Taking Koss Portapro to the Limit (cool mods).
Jan 28, 2011 at 2:20 AM Post #31 of 143
yeah, you know. I didn't really think it could do any harm, except for voiding my warranty. perhaps i will drill the holes one set at a time though. I just really dig the sound i have right now. I suppose the worst case scenario is, well there really isn't one. I should have another pair of pro's in the mail. :D
 
Jan 28, 2011 at 5:03 AM Post #32 of 143
so, i got kinda brave and decided i'd take off the grille and give the driver a listen with nothing but pantyhose over it. That kind of sold me on doing the kramer mod. I could tell that no matter what i did to this grille I'm not going to dislike the sound coming out of the drivers. The side with the grille on definitely sounded a bit too aggressive and the side with no cover sounded a bit too neutral. It was like the highs and lows were getting lost in the mids. So, i decided the kramer mod would actually most likely end up being the best of both worlds. when the drivers are just put up to my ears without the pads on the one without the grille definitely sounds better and more neutral. This seems really counter-intuitive perhaps it is just my ears, either way i'm doing the kramer mod. :D I really think the grille doesn't do much to the portapro drivers but block mids and I don't see how drilling holes in the grille could lead to perceiving more treble, however, I shall find out. But, what do I know? I've just messed around with them until 3:34 am. I'm going to ramble on and come to what is probably my third conclusion seeing as it is almost 4 am now and state that I prefer the sound of the driver with the grille on it but, I think somewhere in between the two would be perfect.


 
Jan 29, 2011 at 1:59 PM Post #33 of 143
i did the kramer mod and i'm super happy with it. It really brings out the awesome on brighter songs. Magical Mystery Tour blew me away. Here is how i drilled mine. Next up, a recable when I find someone confident with a soldering iron.

 
Mar 11, 2011 at 5:19 AM Post #34 of 143
figured I might as well update with what i've done now. I switched my modified grilles over to my all black best buy edition of my portapros and added a few things. 

as you can see i added some cut outs from the pads on the sliders. doesn't do much but look cool and keep the metal off of my neck on days when the sun is out.

my mod that involves gluing a piece of a zip tie inside this part up here that i'm not sure what to call. it results in the driver housings sitting parallel with your head. I did this because they were putting too much pressure on the tops of my ears. It works really well for me. Next up I'm planning to recable them, I'll update when/if it happens :) happy modding.
 
Apr 15, 2011 at 4:05 PM Post #35 of 143
Newest version.. I nixed that zip cable stuff for just bending the headband a bit, much better than what i had going on before. I also switched to some modded grado comfies and switched the padding on the sliders to go with it. and i glued on the sr80i buttons. Take a look.
 



 
Apr 15, 2011 at 5:04 PM Post #36 of 143
PortaGrados?
tongue_smile.gif

 
Sep 9, 2011 at 8:23 AM Post #38 of 143
My first attempt at a Y split headphone cable for some broken portapros that were broken off ebay for just £5.
 

(please excuse the ghetto Y split, I only had some belkin ofc speaker wire, which is quite thick, initially I wanted to use a spare 6.0 OD

neutrik barrel as a splitter, but the barrel wasn't large enough for the four wires, in addition to the solder contacts and electrical tape/heatshrink).

 

Terminated with a gold plated switchcraft 3.5mm plug that I salvaged from an old IC I rarely used.

 

I used a glue gun to increase the strength of the connection at the drivers, and used some £2 headphones headband, coupled with an old belt, stitched on for better comfort, and put on some 45mm pleather pads, definitely a lot more comfortable than the stock headband and pads..

 

With the pleather pads, the Bass is now thumping, but still accurate... Sound leakage is about the same..

 


 
Sep 9, 2011 at 9:21 AM Post #40 of 143
http://tinyurl.com/3mexlhu
http://tinyurl.com/44wleck
 
Oct 14, 2011 at 12:40 AM Post #42 of 143
Hey, Peyotero, what other earcaps/ear foams would be good for doing that first mod you did with the SST/HD 212 on the portapros?
 
I can't find the SST or HD212 anywhere.
 
Nov 7, 2011 at 12:48 PM Post #43 of 143
The easiest mod  would be looking up for some Sennheiser PX200 cushions. They fit perfectly. Though they are much smaller then the discontinued koss SST model.
Otherwise you'd have to take a cheap full size headphone and replacing its drivers with the koss ones.
 
Mar 4, 2012 at 1:07 PM Post #45 of 143
I found the standard foam pads too thin as the plastic edges would poke through a bit and irritate me (a serious first world problem).
 
Being tightfisted I wasn't willing to buy earpads, so I used the carry case they came with and popped them over the pre-existing foam.
 
Nothing amazing in comparison to everyone else's mods, but they're comfy :D
 
Also you can see how crap the hole patterns are, but watevz, the sound is still solid.
 

 

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