aerius

Beer and hookers for everyone!

Power supply updated to Mk2Mod2 status. Now using a bigger transformer from the surplus store along with a hybrid bridge rectifier. Uses UF4007 diodes and 12D4 vacuum tubes, all resistors are 5W. Quieter, with less hiss & hum. Dead silent with my Senn 580 and K340, just a bit of background hiss & hum with my Grado 225, but I suspect it would be a problem for Ety & Shure owners. Still have some grounding & wire routing issues to clean up which should kill any remaining noise, but I'm too damn lazy.

You're both totally right and you're both totally wrong. There, are you both fucking happy now?

It'll rain if you want it to rain. There's also a firehose hooked up for some odd reason... It's loosely based on a real life event I once witnessed.

The key to doing the tuning is to change only one thing at a time so you know which changes are doing what. It's a pretty obvious thing but many people (including myself at times) tend to forget that and/or lose patience and start changing more than one thing at once. Sometimes you get lucky, usually you don't, and in either case you have no idea which change made the improvement. Good luck, and I hope you find a tuning you're happy with.

I'm a unionized Federal government employee, which IS the definition of having too much time on my hands.

The chicks are doing something to him, and it doesn't look like he's having fun. What they're doing to him I leave to your imagination, it could be anything from being tickled senseless to being anally violated with a strap-on.

Ok, let's suppose that you're walking to the local bar/corner store/whatever and you have to cut through a small public park to get there. While walking through the park, you see some guy on the ground being molested by a group of attractive females. What do you do? Whip out your fancy cellphone and take pictures/movies of it? Offer to take the guy's place? Whip out your willy and masturbate? What do you do??!!

It's about the same as the difference between a Senn 580 and Senn 600.

Told ya not to get the rescreen. Ok, seriously, you are now in for a world of fun, because doing the fine tuning is a pain in the ass. You will need blue-tak, fibre stuffing stuff, electrical tape, and lots of free time. First step, seal the back and play with the stuffing. Get one of those polyester stuffing sheets they use for making quilts and cut rings out of it. Or use good old cotton balls. Experiment with using more or less until you come to the best balance of sound, it's unlikely that you'll find something perfect so just try to get as close as you can. Then figure out what you don't like about the sound. If there's too little bass, poke a couple small holes in the tape and see if that helps. If you have resonances, then it's time to blue-tack away. I put a dime-sized patch on the housing behind each of the passive radiators, then put some on both sides of the plate that holds the passive diaphragms. Listen and check, you may need to adjust the stuffing amount after blue-tacking. See how that works, and if you still can't get a good balance let me know.

More or less, think of a K701/HD650 mix and that's about what I'm thinking of. Something that manages to make everything sound kinda the same, crap recordings are made listenable and good to great recordings have the life sucked out of them and don't get to shine.

So a few days ago I was leafing through Guitar Player at the local library when I came across a short article on Wolfgang's Vault. It's a site which has a ton of cool memorabilia, but that's besides the point, it's the home of Vault Radio which has turned out to be the best internet radio station I've ever come across. The playlist has tons of songs from live concerts by Albert King, Hendrix, Jeff Beck, The Band, and many other rock artists from the 60's & 70's. Been listening to it ever since I found it.

I think you've hit upon something here. To me it seems like manufacturers are trying to make 'phones which won't offend people instead of trying to building something that'll make people go "holy crap that's awesome!" It's like they're playing it safe instead of making something like the PS-1 or K1000 which have a seriously polarizing love it or hate it effect. Instead of going for the homerun, they're hitting grounders for singles.

This is one of those cases where two wrongs makes a right.

On a related note, did you know that our K340's invert phase? That is, unless Larry reversed the phase on your pair when he did the mods, in which case it would now be in proper phase. Mine is reversed, which is great in theory since most of my recordings are also reversed according to this chart.

It's probably best that you don't remember...

It's just like the 650, but with a silver grill and slightly brighter sound.

Does anyone remember Microsoft Bob? Somehow I get the feeling this will end up just like Bob.

The insurance companies won't just assrape you, they will assrape you with a 2x4 and no lube if you get any of the above cars. With the S2000 and Type-S, I would not be surprised if your insurance payments end up being larger than your car payments. Personally I'd get a used sedan, something like a Honda Accord or Mazda 3. It's not as fancy or fun, but you will come out way ahead in cash, we're talking a good $10-20k over the lifespan of the car.

So am I the only one who thinks the K701 and the new Grado Streetstyles look good? Or have I done too much drugs in my youth?

Do I have to sign an NDA?

I've been thinking about this quite a bit since the Hamilton meet a week ago. I heard the K501, K1000, K701, RS-1, PS-1, and GS1000 among others, and I came away somewhat saddened and disappointed. To me, the new flagship headphones from AKG and Grado failed to capture the magic of their predecessors. They were arguably more even all-round performers, but it was the evenness of mediocrity and plainness. Simply put, these headphones try to be everything to everyone, and in doing so end up being boring, bland, and lacking in magic. Sure the K701 has a flatter more extended frequency response than the K501 or K1000, and is more detailed than the former, but it comes at an unacceptable cost (to me). The midrange magic is gone, the soundstage is no longer seamless, and there's an annoying degree of harshness in the treble. It sounds more "neutral" I suppose, but it no longer has the compelling qualities of the earlier 'phones which make them worth it despite their faults. Same thing with the GS1000, it has a nice big soundstage, is more "neutral" and may be slightly more detailed than an RS-1, but once again it can't do the midrange magic. It won't give me the "holy crap that singer chick just tongued me" which the RS-1 can do with ease, and I end up feeling unsatisfied. Blues guitar no longer has the magic tone that makes you wanna cry, there just ain't as much emotion as there is with the RS-1. Looking at the slightly bigger picture, it's not all bad, the limited edition HF-1 and PS-1 were both nice improvements at their price points. Both kept the signature sound and magic while adding new qualities which made them even better. I haven't heard any Audio-Technicas other than the W100 and A900, but it looks like they have a whole bunch of new stuff. Maybe someone can comment on how those stack up. Sennheiser tweaked the 600 and came up with the 650, and though I don't really like it much I still think it's an overall improvement on the 600. So overall there's some bright spots but to me things seem like they're moving more sideways than forwards. Thoughts? Comments?

You'll get the VIP treatment alright, I'm putting your name into the watchlist. Now all your parcels will arrive with the magic Customs tape.

The K340, the K501, and now the K1000, I'm beginning to think that AKG made at least 2 versions of all their higher end headphones. This would make sense though, I heard a K1000 a year or 2 back in a stereo shop and it had the brighter treble emphasis which many have talked about, I didn't like that one too much. Then I heard another K1000 at the Hamilton meet this past week which was a lot warmer sounding with the nice AKG midrange I'm used to from my K340's. Much nicer, wasn't bright or sibilant at all.

Just remember, it could be worse. At least it didn't catch fire and burn your house down, which is entirely possible with a Raptor. Seriously, that's gotta suck, I would've given up a lot earlier than you.