[Nak Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta OT: Nak, did you ever investigate the Primo website to try to find the OEM Grado driver?

Wow, thanks for the hint, wualta ! Haven't found any info on that one yet - I thought that company has closed down. Any links will be greatly appreciated. =)

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk Do you have the "brown ring" ear pads or the "black ring" ear pads? Have you verified that they're rotated enough to lock in place?

I've got the black pads and yes, they are locked in place.

Interesting you should mention this, since when I unclicked the pads.. I saw...

Notice the six curved rectangles orbiting around the driver proper? Some of them are just solid plastic, but every other rectangle is like the one in the lower right corner (at about 4 o'clock)-- it's actually a hole covered with a damping pad. The question is, are these "vents" letting the backwave from the driver enter the earcup? That would be one really good way to completely cancel all the bass. What would happen if these "vents" were plugged up?

Hmmm... yesss....

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nak Man Wow, thanks for the hint, wualta ! Haven't found any info on that one yet - I thought that company has closed down. Any links will be greatly appreciated. =)

You supplied the hint in your old post titled "Separated At Birth?" when you reported seeing the word PRIMO printed on either the Nakamichi SP-7 or the Grado driver, I forget which. I replied to that post with the URL for Primo... which used to sell microphones-- they OEM'd the Nakamichi mics, in fact.

I wonder if the old movie actor Don Ameche ever owned a Nakamichi...

 

[elrod-tom]

I've had the pleasure of auditioning a modified version of the K501 today. I don't want to say much more until I speak to the good folks who arranged for me to try it out. However, the results have been pretty amazing in very short order. Hopefully more details to follow shortly.

 

[Nak Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta I replied to that post with the URL for Primo... which used to sell microphones-- they OEM'd the Nakamichi mics, in fact.

Sorry for this shameless threadcrap !!

Yes I just realised there's a reply 3 months later. (That was quite a limited time success, 3 months leave from head-fi =).

I found similar Primo site but seems like it only produces telephone capsules nowadays, while some DAT head posts mentioned that Primo made mic capsules for Nak mics long time ago. I think I give up on that Nak-Grado tube project (and some other diy phones related ... =) and be happy with 650 and 550.

Good luck on sealing your 501 ! I tried Ferbose's tape tweak on 501 and while it smoothed out some HF harshness, it didn't help bass level at all. Neither did playing THX bass monster track at insane level for so many days.

Keep us hopers posted on your 501 adventure.

 

[BillyBenBilly]

I've got K501's and I'm very happy with them overall, especially after they were fully broken in. And yes, I think the bass did improve significanly over the break in period. I listen to jazz, classical, and a wide range of other music. I find the bass with my Woo Audio 3 and Onix xcd-88 modified cd player acceptable. Certainly, the bass is not the strong suit of this headphone, but you have to get the midrange right or why bother. I've listened to a sampling of Grado's (RS-2, SR 125, SR 225), Sennheiser's (595, 600,650), and few others and find the mix of strengths and weaknesses of the K501's, in my system, the best. Of course, ymmv.I can definitely see how others may find multiple specialized headphones for different music an enticing option, but I find changing phones disorienting to my musical senses.

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nak Man Sorry for this shameless threadcrap !!

Don't you worry none. In a finite universe, ever'thang's connected.
Quote:

I found similar Primo site but seems like it only produces telephone capsules nowadays.

Oh, no, there were all sorts of headphone-looking little doobies on the site. Any one of 'em could've been something Grado could be using. Try Primo Germany. The site's undergoing construction right now, but you'll see some intriguing product photos when it's back up.
Quote:

I think I give up on that Nak-Grado tube project (and some other diy phones related)

Whoa! I missed that! Cite that thread!
Quote:

I tried Ferbose's tape tweak on 501 and while it smoothed out some HF harshness, it didn't help bass level at all.

I missed that too. Have to go take a look.
Quote:

Keep us hopers posted on your 501 adventure.

There's a group of K501 hopers?

 

[Nak Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta Whoa! I missed that! Cite that thread!

Same 'separated at birth' thread. And here's Ferbose's tape tweak. Simple measurement showed it made a difference in treble area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta There's a group of K501 hopers?

Well ... that's my English word for these threads.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBenBilly I've got K501's . I find the bass with my Woo Audio 3 and Onix xcd-88 modified cd player acceptable.

Interesting, I have the (unmodified) XCD-88 and 501s , but I have the Gilmore Lite instead of the Woo. I do find the bass pretty anemic on the whole. I think all three of the components tend a little bit towards brightness and the cumulative effect is, well, a bit bright. Tried swapping to a Rotel CDP, that did not make much difference, now experimenting with a Pimeta, though doubt if that will make *much* difference. I do like the 501s for classical music but when I put on rock the 501s come off and the 990s go on

Did modding the XCD-88 make much of a difference to the fundamental sound signature ?

Are Tube amps more bassy on the whole ?

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hciman77 Are Tube amps more bassy on the whole ?

I recently tried K501 on a "Sophia Baby Clone" amp bought on Ebay, using 5670/EL84. It has a headphone out, and K501 seems to get more bass extension. I don't really think the frequency response changes, and is probably due to a bass that sounds fuller or because increased harmonic distortion. Since I can't produce measurements, this is only my speculation. But bass does sound deeper but also slightly slower compared to DAC1's XLR out.

By the way, strategically putting Scotch tapes on K501 really helps to soften the highs and introduce some euphony. I really recommend this mod since it costs nothing and is reversible. I have been using it for 6 months and every time I take it off I become immediately aware of the slight sibilance in unmodded K501.

 

[WmAx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose I recently tried K501 on a "Sophia Baby Clone" amp bought on Ebay, using 5670/EL84. It has a headphone out, and K501 seems to get more bass extension. I don't really think the frequency response changes, and is probably due to a bass that sounds fuller or because increased harmonic distortion. Since I can't produce measurements, this is only my speculation. But bass does sound deeper but also slightly slower compared to DAC1's XLR out. By the way, strategically putting Scotch tapes on K501 really helps to soften the highs and introduce some euphony. I really recommend this mod since it costs nothing and is reversible. I have been using it for 6 months and every time I take it off I become immediately aware of the slight sibilance in unmodded K501.

BTW, I don't know if I ever posted this for you.... here is a measurement of your tape mod, on a measurement jig that I use for measurements. The jig measures only transducer behaviour, rear cavity behavior and the seal of the earpads effects. Reflections in the cavity of the earpads or against the baffle of the jig are not an issue of significance, due to an acoustic foam used to fill this space/dampen the reflections.

-Chris

 

[wualta]

NOTE: If you're looking for a closeup photo of the "old" K501 baffle, go here. The "aqua-tack" photo has been removed.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Nak Man Same 'separated at birth' thread.

I thought you were referring to something else, sorry. So you gave up on the extend-the-Resonant-Bass-Chamber idea, huh? That's too bad. It might've started a fad for long pipes sticking out of Grado owners' heads, and, well, the mental picture should suffice.

Quote:

Well ... that's my English word for these threads.

Is there an Asian word for such "hoper" folk? No, better not answer that.


All right, back to the subject at hand: I can tell you that plugging up the funny vents in the K501 does improve the bass without drastically affecting anything else. It's not pretty. You fill in all the nonsolid parts of the baffle shown in the earlier photo with blu-tack (or aqua-tack, the only color we have here at The Lab). The idea is to make the baffle completely airtight so no backwave can leak into the earcup. Can't tell which are solid and which are vents? Poke 'em gently with a pencil.

There are four clips that hold onto the pads, and those are vented into the earcup as well, so they should also be filled.

All I can say is odd, very odd. What was AKG up to? The earpads completely cover these vents in normal operation, but apparently some earpads seal better than others, thus the variations in reported bass output. I repeat that if production variations add up in the wrong direction and the leakage from these vents is big enough, the bass will disappear and no amount of bass boost will bring it up. This has nothing to do with damping or "non-exaggerated bass" or "rolloff". When you turn up the deep bass on an amp with 60 watts to play with and no further bass is forthcoming, something is plain wrong.

It's hard to say how much extra bass you'll get with this mod, but it's not a difficult procedure and it's reversible, so I'll merely suggest that if you crave more bass with your K501, you might try the aqua-tack seal-the-baffle approach. Note that the quality of the bass won't change with this mod, just the amount.

My K501 came in the new white box, so why it doesn't have the supposedly new, improved pads, I don't know. It's possible my K501 isn't meant for the US market (the warranty says "Invalid in the US and Canada").

Are there countries where bass is taboo?

.

 

[bubbagump]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlowWorm I don't think the bass would vary that much from unit to unit, I think it has more to do with synergy between the cans, source, amp, and even cables to a degree. That's really the tricky part of putting together a system that will meet your individual sonic requirements. Also, you have to take subjectivity into consideration as well, for me more than any other headphones I've heard, the K501's bass (and everything else) sounds fuller with a tube amp. The K501 tends to sound thin and dry with solid state amps in general.

I saw a thread about a guy saying he had too much bass in the k501. pinkfloyd said the k501 had lots of bass when he used it on his GSS. Mine has great accurate bass, not as much bass/midbass response as grados, but its a different beast.

 

[boodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nak Man Heh, welcome to the "bought one cuz it can't be that bad" club. I like 501, but honestly, they're 'piano and vocal phones'. Music for the rest of us sounded wrong without bass.

sorry but no , definitely

I'm using akg k501 as reference as other headphones , and lately for all of my listening , rock and pop included

to obtain the best you have to burn their bass with 20/30/40hz tunes repeated for 200+ hours at high volumes - it helped a lot in my case - I tested burned k501 and unburned .

and the right amp.

I'm not missing the hd650 bass when going to k501
the bass is simply lot more controlled and not overpronounced .

reality doesn't sound bassy in my life , nor live gigs0sound subwoofering in general .
k501 maybe miss the bass thump of subwoofer but they mimes reality very well .

and yes , they're good even with rock (tapes strips help bass a lot and a burninbass period too )

another good mod , if you want to play a bit with the, is to get their drivers angled and to squish the pads so that the perimeter circle remains closed but the drivers eventually get bit angled nd more facing the ear

i know that k501 can get very top among other cans and can reach a very nice eq. among frq.s too

 

[Jon L]

I love AKG bass. I'm listening to modded K340 as I type, and the bass is phenomenal, period. As close to live bass as you're going to get, even with rock, hip-hop, techno, but you do need tons of power in an amp. I'm pushing mine with 6 watt per channel ! Same can said about bass of my modded K1000. To me, K340 bass represents the most liffe-like bass in a (semi) closed can, K1000 for open headphone bass.