The vintage Ortho thread

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by gurubhai, Jun 24, 2016.

  1. spoony

    spoony Spooky

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    Very cool, I'd still try improving the airflow that's dampening the lower frequencies with the cosmetic pad, the highs look smooth.
     
  2. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    Will try using felt in front of the makeup pad.

    Ortho round up recommended sorbothane. I did a quick search and couldnt find information on how it compared to damplifier. I read somewhere that sorb>butyl. Butyl is what damplifier uses in its goo layer followed by the metal layer. Another thing I found confusing was that on sorb website they chart sorb’s resonance damping frequencies at different compressions. So, does sorb need to be compressed to be effective? I ordered some sorb in Duro 70 to try since I ran out of damplifier pro anyway. The also sell sorb washer/gasket circular shapes that may be perfect for 6XX KISS mod.
     
  3. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    I've been cross posting to ortho round up thread since some users do not read both sites. Ortho round up is an epic thread: mystery, adventure, knowledge, and some cameos from original developers. Some active users in this thread were there from the beginning. Must've been a fun ride. Anyways, there are some great tips and feedback in response to my posts. I'll detail as mods continue.

    edit: makeup pad with felt coming up
    edit2: T30 arrives today. And I contacted a seller about a T50 so we’ll see. Headband mods will be necessary for big head
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2021
  4. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    Im doing baby steps every day basically. Right now is the exploration of @spoony mod. Felt then foam makeup pad. Im sure there are more variables but I have a T30 coming today and new foams arriving tomorrow. I contacted @BucketInABucket about his RP18 as well. My YH-1 may have a treble imbalance (not to mention sometimes clamp imbalance due to to broken adjuster) - I will need to compare results of measurements. I am actively watching eBay for another.

    I did use two small strips of micropore just to hold materials in place while closing back up. Hopefully not a probelm.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    YH-1 f+mup.jpg
    Right-side may have not had as good of seal. Three issues: possible driver imbalance, headband adjuster broken on right side so difficult to get equal clamp/seal which would mean imbalance particularly in bass and treble, and thirdly the wife is telecommuting today so I don't have a quiet living room. Let me know @spoony if there is something else you'd like me to try before I dismantle for next mod. Because of issues with YH-1 I am keeping an eye out for a replacement on eBay. I might move back to modding YH-2 in meantime despite being more difficult to attain a seal with the smaller pads.

    Subjectively, a little bass-lite. I listened for like 30sec. Subtleties I'm not good with - takes time or direct A/B, and its even harder today with the background noise.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2021
  6. spoony

    spoony Spooky

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    Not really, there's more gains to be had there regarding bass, but you should be happy with the treble to keep going that route. Go ahead!
     
  7. Tachikoma

    Tachikoma Almost "Made"

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    Have you tried just damping only a part of the driver (just the middle) instead of the entire back? Doing that greatly improved bass response on my T50RP (Smeggy Thunderpants) without sacrificing much treble.
     
  8. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    Not yet but kind of. When we place damping material and let it be held together with compression by closing cups back up, we do sort of get an unequal damping situation. More compression in center where the headband joint is means more density / damping there and less towards edges. And depending on how stiff the materials the edges could be completely decoupled from driver. So Ive been experimenting with sealing edges down pat with adhesives, and without which I think is the more common method.
     
  9. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Not tested yet because hair is wet from shower. Headband seems plenty big but there is still the lack of articulation for angling, but there is some play or possibly an articulation feature from the driver/pads baffle. Its like the front baffle is on a pivot but swing is limited due to outer shell / back baffle. Will take pics when I take apart. The pads cover the entire width of the baffle. Weight is not bad at all. The headphones may have seen some comfort work, there is foam on headband in key areas to reduce noise from cup contact - doesnt seem that would be stock but I dont know.
     
  10. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    T30 no push.jpg
    T30 push.jpg

    Would have to convert to flat plate coupler mode to measure well. Tried pushing a bit to get a seal but it's hard to get even. Ear pad hole is small. Ear pad like rubber with no foam. So much pressure on the back of ear lobes. I don't have them on as typing because ouch. When I took them off I could see a defined imprint. Started getting a headache from the pressure. Wualta I think said worst ever comfort and is a torture device. Definitely moves more air than the Yams but it wasn't helping the pressure feeling on my skull. Highs are muted and makes uppers mids sound more prominent. Weird transition. Soundstage weird too, very left/right.

    Going to open up and hopefully spark some ideas for ergonomics.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2021
  11. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    [​IMG]

    I stopped listening awhile ago but you can still make out the ear imprint.
     
  12. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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  13. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    Big baffle and recessed highs means I could try thicker circumaural pads and hybrid pads. Angled pads placed backwards for better fit. Approx 80mm baffle. Not sure how damping would help here since bass thru mids is already pretty linear stock. Maybe get lucky and some resonance control cleans treble up.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2021
  14. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    I think all the active posters in this thread wont mind if I only post in the HF thread since I think you guys here read both and then that way I wont have to duplicate posts. Slowing posting here until I have better content. Will continue to post impressions of stock and good mod results here but will use HF for spamming my poorly conceived experiments. If you dont post on HF Ill still respond to posts here of course.
     
  15. spoony

    spoony Spooky

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    Messed around with the T10 baffle adapter a little more and I've scraped the effort, mids get distant and the treble (more) etched. I may return to the baffle replacement initiative in the (not near) future.

    Right now my best results subjectively have been achieved with these leather pads from China:
    photo_2021-04-17_11-04-51.jpg photo_2021-04-17_11-04-53.jpg

    The 6-7 KHz peak is offensive with certain instruments. I had to use some front filtering to lessen the peak.

    I still have a hunch that these would perform the best with pancake pads that I will probably have to fabricate myself.
     
  16. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    T30 update: removed damping. Did the usual: midbass boost, loss of highs, worse technicalities. Upper mids peak and wonky treble remained. So, next tried no eclosure. Helped smooth treble and upper mids a lot, but still not enough for the upper mids to be weaker than rest of spectrum. Not sure if that can be fixed. Ideas?
     
  17. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    Going to try sealed front baffle, then sealed cup. See if that boosts the bass n lower mids to balance better with upper mids.

    Ordered a used headphone as parts - might work for transplant.

    Some foams arrived from mcmaster carr. Going to try those too today hopefully on YH-1/2.
     
  18. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    [​IMG]
    Some velour earpads I had lying around. The driver has no damping on it currently. Much better comfort, soundstage, and tone.

    All the velour pads lve seen around 80mm are ~1month delivery. Going to start now looking for pads for phones that dont have dimensions advertised in title, like “beyer” pads etc. The ones I have are 100mm...
     
  19. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    The mcmaster carr 2lb density open foam has way less airflow as the random packaging foams Ive been using with yamaha mods. Feels like twice as less airflow as felt too. The 6lb going to be too much probably then. 15lb I cannot breathe through at all.

    The foam factory stocks mostly around 2lb densities with variations. Could be useful for fine tuning then. Lets see. Will trial more on Yams until I get some properly sized pads for the Fostex.
     
  20. Philimon

    Philimon Friend

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    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    1/2” thick a little much. Foam factory again has more options in the 2lb range so will order from them next time.

    Dont recommend gorilla glue anymore... Stuck felt, and ripped wire insulation.

    edit: 1/2” about twice as thick as needed for Yams, have to trim. Fostex 1/2” fit.
    edit2: 1/2” good for YH-1, YH-2 enclosure is smaller
    edit3: Im going back to posting my whack mods here. I thought HF had more views in ortho round up, but I think a lot is just people looking at classifieds and checking what’s what. Ill switch and lower my activity on HF with only success updates. Hope thats okay.

    I was thinking about some diffuser in the center back of cup. Like a cone shape. Thats getting extreme and I dont know if I have the ears to make out the difference anyway. Just throwing stuff on the pile until something obvious and good happens. Edit4: nah, not much room

    Edit5: YH1 1/2” took a little pressure to close. Maybe 3/8” good
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2021

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