[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did you get--dare we hope-- a Mazdaspeed 3? As for stick magnets, I imagine the main problem will be having to build the earcup from aluminum to hold the suckers in place. A plastic cup would have to be designed with preload to counter the flex. Unless Steve Tice knows of some superdense wood... Anyway, not a problem for the HP-1. Assuming your HP-1 sounds a little dull and midrangey stock, the stage one mod is to press a disc of thin felt firmly up against the back of the driver by inserting a thick disc of stiff opencell foam. Stage one point five would be to back the felt up with a disc of aluminum foil. Usually that's enough. You should hear the bass tighten up and actually increase, and the highs will be boosted slightly as well. To get the top octave to come all the way up generally requires an extra step, and many people don't feel the need, so try the simplest stuff first.

Amboina Burl is pretty darn dense, pretty darn spendy too, but oh so lovely.

 

[facelvega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif To get the top octave to come all the way up generally requires an extra step, and many people don't feel the need, so try the simplest stuff first.

This is Wualta luring you into insisting on doing that extra step. It's like how architects sometimes prepare two plans, show you the one they don't like first, then at the last minute say, "well, there is one other possibility, but it might be too daring for you, and more innovative than you're looking for," and bust out the plan they wanted you to take all along.

[Also, did someone mention automobiles? I could perhaps allow for a Mazdaspeed 3, but really anyone buying a 3 ought instead to be grabbing an early 80s BMW 318is at bare minimum. Better, a Lancia Delta HF Integrale. That is, assuming you insist on something relatively new...]

edit: rather than continue thread drift with a new post, I'll answer vinylripper's BMW comment here: the I4 was commonly considered a dog against the 6 in the E30 body type, but in the 318is in particular, the weight difference of the smaller engine amounts to crisper handling than the wallowy 325i and reasonably close straight-line times. Throw in ease of maintenance, fuel efficiency, and far lower purchase price, and the 318is is the better choice for a vintage driver. Or, if you trust whoever wrote the wikipedia entry on these models: "Der 1989 eingeführte 318is wurde mit Vierventiltechnik und der größeren Bremsanlage des 325i ausgestattet. Diese Variante wird auch heute noch aufgrund des günstigsten Preis/Leistungsverhältnisses oft im Motorsport eingesetzt, etwa bei Rallyes, wo der Hecktriebler besonders geeignet ist."

 

[Alucard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...Alucard, you say your HP-1 sounds muffled. Where did it come from? would it be possible to get you to disassemble one of your HP-1 cups to see what sort of surface the driver has?...

I got them from my former girlfriend. She inherited them from her grandad.

I don't know if I dare to try and open them, I'm afraid the earspads will break if I start pulling them, as they're quite old.

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alucard /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm afraid the earspads will break if I start pulling them, as they're quite old.

You don't need to pull the earpads off; all you need do is push or scrape in with your thumbnail to uncover the screw heads.

See Joop's photos..
 
http://home.hccnet.nl/joop.nijenhuis/headwize/rhp1e.htm
 
...to find where the screw heads are.

 

[facelvega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alucard /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know if I dare to try and open them, I'm afraid the earspads will break if I start pulling them, as they're quite old.

Fortune favors the bold, Alucard. They want you to open them up.

 

[TheVinylRipper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by facelvega /img/forum/go_quote.gif [Also, did someone mention automobiles? I could perhaps allow for a Mazdaspeed 3, but really anyone buying a 3 ought instead to be grabbing an early 80s BMW 318is at bare minimum. Better, a Lancia Delta HF Integrale. That is, assuming you insist on something relatively new...]

The 318's are a dog, the 325 is a lot more fun and the six cylinder inline sounds just like a Jag XKE..

I was watching a car show on BBC America a while back, they had some kind of Lambo supercar vs a Mitsubishi Evo X. The Lambo would pull away from the Evo a bit on the straights but Evo would make it right back up on the twisty bits.. Essentially a draw..

 

[Alucard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif You don't need to pull the earpads off; all you need do is push or scrape in with your thumbnail to uncover the screw heads. See Joop's photo.. http://home.hccnet.nl/joop.nijenhuis...1/RHP1P039.jpg ..to find where the screw heads are.

The screws are located under the pads so there is no way for me to get to them without pulling the pads off.
They are fully enclosed by the pads so it' impossible for me to even touch or see them.

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alucard /img/forum/go_quote.gif The screws are located under the pads so there is no way for me to get to them without pulling the pads off. They are fully enclosed by the pads so it' impossible for me to even touch or see them.

Let me try to say it another way.

You can get access to the screw heads-- just the screw heads-- by simply scraping the double-sided sticky tape holding the pad slowly back from the edge, using your thumbnail.

You're scraping/pulling back along the surface of the baffle toward the center in the same way you'd scrape with your thumbnail to remove an old piece of cellotape from something. The trick is to do this in just the right spot so that you uncover the screw head but nothing else.

You'll have to trust that I've done this on many Yamahas without peeling the earpads off. When I'm done, the earpads stick back down nicely and no one is the wiser.

 

[Alucard]

Ok, maybe I'll try it tomorrow.I gotta go to bed now.

 

[Homage]

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kees /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is weird. I have owned Yamaha HP-1s for at least ten years, and I don't remember them as muddy. On the contrary, they were very detailed.

You know, I'm beginning to wonder if Yamaha sold Orthodynamics that were voiced differently for different markets. I don't think our Nederlander HF brothers (Kees and Joop) have ears that different from ours-- if they didn't notice that the HP-1 was midrangey with a droopy high end (not muddy, but certainly lacking electrostatic alertness) and had a tendency to "ring" when fed impulse noise like the ticks and pops on an LP, it's possible that they were given HP-1s with different drivers. We've already seen how Joop's HP-1 drivers look like our YH-100 drivers. Hmm..

Could it be that, knowing the Amurrkins would reject a 'phone that didn't have lots of bass, they "loosened" the US-market diaphragms? But didn't add damping to compensate for the reduction in restoring force? and thereby did its customers in the US an inadvertent favor..?

Maybe we're victims of Marketing. ...again.

Alucard, you say your HP-1 sounds muffled. Where did it come from? would it be possible to get you to disassemble one of your HP-1 cups to see what sort of surface the driver has? If it's smooth as metal and looks like Joop's photo, namely this one:

That's what our YH-100 drivers look like.


..Or is it dead gray with visible milling marks, as in this photo:

This is what our HP-1 and YH-1 drivers look like.
 
EDIT/UPDATE: It turns out that the HP-1 had a stepbrother, which we've called the HP-1 Anisotropic. It was spec'd just like the HP-1, and Yamaha still called it an HP-1, but the magnets had the "keeper" plates on them shown above, giving the Anisotropic model about 2dB more efficiency. The box is different too: the HP-1 box is silver with black writing; the HP-1 Anisotropic's box is black with white writing. But everything else is the same, so the only way to be sure you have the Anisotropic model is to shine a bright flashlight into the cup to check the driver's surface. We know of two HF owners of this rare variant, Komi and JadeEast. However, this doesn't answer the question of whether Yamaha "voiced" the headphone differently for different markets.

.

The almost new looking pair I have still have the original box (little bit damaged on one corner, slight tear down one side), and that is the black box with silver, and not white writing as mentioned.  So, I'm assuming they are the later Anisotropic model!

 

[nick n]

If you head over to here you can find a multitude of impressions, as well as some easy modification techniques to bring out the absolute best in these.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/111193/orthodynamic-roundup
 
Use the small search this thread button once there to narrow things down there is a ton of pages otherwise.
 
Great headphones.

Incredible when modded.

 

[Homage]

As mentioned before I got my phones off a high-end audio guy who had worked in the industry, sort of guy who swapped equipment on a regular basis (we're talking stuff like amps that cost on average $5000 - $10,000). He purchased in the mid to late 80s a pair of the HP-1 model (later version in the black box with silver lettering) but he hardly ever used them, why he never explained, probably too many toys to focus on at one time!!! I got them off him a few years ago, and for various reasons myself (namely that I use a Sennheiser 25-1 headphone on daily duties (due to their sturdy nature and practical application) I've hardly used them also. I think I've had them out of the box no more than around 8-10 times since I've had them, and even then only for short periods of 30 to 60 minutes sessions (so it might be possible they are not even fully burned in yet). I guess I've always found them to be almost too nice visually to want to start to wear them down and degrade them visually! That headband is a cool looking thing, but looks a little fragile, especially the soft leather. Also, I now find that they would benefit from the mod doing to them, to make them sing at their best. So, with that in mind, I might decided at some stage (as I'm not really playing them) to let them go up for sale, as much as I think they are a thing of beauty, it would be more realistic for me to save up towards a pair of phones I'll use on a more regular basis (maybe a Fostex TH-600/900 for example) I have as well as my Sennheiser 25-1 phones (for when I'm out and about) a pair of Denon D2000 phones I recently purchased off a Head-Fi member for home use, that I'm enjoying very much. My HP-1 headphones are in very good condition (from the light wear they have had so far up to the present day), and I still have the original box (little bit damaged on one corner, slight tear down one side, black box with silver, and not white writing on it). Bear in mind I've not made a firm decision on selling them as of yet, still in two minds, but if I did what would be the going market price for these desirable phones, in great shape and condition please? Thanks Mark

 

[pongaselo]

IF you find your HP-1's muddy, then there is certainly something wrong with them. To my ear, I have not heard a pair of headphones that sound better. Brighter, yes but those that I have heard which are brighter also have an airyness which distorts or changes the actual information making it something that it wasn't. I will say that my high freg sensitivity is such that I can't listen to some transducers for long without becoming exhausted. When I find something like the HP-1s or my custom ESS Heil AMT-1s that is not an issue and there is more top end than I can hear anymore on either of these transducers.