[zeno]

I had been hearing my varied electronic music collection using my Grado SR60s....Yesterday I burned some of my electronic music to CD-R to play on my regular CD player with my AKG K340s....I had not heard any of my electronic music through them before then. Wow, it's hard to describe how the AKGs are different than the Grados....For one thing, the Grados have lots more bass....the AKGs have some bass, but noticeably less than the Grados. The Grados have great treble, but, the AKGs have a "different" great treble, hard to explain. I hear treble voices on the AKGs that just are not really there with the Grados....The AKGs are more like attaching "regular non headphone speakers to my head"....(not sure if anyone knows what i am trying to say there....). There is more of an "airy openess to the AKGs. It's hard to explain...the sound signature of the AKGs are vastly different than the Grados....It's kinda cool really, with the exact same music source, one can in effect have 2 different listening experiences with the AKG K340 compared to the Grado SR60s. It is very much like have 2 different "mixes" of the same music when going from one headphone to the other. Any other AKG K340 uses care to compare there's with other headphones you have, especially listening to them with the same music and noting their differences? I did not do a very good job of trying to describe my AKG K340s I know. it is just a vastly different listening experience compared to my Grado SR60s. I know i should use a amp for the AKGs, but just use an older Yamaha A1000 amp from the early 1980s. It is not the newer model Yamaha 1000 amp for A/V use, but the older true Class A A1000 amp from the early 80s. It drives the AKGs pretty well though without a headphone amp.

 

[RexAeterna]

nothing wrong using the older yamaha. you most likely get better results with that compared to most high-priced headamps for difficult loads like the k340's. glad you enjoying the k340's lot. i never heard a pair myself but always got me curious since i own 240 sextetts models which the k340 uses sextett driver for the bass frequencies.

the yamaha be great for low impedance speakers as well cause yamaha amps were known to be kings when come to powering 1-2ohm loads. just make sure your house circuit breakers have enough headroom and not much running off of it all same time(like computers,tvs,ect.) cause your amp is capable of drawing massive amount of amperes if ever decide to power low impedance speakers with a 2ohm nominal impedance and so forth. i keep my yamaha amp plugged directly in the wall on separate 15A circuit breaker for safety and electrical reasons just in case.

 

[zeno]

My Yamaha A1000 integrated Amp has a switch where one can turn off True Class A mode off or on....I usually have it on. When it Class A mode it gets REAL hot, the manual warns about it getting hot. The top of the amp has tons of ventilation slots over most of the entire top surface area, and they warn not to block any of it's ventilation in Class A mode....I have lots of open air on top of the amp. Yamaha no loner makes a True Class A amp, pity. The front switch to select a CD player on that amp is "DAD", since in late 70s and early 80s the technical name for CDs back then was DAD, "Digital Audio Disc".
I do not know if this is an indicator of how well the amp is driver my AKG K340s or not, but the volume level knob on the amp when listening is VERY sensitive to the smallest volume knob movement...I just have to move he knob around an 1/8th of an inch to go from hearing nothing to it being loud....Not sure what this means as an indicator of how it is driving the headphones. i am sure someone knows the technical aspects of a sensitive volume knob on an amp. Good thing the volume knob on the Yamaha A1000 is very large, it allows for more precise movement, since tiny movements are needed for proper volume adjustment.

 

[zeno]

When I got the K340s in early 1986, i got a AKG brochure that featured both the K340 and the K240s that you have, and yes, they both have similar designs apart from the K340 Electrostatic part....Apparently the K240s in their day were used in many recording studios. I think their is a Eddie Murphy music video with him wearing the K240.