devwild
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2004
- Posts
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Now that the beast is complete, I figure I should post some archive photos so that proof of its existence may be provided in a simple link to this thread rather than frequently repeating its dark history. I give to you my bastardization of headgear, the infamous Frankensenns:
For those who don't want to read the below, this is what you are looking at: 525 chassis, 545 pads, 580 drivers, 650 cable, and a brass screw holding the right cup on.
The story begins in 1997, when I bought my first ever "real" pair of headphones, the Sennheiser HD525s, which were about $100 at a local store at the time. This was my first experience with how much I had been missing in my music.
Some 3-4 months later, tragedy struck. A crushing incident involving an office chair and my posterior led to the separation of the right earcup from the headband. Desperate to have my music back, and short on tools, I heated a nail over the gas stove to melt a small hole in the earcup joint, which allowed me to refasten the cup and the metal portion of the headband with a short brass screw. Aside from slightly reduced mobility, it worked well, reviving the cans with a patch job that has held to this day.
As time went by I grew tired of the stock pleather pads on the 525s, and knowing that most senn parts from that era were interchangeable, I ordered the replacement pads like my friend had on his 545s (same part also used for 580/600/650). About this time, I also started to have issues with the left channel cutting out from time to time. But I continued to enjoy them through the turn of the millennium.
Around 2002 I got curious about these Grado things I heard of so long ago. I ordered some SR-80s, eventually found my way to head-fi, and things just head downhill from there
I continued to use the 525s at my job sites until I finally couldn't take the intermittency issue any more, which had spread to both sides. I temporarily fixed the issue using the method described on head-fi, but they still wound up in my junk pile.
Then last year I decided I wanted to try to do something I always thought would be cool but was cost prohibitive - install better drivers from the Senn interchangeable part stock into the low-end cans. With the help of Head-Fi I managed to get my hands on some 580 drivers at a reasonable price and installed them. I didn't really expect much, I was really just doing it because I always wanted to. However, I was actually impressed with the results, and the headphones went back into service on my work desk (pictured). I also ended up ordering a 650 cable for them, since it was cheap, more robust, and fits better, reducing the chance of more intermittency problems. My Sennheisers are reborn!
Last week I finally had a chance to briefly compare these side by side with the HD580s, and they are actually closer than I expected. There are minor differences, mainly in that the 580s have slightly more midbass, probably due to the fact that they have a fair amount of clamping force, and the 525 chassis has absolutely none. I didn't listen to them long enough to go into more detail, but needless to say they still serve their purpose well.
In almost a decade these headphones have changed both in looks and sound, but I still consider them my first headphone, and hope they continue to function well a while longer.
For those who don't want to read the below, this is what you are looking at: 525 chassis, 545 pads, 580 drivers, 650 cable, and a brass screw holding the right cup on.
The story begins in 1997, when I bought my first ever "real" pair of headphones, the Sennheiser HD525s, which were about $100 at a local store at the time. This was my first experience with how much I had been missing in my music.
Some 3-4 months later, tragedy struck. A crushing incident involving an office chair and my posterior led to the separation of the right earcup from the headband. Desperate to have my music back, and short on tools, I heated a nail over the gas stove to melt a small hole in the earcup joint, which allowed me to refasten the cup and the metal portion of the headband with a short brass screw. Aside from slightly reduced mobility, it worked well, reviving the cans with a patch job that has held to this day.
As time went by I grew tired of the stock pleather pads on the 525s, and knowing that most senn parts from that era were interchangeable, I ordered the replacement pads like my friend had on his 545s (same part also used for 580/600/650). About this time, I also started to have issues with the left channel cutting out from time to time. But I continued to enjoy them through the turn of the millennium.
Around 2002 I got curious about these Grado things I heard of so long ago. I ordered some SR-80s, eventually found my way to head-fi, and things just head downhill from there
I continued to use the 525s at my job sites until I finally couldn't take the intermittency issue any more, which had spread to both sides. I temporarily fixed the issue using the method described on head-fi, but they still wound up in my junk pile.
Then last year I decided I wanted to try to do something I always thought would be cool but was cost prohibitive - install better drivers from the Senn interchangeable part stock into the low-end cans. With the help of Head-Fi I managed to get my hands on some 580 drivers at a reasonable price and installed them. I didn't really expect much, I was really just doing it because I always wanted to. However, I was actually impressed with the results, and the headphones went back into service on my work desk (pictured). I also ended up ordering a 650 cable for them, since it was cheap, more robust, and fits better, reducing the chance of more intermittency problems. My Sennheisers are reborn!
Last week I finally had a chance to briefly compare these side by side with the HD580s, and they are actually closer than I expected. There are minor differences, mainly in that the 580s have slightly more midbass, probably due to the fact that they have a fair amount of clamping force, and the 525 chassis has absolutely none. I didn't listen to them long enough to go into more detail, but needless to say they still serve their purpose well.
In almost a decade these headphones have changed both in looks and sound, but I still consider them my first headphone, and hope they continue to function well a while longer.
