Fitz
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2005
- Posts
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I've mentioned it in a few threads here and there that I've discovered some rather useful mods to the W5000, and now I've finally gotten around to making a proper guide on how to do them.
The main mod package consists of three primary changes that have a significant effect on the sonic character, and there are also a couple of supplementary mods that can be useful but do not change the sound of the headphones. I've spent dozens of hours experimenting to come up with these changes, and have gathered feedback privately from some very helpful members, so I hope some of you will try these mods out and like them!
This guide only covers the original F5000 mods. Changes have been made to create the F5005 mods, as documented here.
Preparing:
This guide assumes you can remove the earpads and wood cups without any difficulty. If you've never taken your W5000 apart before, the earpads pull right off, and the wood cups are secured by four screws hidden by the earpads. Once your W5000s are open, you should see something similar to this, but with less yellow and a wire going into the large chamber in the middle:
There are two loose pieces of material in here, the thick white dampening material, and a thin grey foam ring, both of which should be set aside for the moment:
Mod #1:
The wood cups and main housings do not actually completely seal with one another, and have a small gap at the top and bottom (and if the wood cups are slightly undersized at all, all the way around) that leads inside the earcups. The grey foam works to help seal this gap, and should normally be left in place. However, with the mods that alter the sound/air flow inside the earcups, taking out this ring will reduce fatigue over long listening sessions. So set it aside someplace safe, and don't put it back in when the mods are done. Depending on personal preference, the white material can also optionally be left out with positive results, but these mods were originally designed around still leaving the material inside and I have yet to try this change on my own pair.
Once you've put all the loose materials away safely, it is time to remove the chamber that surrounds the drivers, which is held in place by three small screws. The chamber and the ring that mates it to the driver will be tethered in place by headphone cable, but they can be pulled back far enough to perform the mods without any problem. At this point you should be able to see the driver itself:
Mod #2:
The first step is to place a small pea-sized piece of blu-tak over the center of the driver's back, and press it down flat, as indicated by the red arrow. (The kind I'm using is actually yellow, but will be referred to as "blu-tak" for simplicity). This should form a complete seal over the center opening on the driver. After this is done you can either screw the chamber back down over the driver and skip to the next mod, or perform one of the supplemental mods.
Supplemental Mod #1:
The first supplemental mod is to reroute the headphone cable to be less obtrusive and make assembly/disassembly easier if you wanted to recable or do other mod experiments in the future. All that needs to be done is desolder it from the driver, making note of which solder pad receives the signal wire, and pull it out of the shell to instead go directly across to the driver. The plastic ring that goes between the outer shell and driver has a small notch in it that perfectly allows the cable to pass through, and can be placed right over the headphone cable. You might also want to shorten the cable a bit to avoid having excess slack floating around, but doing so would prevent it from being reverted to the stock configuration.
Supplemental Mod #2:
I am not going to go into much detail on this mod here, due to it's extreme risk and the possibility of permanently destroying the driver. In some cases the voice coil wires were left too long and formed large loops floating in free air, which can rattle against each other on deep bass notes if they happen to drift too close to each other or the opening in the driver. This mod involves pulling the wires apart from each other and gluing down the excess to the sides of the opening. You can PM me if you do want more info on this, or for me to try to take close-up pictures of it, but I will not assume any responsibility for damage caused by doing this mod.
Mod #3:
Now that all work on the driver is finished, and the chamber sealed back up, you can perform the last and most important mod. Take a large amount of blu-tak, and press it into the openings surrounding the driver, as indicated by the green arrow. Make sure that it is applied evenly all the way around, and check from the other side that there are no gaps leaking between the two sides. Also make sure that you do not seal up the two slits on either side, as indicated by the blue arrows, which should instead be left open, for similar reasons as why the grey foam was left out in the first mod. It's also been reported by SK138 that this mod works just as well on the A900LTD, so if you happen to have a pair of those then feel free to mod them as well!
Now the mods are all completed, and you can replace the white dampening material and reassemble your headphones! Because of my obvious bias about the sound changes of the mods, I'll be very brief here, and allow anyone else who wishes to provide their input to do so. I'd describe the change as a very large, but smooth and controlled increase in bass and lower mids, a dramatic reduction of the peakiness of the upper mids, and an overall attenuation of the highs. The soundstage will also be slightly more diffuse and less in-your-face, but not to the point of being distant or veiled. This brings the headphones more in line with the W11JPN/L3000 side of the Audio-Technica family, but while still retaining its own unique characteristics.
Special thanks go out to SK138, Iron_Dreamer, and phergus_25 for their assistance and input prior to the writing of this guide.
Additional thanks to scottiebabie, sean-xenos, and slwiser for offering their opinions on the mods after using this guide.
Happy Listening!
The main mod package consists of three primary changes that have a significant effect on the sonic character, and there are also a couple of supplementary mods that can be useful but do not change the sound of the headphones. I've spent dozens of hours experimenting to come up with these changes, and have gathered feedback privately from some very helpful members, so I hope some of you will try these mods out and like them!
This guide only covers the original F5000 mods. Changes have been made to create the F5005 mods, as documented here.
Preparing:
This guide assumes you can remove the earpads and wood cups without any difficulty. If you've never taken your W5000 apart before, the earpads pull right off, and the wood cups are secured by four screws hidden by the earpads. Once your W5000s are open, you should see something similar to this, but with less yellow and a wire going into the large chamber in the middle:
There are two loose pieces of material in here, the thick white dampening material, and a thin grey foam ring, both of which should be set aside for the moment:
Mod #1:
The wood cups and main housings do not actually completely seal with one another, and have a small gap at the top and bottom (and if the wood cups are slightly undersized at all, all the way around) that leads inside the earcups. The grey foam works to help seal this gap, and should normally be left in place. However, with the mods that alter the sound/air flow inside the earcups, taking out this ring will reduce fatigue over long listening sessions. So set it aside someplace safe, and don't put it back in when the mods are done. Depending on personal preference, the white material can also optionally be left out with positive results, but these mods were originally designed around still leaving the material inside and I have yet to try this change on my own pair.
Once you've put all the loose materials away safely, it is time to remove the chamber that surrounds the drivers, which is held in place by three small screws. The chamber and the ring that mates it to the driver will be tethered in place by headphone cable, but they can be pulled back far enough to perform the mods without any problem. At this point you should be able to see the driver itself:
Mod #2:
The first step is to place a small pea-sized piece of blu-tak over the center of the driver's back, and press it down flat, as indicated by the red arrow. (The kind I'm using is actually yellow, but will be referred to as "blu-tak" for simplicity). This should form a complete seal over the center opening on the driver. After this is done you can either screw the chamber back down over the driver and skip to the next mod, or perform one of the supplemental mods.
Supplemental Mod #1:
The first supplemental mod is to reroute the headphone cable to be less obtrusive and make assembly/disassembly easier if you wanted to recable or do other mod experiments in the future. All that needs to be done is desolder it from the driver, making note of which solder pad receives the signal wire, and pull it out of the shell to instead go directly across to the driver. The plastic ring that goes between the outer shell and driver has a small notch in it that perfectly allows the cable to pass through, and can be placed right over the headphone cable. You might also want to shorten the cable a bit to avoid having excess slack floating around, but doing so would prevent it from being reverted to the stock configuration.
Supplemental Mod #2:
I am not going to go into much detail on this mod here, due to it's extreme risk and the possibility of permanently destroying the driver. In some cases the voice coil wires were left too long and formed large loops floating in free air, which can rattle against each other on deep bass notes if they happen to drift too close to each other or the opening in the driver. This mod involves pulling the wires apart from each other and gluing down the excess to the sides of the opening. You can PM me if you do want more info on this, or for me to try to take close-up pictures of it, but I will not assume any responsibility for damage caused by doing this mod.
Mod #3:
Now that all work on the driver is finished, and the chamber sealed back up, you can perform the last and most important mod. Take a large amount of blu-tak, and press it into the openings surrounding the driver, as indicated by the green arrow. Make sure that it is applied evenly all the way around, and check from the other side that there are no gaps leaking between the two sides. Also make sure that you do not seal up the two slits on either side, as indicated by the blue arrows, which should instead be left open, for similar reasons as why the grey foam was left out in the first mod. It's also been reported by SK138 that this mod works just as well on the A900LTD, so if you happen to have a pair of those then feel free to mod them as well!
Now the mods are all completed, and you can replace the white dampening material and reassemble your headphones! Because of my obvious bias about the sound changes of the mods, I'll be very brief here, and allow anyone else who wishes to provide their input to do so. I'd describe the change as a very large, but smooth and controlled increase in bass and lower mids, a dramatic reduction of the peakiness of the upper mids, and an overall attenuation of the highs. The soundstage will also be slightly more diffuse and less in-your-face, but not to the point of being distant or veiled. This brings the headphones more in line with the W11JPN/L3000 side of the Audio-Technica family, but while still retaining its own unique characteristics.
Special thanks go out to SK138, Iron_Dreamer, and phergus_25 for their assistance and input prior to the writing of this guide.
Additional thanks to scottiebabie, sean-xenos, and slwiser for offering their opinions on the mods after using this guide.
Happy Listening!
