wualta

Actually, "they're good" is good enough. If the T40RPmkII DC bought had the original pads, I have the feeling he'd be throwing them at us and mumbling about mass hypnosis and flavors o' the month and other behavior of crowds. .

Now don't go all woolly on us. Uberfelt or superfelt simply meant a denser felt with higher acoustic resistance. As our resident fabrics expert would say, density is not a function of the donating animal, so whether that animal was a sheep or an acryl doesn't matter. Now-- can you obtain higher absolute values of acoustic R with wool? Do wool fibers tangle better in the traditional felting processes? I dunno. As for the T50RPv2, its stock listenabilty is a relative thing. I'll guarantee you, though, that you'd all find it a big improvement over the v1 version.

Yes, yes!

You're thinking of Bontemps. But if ya think of it, an elongated headphone box like a PMB 100 or a T50RP is kinda similar to a violin.

I just peeled mine off. Who knows, they could be gluing them on better now. Just punch holes in 'em and tear off as much as you can. I wanted mine to be tidy for photographs, but for sound, who cares. Smeggy seems about to annex the Sudetenland when he starts talking about the filthy schweinhundt plastic case Foistex fosted on us in the T50RP, but his point is well taken. A headphone cup shouldn't resonate like a violin. I don't personally think the T50RP's case is quite that bad, but it never hurts to track down resonances and... exterminate them... by using braces and mass-loaded damping materials like blu-tack.

Yep, I could hear it loud and clear when I put the v2 pads on my old broken-in T50RP what's got the damping films peeled off. Pure unadulterated neodymium sound in a silly plastic enclosure. Which probably needs a gasket as well as damping.

The intermittent channel on some T50RPs is due to manufacturing/storage crud on the removable cord. Wiggle it back and forth a few times, or, better, slobber some good contact cleaner on it and THEN wiggle it back and forth. Good to hear your results with attempted breakin, Smeggy. I got violent with my original T50RP, as did HFer gerG, trying to eke even the tiniest bit more bass out of the damn things, and we both got nowhere. Of course, if your earpads are undercutting-- literally-- your efforts (and your bass), the changes won't be audible. With the v2 earpads, we can finally hear the results of our headphone torture.

The flashing was a desperate cry for recognition! Attention must be paid! Cake or death!

Smeggy, has no one ever remarked on your Dalek Cake avatar?

[appears floating overhead, making the sign of the cross, the circle and the three wavy lines] OMG, like, requiem

That's a Fauxpas T40 ?? You don't by any chance have photos of the process of getting from T40 to what we see in the photos, by any chance, would you?

Goody!

I think the reason the multi-SFI-drivers headphones aren't working (although I love the look of the plexi one) is that we're gaining lots of earcup volume but we're not getting that much more air being moved. If the drivers were little pistons, then it might work, but the diaphragm at max excursion is a dome, and of course the edges don't move at all. So merely by making space for 4 SFIs, we're killing it. As for tuning one for bass and another for treble, that's great except the bassy one will not have very good damping, so the bass will be loud but sucky, which is what we've been trying to get away from in the first place. A two-way calls for two different drivers, each made from the start to do what it does best. Besides, I like the idea of One Driver That Does It All. It just has to be kinda big and heavy, that's all. If you don't want big and heavy, concentrate on getting a YHD or YHE. Just a thought. .

We've found them to be highly variable. That is, one might sound like an HP/YH-1, the next one will sound extra-bassy like a YH-100, and the tuning potential varies accordingly, so it's what has come to be known as the HP/YH-3 Lottery. You pays yer moneys and takes yer chances. We haven't found the HP/YH-1 and -2 to vary as much from sample to sample, so if you're feeling unlucky, better stick to the 1 and 2. Another way to put it is to say that the 3 uses the 2's driver but with looser quality control.

Yes, and sometimes, as when the manufacturer neglected to damp the vents (the Pro 30 is a case in point), throwing felt around can actually increase bass quantity as its quality improves. The headphones you have to be careful with are the ones that sound almost okay out of the box. For example, it's easy for an overzealous feltist-- the kind who's into the exotic stuff, man-- to overdamp the HP/YH-1. A little bit, ie, craft felt, does it, and more is not necessarily better. Other headphones require Uber Felt, and then there are a few that need The Felt of Deadly Force, a special-order material known only to certain leading ninjas. Those headphones are difficult to overdamp and as such are the most fun to work with but also the most time-consuming, addictive, and frustrating. It's best for a virgin orthonewbie to start with an HP/YH-1 or -2. If you can't get one of those, a Pro 30 is a good starter too, since it's both rewarding and easy to work on.

The HP/YH-1 is a persuasive headphone. I've recommended it as a starting point for the curious orthonewbie for that reason. Many people who've listened to it for the first time, even at length, say "Nice headphone. Don't see what all the fuss is about, but it sounds fine." and it does, although if you've been on the stat conga line for half your life, it's apparent sooner or later that the HP/YH-1 is mellow and gently rolled off in the treble, from something like 1kHz on up. In other words, the response is more or less tilted from the peak in the bass. Everything's gradual and smooth and your ear is persuaded that this is a plausible presentation. You could happily listen to it in stock form and it would simply be installed in your headphone menagerie on a Steve-crafted headphone rack next to the HD 600. You still don't see what the fuss is about, but life is good. Until one day you realize that transient response, especially in the bass, is poor and bass detail is lacking. Damping untilts the response, tightens the bass, and lets more of the treble emerge. Once the response curve is flattened out, the treble droop becomes much more apparent, but there's a fix for that too. The choice is, happily, yours. One of the funnest things about this type of headphone is the ability to make it sound "right" in a variety of ways. My own opinion is that you don't really lose bass quantity when damping's applied, but the mids and treble do come up and the "wet" bass tightens and dries up somewhat. Subjectively, that can sound like less bass. But if you like the stock sound, that's perfectly fine too. The fuss, though, is about what you can pry from these headphones with simple materials (which most dynamic 'phones already have). There's a lot of performance asleep for the last 30 years in these 'phones.

Awrk? not working on one side? They used to work on both sides. What turned out to be the problem? Shrunken? They're the same diameter as the NAD/T50/Maior. Not that any of this is important.

F3D's advice is apt. Don't toss the 700, since you might find its other virtues (smoothness, coherence, good transient response) useful for some types of music. If you read the wiki entry carefully, you'll see the 700's despised not because it's utter crap but because it refuses to respond to any of the usual simple isodynamic-headphone mods and because like other PMB isos it utterly lacks bass. So plug 'em into a speaker amp with a LOUDNESS switch, crank up the bass and enjoy. By the way, if you're into a bit of DIY, you can use a thin string of blu-tack to make a proper gasket to seal the driver airtight to the baffle. PMB used foam, which was inadequate then and has certainly deteriorated by now. This easy mod will at least assure that whatever bass the 'phone makes wil be maximized.

Here's another view of the Victor headphone:

"The woodshop"? Guys in woodshops donatin' Staxen, eh? Not that I would argue with them... Who knows, you still might get an offbeat HP-1. [Found the italics and everything else, thanks to deepak's hint.] Meanwhile, can anyone identify this mystery JVC (well, Victor) 'phone? It has shallow earpads and looks like a very nice foster phone or maybe even some sort of planar.

Good show, Smeggy, old coprolite! Excellent news on the Ice-O-Dynamics. Even better that you got HP-1s to sweeten the deal. I hope you really tear into the W'dales and mind-meld with the designers. And hey, you might even get the elusive Euro version of the HP-1 with the steel "keeper" plates! I'm assuming these goodies are coming from Blighty.

It is. And you don't have to say "ferking" over here. At least that's what they ferkin' tell me. And let the record show that I was a member here long before Spritzer poked me in the PM. He's clean. At least in that respect. And speaking of Reykjavik: Anyone see the NOVA program called *The Car of the Future* with the Magliozzi brothers clowning it up around plug-in electrics, hybrids, and, last but not least, the hydrogen-powered buses in jolly olde Iceland? Nice shots of Reykjavik. NOVA | Car of the Future | TV Program Description | PBS And where are my italics? I can't live without my italics! I think I must be part Italian.. Srsly u gyz, if I can't have italics here on HC, it'd be like... like eating Little Caesar's pizza after a strict diet of Donato's. Or Sedaris after Salinger.