The vintage Ortho thread

The new pads suck. A combination of increased driver distance and bad installation - they would need to be adhesived like stock pads but I am not interested...

I think I preferred the warm fuzzy mess pre-mods. They sounded relaxed and diffuse and a bit ethereal. Mods are an upgrade except edginess. I know these can be modded to flat or preference with some roll off but I'll pass. A few reasons make me not want to continue: the creaky plastic enclosure, the YHD-3 sounds better and suspect more potent, and I have the more powerful YH-1 incoming to supplant YH-2.

The YHD-3 I've tried overdamped: bass is lowered but transients are faast. I'd rather try balancing this headphone since enclosure is more comfortable and because driver gives another flavor from YH-1.

YH-2 is free+shipping. Requirement though is willing to mod, measure, and share. Otherwise its $40shipped. I'll create a classified later.

@dBel84 Sorry I didn't try harder. I have some more cheap vintage headphone distractions incoming. Still am wanting to try more higher tier vintage orthos - unfortunately rare and/or expensive. I've setup eBay notifications.

 

Yes that’s always the problem with aftermarket pads. The hole is too small. Plus they always seem to f**k up the sound. They often are too soft and seal too well and you get too much bass and it’s hard to deal with via damping.

I think you’ll be happy with the YH1 I mod for you.

what better orthos are you looking at? It’s too bad the RP-18 has this unexplained buzz.

 

YH-2 measures flatter overall but the YHD-3 is more pleasing for two reasons: I tuned for more lower warmth which helps blanket upper frequency irregularities and harsh recordings, AND YHD-3 uses open foam pads which increases sound stage and comfort and less reflections (?). I should try YH-2 with foam pads, but that enclosure would still creak - needs transplant mod. I reduce YH-2 by (1/2)price+shipping.

Fostex T50v0 and it's variants (like RP18). Make sure its got a return policy just in case of that buzz.
Fostex T10. The T10 isn't just a smaller baffle T20, the driver structure is different.
Fostex T30 and whatever variants. I know Grundig shared OEMs or whatever w Fostex.
Some Victor units. Weirdos that used a single-sided magnet structure. So weaker dynamics but maybe less physical obstruction.
Yamaha HP-1anisotropic. Or YH-100 but modding those sounds more difficult.

I'd like to try another YHD-3 transplant with something open back like Grado type cups.

Edit: oof. That YHD-3 measurement is with zero damping. The measurement with one layer of foam damping in cup looks better (as seen on previous page).

 

Yamaha YHD-1 and YH-1.

 

Some left/right imbalance in the bass with YH-1, hopefully mods will fix issue.

Quite smooth stock, maybe a little less so than YH-2 stock. However, where YH-2 was a "warm fuzzy mess", YH-1 sounds clearer and more impactful but with a hot spot at 3kHz.

From what I remember: difference with YH-1 is that the driver magnet is larger. The membrane/driver itself is same. I hope the orthorians will clarify please? I could find the info later but don't know off the top of my head.

The enclosure appears maybe a little larger too or maybe the plastic is thicker. The black colorway looks much neater and modern. Still a creak at pivot but less so, @rhythmdevils says is helped with wd-40.




Sad news on the YHD-1: arrived dead. @dBel84 said he'd try and fix. Thank you and good luck! YHD-1 is interesting. It's smaller driver like YHD-3 and similarly uses Yamahas latest driver design but in this case with the more powerful anisotropic magnets. YHD-1 also a fully open design so worse for bass but no cup reflections.

 

Investigating @Philimon YHD1

I have never seen a YHD of any sort DOA. So when these didn't work, I figured a simple cable issue and they would be back to their normal good selves. Sadly not the case and when the drivers themselves were open circuit, there was little else to do other than complete breakdown.

The findings are very intriguing. This little driver is extremely sophisticated - an appeal to Yamaha - please bring these back !!



different zones of trace density with a heavier central plug , pleated for increased excursion - no wonder these things sound as good as they do.





and the reason they no longer work - very odd for this to happen to the later series yamaha drivers , this was an issue early on with the YH1000





no to find a solution to make them whole again

..dB

 

@dBel84 Looks like a combination of dirt and that one hole in the trace?

Years ago I managed to semi-fix one broken driver using a conductive "silver ink" pens.

 

The dirt spots are actually little pock marks, like some one pepper blasted the driver. No holes, just small areas where the aluminium has peeled off.

 

This is how I fixed the YH1K, that pen and ink had long dried up but just found the next generation of the ink at MG chemicals and ordered some.

Let's hope it works as well.

 

I think some of the newer gen stuff has a bit more flexibility when dry now. I remember the stuff I had (some awful goop from ebay) if you applied it too thick it would easily chip or flake off. I experimented a bit with mixing in glue or thinners with limited success.

Could possibly have been tiny dirt specks that pecked and rubbed away at the traces. If some spots aren't actually missing but peeled up, you could veeeeery carefully push them back down and then adhere them in place with the conductive ink (this may require a needle dipped in alcohol, then touching the pen tip to get just a tiny smidge of the ink. This is partially how I repaired the traces on a... ugh it's been so long I don't remember, I think it was an old Fostex T20. I also rolled/flattened the driver between some silicone sheets using a battery.

 

Blah just get a new one. What are the chances the driver will operate like it did before? I would think channel imbalance would like likely be a big problem and that’s a lot of work for a half baked ortho. But Don would know having done this many times.

 

Those were my HP-1 and YH-3. I'm pretty sure I sent a YH-100 as well. All were unmodded and in really good condition.

 

Very cool. Nice to see you. There is a bunch of other orthos in Tyll’s database but I think most are listed as modded, and the one’s that are stock may have degraded original damping anyway. Would like to know if you opened them and noted condition of damping. In the other sbaf ortho thread @takato14 demonstrated how worn pads effect sound as well, but yours apparently were in good condition.

Coming soon: Fostex T10, @rhythmdevils modded YH-1 and HP-1a, and another YH-2 with better condition pads for modding.

An inventory of the different RP-18 variants’ magnets with details.:
https://m.imgur.com/a/yXlYcCd
^ I forget which person assembled this image collection. Add name later if I find again.

 

HP1 inducted into the hall of fame

https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-...s-hall-of-fame-yamaha-hp1-headphones.amp.html

 

I never opened any of them. I planned to eventually, but I was honestly enjoying them in stock form through the headphone out on a 1979 Yamaha CR1040. I regret selling them, but I moved and did a purge. I still have the CR1040.

 

Even better, looks like it earned a spot on their 50 greatest gadgets of the past 50 years list.

 

I bought another YH-2 because I liked the "stock" sound but also want to better try @dBel84 's mods.This example came with intact pads and non-squeaky pivot joints.:

Comparisons/impressions later.

 

That's a pretty sweet looking FR.

 

Yes. Kind of dont want to touch it. Should be a good comparison for rd’s mods.

 

Fostex T10 is much smaller and lighter than expected. Overdamped: fast and lean. Opposite of YH-2. Both smooth and enjoyable.