HD650 KISS mod

Discussion in 'Modifications and Tweaks' started by purr1n, Dec 6, 2016.

  1. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    I think common sense would lead one to assume 2mm. When describing the size of certain things to others I have also been known to exaggerate girth.
     
  2. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    I purchased a pair of stock 650s from @brencho a while back so that I could have a pair to mod alongside my existing stock pair. I finally got around to doing this mod with some variations. I stuck to the instructions and objectives in general — spider removal, rear damping, foam over magnet hole, front foam intact — but I wanted to try for a more custom fit for the dynamat. Think of it as the KISS mod in spirit but fussier in practice.

    This was my first time modding anything and total time was still under 2 hours. Here’s a look at the process:

    1. Draw the pattern
    I drew this pattern on the peel away paper on the back of the dynamat. I used an insert from a 2A3 tube box with a circular cutout as a basic guide and then a combination of a ruler and eyeballing to get to the final outline. The slits marked with the arrows allow the dynamat to fit around the raised plastic ribs on the driver housing.

    [​IMG]


    2. The guide

    Here’s the tube box insert guide. It was a bit narrower than I needed for the outer dimension, but was close enough to eyeball an offset that would work when drawing the pattern. I poked holes around the outside of the circle at key points which transferred some guide marks to the dynamat I could use to draw the pattern.

    [​IMG]


    3. Check the fit
    Laying the dynamat cutout onto the driver housing to check the fit. You can see how the slits line up with the plastic ribs. I had to trim a bit off of the vertical stick to make sure it cleared the two metal pins at the bottom. I used an x-acto to cut this pattern out and it wasn’t too hard. I opted to go without the creatology foam, which wasn’t necessary.

    One note: the non-sticky side of the dynamat is covered with an aluminum foil that tended to break off the tip of my x-acto blade. Not a good thing to have a loose x-acto tip rattling around near your ears, so be careful of that.

    [​IMG]


    4. Apply the dynamat
    Peel off the wax paper and stick the dynamat to the housing. I used a 1/4” headphone plug to smooth down the dynamat around the ribs, into the corners, and get it nice and secure.

    At this point the spider cage and foam its still untouched.

    [​IMG]


    5. Remove the spider and foam
    I used the x-acto to saw through each of the spokes of the spider. Very easy and left a nice clean edge.

    [​IMG]


    6. The donut
    Back to the dynamat sheet to draw the pattern for the donut. The removed spider helps with getting the right dimensions for the donut hole. The “X” marks are the pieces of that get thrown away.

    Instead of doing the folded foam thing in the standard mod, I decided to cut a smaller circular piece out of the stock foam that would cover the magnet hole but not the whole magnet. It’s held in place by the dynamat donut, which will be stuck on top.

    [​IMG]


    7. Check the donut fit
    Looks pretty good. It's a bit off, but the dynamat is pliable and during smoothing you can make up for some of the small gaps.

    [​IMG]


    8. Apply the donut
    Foam goes down first. I pushed it slightly into the magnet hole but didn’t worry about that too much. Donut is applied on top and smoothed down with the 1/4” plug. Last step is to reassemble.

    I may decide to color in the silver parts of the dynamat foil with a black sharpie for a more stealth look, but I’ve left it as is for the time being.

    [​IMG]
     
  3. slankoe

    slankoe Tongue tastes of LH butthole

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    @Boops excellent method bud, I'll be using that trick when I'm ready to mod my HD650s :)
     
  4. bengo

    bengo Friend

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    I have some FREE Dynamat Xtreme for modders, see this thread
     
  5. Mdkaler

    Mdkaler Friend

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    Making KISS modded 6X0 more open sounding


    Background:

    Special thanks to @Gaspasser for handing me some dynamat. Awesome people and great community!

    Inspired by the dynamat mass loading post above @Boops, and from distant memory of hearing a similarly modded pair, I decided to add some more dynamat to cover the remaining part of the exposed magnet. So it was essentially a Kiss modded 6xx with some dynamat (no creatology foam), and I couldn't stand it. That made the 6xx very closed-in sounding.

    The mod was immediately reverted. Life went on and everything was back to normal. Soon the failure came back to haunt me - why did the kiss mod make it more opening sounding, but more kiss mod did the opposite? Then it dawned on me: the dynamat foil "reacts" with the grill, and creatology foam takes that out of the equation.


    The KISS+ mod (tentative name for convenience, so we have a name to refer this to):

    Try it before you buy - For those who already have a 6x0 kiss, take the grills off and listen to it. If you like the sound, proceed. If not, no harm done.
    Taking off the grill is arguably the most opening sounding state of the 6x0, and this is the goal of KISS+ while trying to stay as close to the original KISS as possible; sound-wise and hardware-wise.

    This is extremely easy to do if you have done the KISS mod, and completely reversible.
    Take some creatology foam and cut 3 small pieces for each side, so a total of 6. The size of each piece should cover the 3 protruding parallel lines around the driver, at the 9, 12 and 3 o'clock position on the housing with grill removed (see photo below).

    6XX kiss plus.jpg

    Now you are welcome to customize the size, shape, and position of the foam pieces. Note that too much foam can change the FR curve, and asymmetrical placement can alter imaging and presentation.


    Alternatives/suggestions:

    Creatology foam is cheap and easy to find in the US, that's why it is the chosen material. Alternatively, the stock Sennheiser foam might be a better material for this purpose. I don't have extra Sennheiser foam, but anyone who has extra and is willing to use it FOR SCIENCE (!) will certainly be appreciated. Covering the entire grill on the inside seems like a good way to go, as no permanent damage is required; but the FR might be colored.


    And feel free to share your impressions!


     
  6. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    I'm curious to know what drew you to this conclusion? It doesn't seem like such an 'obvious' answer to have a sudden realization of.

    And yeah when I was doing the mod myself and measuring each step of the way I found the biggest change to be from the foam over the hole in the magnet, putting nothing over it bloats up the bass like the original HD650M, filling it goes even further and turns them into closed sound mudheisers. Sennheiser had it right with the amount of foam they had behind the driver, if you want to bring the midbass down to more 'HD600' ish levels then having one layer instead of the folded foam disk would achieve something near that.
     
  7. Mdkaler

    Mdkaler Friend

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    Well, the weren't many combinations to begin with. And it was easy to test the hypothesis.
    - adding foam + dynamat = open sounding
    - adding dynamat = closed sounding
    -> adding foam = ?


    Regarding the foam over the magnet hole, yes I agree with your findings. The picture above is indeed more than the original kiss mod. I cut my foam disks before coming up with another hypothesis, no way to test it now, so I omitted the foam disk from the above post.
     
  8. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    KISS-modders: if I dial back to a single layer of foam over the magnet hole (as opposed to the standard double-layer) will I get more bass?
     
  9. spoony

    spoony Spooky

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    More midbass, yes. To increase extension you have to 'solidify' the baffle, by installing a less permeable mask over the stock silver screen (microfiber cloth, creatology foam, etc). This has the side effect of lowering the 3KHz bump and also making it sound more closed-in.
     
  10. Mdkaler

    Mdkaler Friend

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    Have you tried removing the silver screen? I tried but wasn't brave enough to press hard on it and peel it. If it is anything like the HD800 SDR mod process, then I guess I can give it another try. The Darth Vader material seems like a good alternative.

    If solidifying the screen makes it more closed-in, perhaps making it more permeable will do the opposite. Hopefully 3kHz doesn't become a problem.
     
  11. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    Thanks to you, I covered up some remaining dynamat, that was placed pre-KISS mod, with creatology foam. Indeed the sound opened up and I love these while I’m awaiting the SDR mods to show for my HD800.
     
  12. spoony

    spoony Spooky

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    I haven't, so far I'm still getting used to its signature and using it as a benchmark against my other mods / custom headphones.

    More permeable also means less bass power and extension. Personally, I can listen to well-damped closed headphones without issue, 'openness' takes a second stand against overall FR profile and sound stage / imaging homogeneity to me.
     
  13. abisai2

    abisai2 Friend

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    So I REALLY love my HD650's. Think emotional connection here. I am intrigued with the idea of modding my pair but, I would really like to listen to a pair before making any decisions.

    Is there anyone in the Orange County, CA area with a modded set available? Maybe I can bribe you for lunch or something to have a listen. :D
     
  14. Arun Kumar

    Arun Kumar Friend

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    If you don't want to mod it you can start by applying dynamat in the back, wherever applicable first. If you don't like the sound you can always remove it.
     
  15. abisai2

    abisai2 Friend

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    I guess that's not a bad idea. I think I might have some Dynamat laying around in the garage. If not, I should be able to find something locally. I'll see what I can come up with over the next couple of days.
     
  16. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    If you don’t have any, or can’t find any locally, shoot me a PM. I’ve got a bunch leftover from my mod. I’d be happy to mail you a bit.
     
  17. zonto

    zonto Friend

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  18. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    @Marvey excuse me sir, one question based on this comment in the 660S thread:

    How much of the KISS mod to apply to the 6XX?

    I picked up a 6XX over the holidays just to have a common point of reference, before reading said comment ...
     
  19. Arun Kumar

    Arun Kumar Friend

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    Given that the 6XX is a re-branded 650 the full KISS mod should be applicable.
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The KISS mod is applied to the current HD650 / HD6XX. The 2015 and before to ??? vintage of HD650 seemed slightly different where I completely removed both front and back foam pieces to get the transient response I wanted.
     

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