dBel84

I can't take credit for this but cracked up when I read it. enjoy ..dB If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!! When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning Uphill... barefoot... BOTH ways Yadda, yadda, yadda And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!! There was no e-mail!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents! Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our asses! Nowhere was safe! There were no MP3' S roasters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our cars. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone, 'cause that's how we rolled, dig? We didn't have fancy crap like call waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister! We didn't have any fancy Sony Play Station video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! And remember Pong? We Had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids.' Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards! And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980or before! Regards, The over 30 Crowd

plenty of measuring about too , the other Mark is a little retentive when it comes to these things. Is this a destiny thing? perhaps you all belong to a secret markl society ( he says as he dives for the bunker ( ..dB

You are running 300V B+ with 10mA of current . This operating point was chosen after much messing about - we had a variable psu that went up to 450 (iirc) and there was not much subjective increase in SQ above 300. So that is where it was set. ..dB

all the very best ..dB

indeed ans smeggy / walt coined the razor edged highs which "make your ears bleed". Essentially just very good high frequency extention , even bordering on sibilant when you turn it up loudly. My preferences are to listen at low volumes but everything needs to be balanced - the HE5 maintain this balance both at low volume levels and higher levels ..dB

I got to hear these last night - worth every penny imho The highs will make your ears bleed they are that sharp / etched. Overall the balance is very good, separation of detail is pristine and bass is most definitely not wanting. Great soundstage and superb design / finish make this an exceptional product. I can't imagine many headphones being in this league, stats included. ..dB

Have you looked at Tivoli audio - I liked their original radio but haven't heard much of the other gear they make. Original designed by the late Henry Kloss..dB

After batman, mains_hum, jwags and myself had built the original prototypes and Alex had developed the design a little further, we went on to build a few more of these prototypes. Regal and Blooze had expressed interest in being part of this process and Alex had invited them to join in. There were a few issues and regal's build seemed particularly sensitive. Blooze didn't seem to have too much luck either and eventually sold his unfinished build to smeggy on an open FS transaction on HF ( it needed a little love but was coaxed into a functional amp and hence the reason smeggy has one ) . The design has been ever evolving and one could argue that the amp I love so dearly bears little relation to the amp that sparked into existence last night, but my ears tell me differently. The Regal tale may differ from this too , it all comes down to who tells the tale. ..dB

we aren't? ..dB

sounds like a three-some is in order ..dB

May at least one wish come true ..dB

this would make short work of many a tedious job ..dB

as long as it sounds right, I don't usually care . I am curious as to why you think the thick "smeggy felt" won't pull in the mids. I have always worked around this premise. ..dB

So the mods.... No rocket science just what worked for my ears. 1. seal the pads against the cup = i used some neoprene type foam under the edge of the pad. 2. somewhat of an aesthetic tweak but also functional = medium density felt lining the outside of the cup. This gets rid of the yellow and adds a layer of damping. 3. Up against the driver - I tried several things and finally settles with a round disc of thick dense felt ( covers the center of the driver between the holding screws. 4. I added an outer "ring" / "square" of damping tape ( the ophthalmic version that BMF is so fond of this time ) Leave the glass fibre in place. You just need a good amp , Marc summed it up for me earlier This is how I feel everytime I fire up my little orange jobbie ..dB

Well Marc, I have to agree that you have a great set of headphones their ( actually both of the big ortho's ) and unlike Steve, I say keep the T50 as it brings something else to the mix too. The lcd1 is however a very neutral all round performer - and neutral as in everything sounds as it should and NOT boring. If the lcd2 brings the bass game into play - just sweetness all round ..dB

thanks , will haul it all out and test when I get some time..dB

It's not that odd actually Monkey, the HD800 is a ring radiator and in some ways the vintage yamaha orthos behave the same. The Audeze however are truely planar in that the driver is held at the edges much like the fostex series. I have not heard the HD800 and thus cannot answer your question but I would imagine they have similarities. ..dB edit - i type too slowly

Finally modded the I/V for my transdac home jigged smd adapter for the THS4031 and NOS siemens bypass caps sounding good , but then I really liked it stock so will need moar time to tell. The Leak 3000 seem to have more punch in the bass and soundstage but I haven't used them for a bit and they may sound this way all the time ..dB

now that sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon ..dB

I have heard this too from 2 different sources..dB

Hey Steve thanks for your impressions. The top end on these is particularly sharp - most headphones roll off at the top end while these sounded pretty smooth to 20kHz to me. My initial impression of the lcd one is that the bass had a tendency to "lose it" and the mids were a little more forward than my normal preference. The mods I made addressed this - thightened up the bass, pulled in the mids - the process probably did push up the top end a little, but I felt it brought it all more in balance. The bass quantity can be increased by creating a seal between the baffle and cup. I found the bass to be very good but not as present as say the T50 or some of the vintage yamaha's ( especially the HP3/50 series) . At least now I know what your donuts sound like I use a complex drum/rhythm piece to test for a drivers ability to keep it all together with complex pieces - the way it sounds when it loses it , is that it becomes less coherent - sounds congested if you like. ..dB

Not sure it will need modding but if the drivers are accessible then yes, the mods can be applied ..dB

This is what I addressed in the mods and feel I succeeded. I also thought the mid was a little forward for my tastes. The reason it falls apart with fast indie is the relative lack of damping - it is damped, don't get me wrong but when things get going, you really need tight control . We will see if Marc and Steve feel this has been achieved. As far as the lcd2 - my suspicion is that the new frame will adress the bottom end primarily. Control the leak of the backwave and provide a chamber for the bass ( this could be a good or bad thing ) . For current LCD1 owners - I would look into finding a friendly neighbourhood wood worker and get him to make cups to fit the driver in so that it is sightly recessed and can seal properly. Choose the shape to match some off the shelf pads you fancy. ..dB

this is probably not common knowledge but the stock cable on the lcd1 does not use the shield as a shield. The 2 signal wires are tied together as the positive and the shield is used as a ground signal. The cable itself is heavy, although flexible, it retains some of its prior shape and even in my short use, managed to continually twist upon itself - so agreed on all fronts, the original cable is a serious faux pas ..dB

could someone be so kind as to listen to these and report back , much obliged..dB