump together in moist balls instead of nice dry chips or dust like a more "normal" wood.
 
The biggest issue I have is that the material deep down in the hole gums up and sometimes doesn't even want to come out with compressed air blowing on it. 

 

[shipsupt]

 
Quote:
 
This is interesting and I will definately give it a try, however there are still issues. As I said, many of the harder woods are also very oily. The issue is that the dust that comes out isn't the consistancy of a standard sawdust. When I cut Padauk or Purpleheart, the dust is almost more like a clay. I know that sounds weird, but the oil causes the dust to clump together in moist balls instead of nice dry chips or dust like a more "normal" wood.
 
The biggest issue I have is that the material deep down in the hole gums up and sometimes doesn't even want to come out with compressed air blowing on it. 

Agree, with the oily woods those small ventilation holes may not be enough to keep things clear.

 

[quynyth]

I just want to have this headphones on full size. Because headphones are very useful on my jobs.