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AKG K701. Anyone take out the 2 foam "veils"?


Jon L

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All this time, I never bothered to take off the earpad, but once I did, I found TWO layers of substantial foam between the driver and the mesh. My camera is MIA, but one is a round piece of foam, and the other is another round piece with a small hole in the middle.

These are what gives K701 that strange sensation of detailed yet kind of detached sound b/c once you take the foams out, K701 almost approaches the immediacy of high-end Grado's.

Taking both foams out was a bit to much and stark, and I wouldn't recommend it unless your setup is quite dark and distant.

But just taking out the foam with the hole has left me with a nice balance in my own setup; of course, one could take out the foam without the hole if you desire even more treble to come through.

Between this little foam removal "mod" and recabling, K701 is a nice little addition to my stable of K1000 and HE60 :laugh:

P.S. The earpads come off very easily. Just grab the pad looking down on the mesh grill, then twist counter-clockwise about 1 cm until it unlocks and pull out.

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When I had a K701 on extended loan a while back I thought about pulling the foam, but then I recalled what happened when I did the same thing to my Senn 580. To me at least, the treble on the K701 was bright enough as it is and I knew from the 580 that foam removal would make it even brighter. So I didn't bother, besides, they weren't mine.

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And are the K701 pads supposed to be thinner on one side?

Yes they are, the thicker side goes to the back of your head.

I just tries taking out the foam discs (had only one layer in my S/N ~16500 phones). And yes, now there is EVEN MORE treble, making listening a little more fatiguing. Don't know if I will keep it that way yet.. With the rings, I can turn the volume to a little higher level, giving me a fuller sound.

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Yes they are, the thicker side goes to the back of your head.

I just tries taking out the foam discs (had only one layer in my S/N ~16500 phones).

Huh, my K701 serial is 26xx, so I guess it's true AKG changed from 2 layers to 1 layer of foam somewhere before the 16500 serial. Does your foam disc have a hole in the middle or not?

No wonder people keep complaining K701 sounds too bright; it most definitely would be with many setups with only one foam layer inside ;)

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No wonder people keep complaining K701 sounds too bright; it most definitely would be with many setups with only one foam layer inside ;)

This is very interesting. I've definitely read that some K701s were brighter than others. For example, Filburt's seems to be of the warmer type.

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Huh, my K701 serial is 26xx, so I guess it's true AKG changed from 2 layers to 1 layer of foam somewhere before the 16500 serial. Does your foam disc have a hole in the middle or not?

My two layer one had a serial number in the 1xxxs. My foam disc had a hole in the middle.

BTW, the new AKG website is pretty darn sexy. There are some saucy hi-res glamour shots of the K701 too.

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My two layer one had a serial number in the 1xxxs. My foam disc had a hole in the middle.

BTW, the new AKG website is pretty darn sexy. There are some saucy hi-res glamour shots of the K701 too.

I wish they'd put up more hi-res pics of different angles and stuff though. And maybe even the box.

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Huh, my K701 serial is 26xx, so I guess it's true AKG changed from 2 layers to 1 layer of foam somewhere before the 16500 serial. Does your foam disc have a hole in the middle or not?

yes, one layer disc, dark grey shiny foam, with a hole the size of the inner mesh of the driver in it.

There really seem to be differences throughout production. I remember a much fuller bass than my MS1, when I was listening to another guy's K701 before I bought mine. I will ask him about his s/n.

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