[bobeau]

Hey Guys,

My L3000s began to really open up over the past few days with magnificent transparency (~150-200 hours). A side effect is a resonance in the left driver with deep droning bass, esp. noticeable on a few Marley songs. A fix was done by the original owner on this driver, and up until recently I really had no reason to believe the issue was not resolved by what my ears were telling me. In any case it was enough to make me grit my teeth on the songs I heard it - I had to perform surgery...

With the driver fully removed I saw no evidence of the usual cause of the problem. Still I took a small screwdriver and made an attempt to pry the bits of wire I saw up a bit. Put it back together and fired her up. No sound in the left driver. Opened things back up, inspected the driver membrane, wires under a bright light, couldn't see any damage. Put things back together and yes, still no sound.

Great. Has anyone had this happen? How does one go about contacting Audio Technica for a repair?

EDIT: A gracious Head-fier has offered assistance. Please be warned if you attempt this repair to exercise extreme caution; I handled the cans with such delicacy that I'm really baffled as to what went wrong.

 

[hugz]

it's probably something stupd like signal touching ground

/of course i'd be happy to "dispose of it properly" for you, as they say.

 

[ken36]

beau,

Please keep us posted on the progress of the repair. Personally, I'm feeling very insecure.

 

[Canman]

doh! If the driver membrane was pierced, it could still make sound. That means that probably the connection to voice coil was broken. The wires are very delicate and have to be handled with extreme care. Keep us posted, you always have the option to send it to AT for repair.

 

[dknightd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobeau a resonance in the left driver with deep droning bass, esp. noticeable on a few Marley songs.

Some Marley songs just have that sound. Usually in both channels, so perhaps you really did have a headphone problem. I used to think it was room resonances when I listened mostly to speakers. But obviously this is not an issue with headphones. Still, the sometimes muddy resonance is still there (his catch a fire album comes to mind as an example - great tunes but best suited for playing over speakers). I suspect some/most of his stuff was mastered to sound good on less that top end gear. That muddy/resonant bass was meant to be felt not heard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobeau I had to perform surgery...

Oh dear. My guess is that you broke one of the tiny wires that feeds the driver coil. Bummer. Pretty hard to fix that properly. Almost better off looking for a used driver to replace it with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobeau EDIT: A gracious Head-fier has offered assistance. Please be warned if you attempt this repair to exercise extreme caution; I handled the cans with such delicacy that I'm really baffled as to what went wrong.

Sounds like you have things under control. It would not surprise me if you still had the resonance problem on some songs. Just the way they are. Could be there was nothing wrong to start with - lesson learned - don't perform surgury unless you are sure it is needed.

 

[OceanEnthusiast]

hope you figure it out. you were very brave to open those things

 

[braillediver]

The Key here is: “A fix was done by the original owner on this driver”

These were not repaired or replaced by ATH. Use the factory warranty if there’s a problem. I’ve worked on things worth 1000X’s as much as these headphones and would never consider opening them up and fixing them myself. I’ve assembled 0603 surface mount PCB’s and die bonded custom IC’s and would never consider tinkering with something like these headphones. It takes knowledge, skill, expertise and the proper tools to work on delicate items like this.

Unless you want to throw the warranty out the window-, which was priced, into the original purchase price- allow ATH the opportunity to properly resolve the problem.

I have no worries or concerns- if there’s a problem I’m sure ATH will fix it.


Mitch

 

[akwok]

Ow.. :-x.

 

[[AK]Zip]

If you need help fixing them or diagnosing them please feel free to PM me. Also, If you have a camera that would be a great plus.

-Alex-

 

[bobeau]

Thanks everyone. I'm fairly certain the resonance was not caused by the recordings, I swapped channels in foobar to confirm.

Hey, I'll pay for my mistake, no problem. It's clear to me now in talking with Alex (ayt999) that I misunderstood his directions and likely severed one of the wires, though it's very hard to tell as they're not (nor were they) in plain sight as in the repair photos posted awhile back... I have to look at a very sharp angle to see anything, and with what I can vaguely make out it looks like one wire is connected and I can't see the second. Of course when originally noting this I should have used my better judgement and try to arrange for a warranty repair.

Anyway the main thing I want to convey is basically what braillediver said - I've worked on plenty of electronics, but this is a different beast. The wires are impossibly thin - unless you've done this specific type of work before it's best to send it in rather than chance things.

EDIT: I should change my handle to bozeau, lol.

 

[overlunge]

Ouch, bobeau, I can feel your pain... Best of luck for getting them repaired!


Overlunge

 

[overlunge]

. double post

 

[purk]

bobeau,

I hope you can get the L3000 back to life soon man. I'm sure Alex and others will be able to guide you through it. You might want to contact AT and get it fix. You might have to pay for shipping and repair but I'm sure it will be worth it.

Purk

 

[raisin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobeau Anyway the main thing I want to convey is basically what braillediver said - I've worked on plenty of electronics, but this is a different beast. The wires are impossibly thin - unless you've done this specific type of work before it's best to send it in rather than chance things. EDIT: I should change my handle to bozeau, lol.

Okay, how thin are they?

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raisin Okay, how thin are they?

If it's anything like the K1000 wire, it's thinner than a strand of human hair. It was a bitch working with it.. it kept on snapping.