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Hello again, I might have found someone willing to do the job of balancing my K501 for me. I would really appreciate if someone could help me regarding references and places where to buy 15 feet of premolded cable (looking for 4 wires) that would suit best this use. C'mon, this might be the first review of a balanced K501 ever.

I just took some pictures.... If I am not mistaken, I only see 3 wires, and a yellow one That probably means I should have the K501 completely rewired to go balanced. It might be too expensive though... You have been really kind and helpfull anyway. Thank you all !

I realize you are right... There is still a chance for me to have an old K501 version with the 4 wires. I bought mine 7 years ago, so who knows... I guess I could open it myself (AKG certainly doesn't look too helpfull), but what I am looking for

Oups, quoting both message: Hi there, last week a I bought a K501 and I am very pleased with it, however my primary headphone rig has a headphone amplifier which drives the cans symmetrically. So the standard left-right-ground connection is not usable, I need + and - for both channels. I downloaded the technical documentation from the website and as I see it the K501 has a cable which has only three wires (as opposed to the older cables like the one I have in my 15+ years old K141). That would mean that I have to completely rewire the K 501. Since the can has only one wire which comes from the left side I suppose the right side's cable is running through one of the headbands. Is this correct? Do I have other choice as recabling? Also, if there is some pitfall please note it, I did not took it apart yet so its not late P.s.: I designed and built the headphone amplifier and also converted some other cans to balanced drive, so I think I have the needed technical skills...I just like to have as many information as I can get before modification. Also, I am a bit curious: did you (AKG) tried to drive the phones ballanced (except the K1000 of course) Any comments on this topic? *********************************************************** Hi, We did not design the K 501 for balanced drive, thus we do not offer to make modifications. We can offer a special cable, but this is not designed for the K 501 and has is a bit higher diameter, as a result a modification will not be easy. -- kind regards / beste Gr?sse Horst AKG hotline

Thanks a lot for your help, Unfortunately, I have just come across that on AKG official forum: Headphones Apparently, they are made of 3 wires and were not intended to be used balanced. Pars, how do you get to the conclusion they are 4 wires. I am sure Alex (APureSound) would be able to do that, but the cost would just be insane (paying shipping both ways from Europe and then the cable itself). That's too bad.... I will have to get some balanced K340 to come over that

Oups, do you think I could also ask this info to AKG directly, without taking apart my K501...

Wow, thanks for your fast answers. If opening up the headphone can be done in such a way it is safe for me and my K501, I might try that. I understand for example K701 have 4 wires, since the stock cable can be rewired with 2 XLR plugs. What exactly am I looking for and where

Hello everyone, This is my very first post in this forum I discovered very recently, and I can see many of you already do post on head-fi. My nickname on head-fi is Shamu144 if you need any reference, though I am not a very active member there. As introduction background, I can say I have some experiences with the electrostat sound (I own a SR-303) and dynamic sound (DT880, HD650 and K501). I was very pleased with my SR-303 powered by a Manley Stingray integrated amp, through an Illusion ESC-1001 adaptater box (I see many of you use SRD7). I decided however to downgrade my system for reasons too long to explain now, and ended up with a balanced amp that probably outperforms my former electrostats rig . My first balanced headphones were the HD650. I still have a pair of K501, and there come the reason of my first post: I know the K501 are extremely difficult to drive properly, so I was naturally thinking of balancing my K501 too. However, I do not want to spend big bucks in this upgrade, and I would rather have it done at the lowest posible cost. At this stage, I prefer to see how the K501 respond to balanced operations. Is it technically posible then to have my current SE stock cable rewired with two 3pins XLR plugs to operate in balanced mode. I believe it is possible with the SE stock cables of the Senns, but don't know about the AKG K501. Thanks a lot for your help, Regards,