The Orthodynamic Thread

[mypasswordis]

Damn, I was confused as hell when I first saw a Float (Colin's) and when I tried putting it on, I felt like an astronaut. Seriously trippy.

[spritzer]

He needs to file his head down a bit.

That's not a bad idea and perhaps shorten the legs a bit too. Finding a car I can drive for more then 5 minutes has proved tricky...

[Duggeh]

[spritzer]

[deepak]

I decided to open up the Yammy HP-1 again and not half ass the mods this time (which always made me revert back to the stock form which I really like). Re: advice on Headfi following this post.

Properly modded (I think) with the material swt61 sent me along with replacing the Yamafoam the Yamas have now really bloomed. The HF response is at least on par with the lower end Stax. Midrange transparency is very good and bass tightened up, but still no where near SR-007 mk1 quality in terms of depth/extension/realism.

The treble sounds damn well extended to my ears (the exact opposite of the horribly dark NAD RP18 ). I wish someone had a pair they could measure at the upcoming CanJam, as I'm pretty sure the treble goes well into the 16-17 Khz region.

edit: big thanks to wualta. Here is the info for any Yama HP/YH-1 owners

Scompton has reduced the idea of the Stage One mod to its essence.

Good idea, not wanting to open/close much. Here we go, step by step:

First, seal the driver to its baffle with silicone or blu-tack.

Then, get the cheapest acrylic craft felt you can find, cut it to a circle 55mm in diameter, smack it on the back of the driver, call it good (no reflex disc, no dot, just the felt).

Leave your wool lining on the back wall of the cup.

Make sure the black felt factory vent-damping strips are in place as you reassemble the cup and baffle, and screw it all back together.

Maybe run a tiny bead of silicone around the tiny gap between the baffle and the cup. Done.

You'll have a '1' with tamed bass/mid resonance, max backwave prevention, and no treble enhancements. From what I've read about the O2, "bright" is not a word used to describe them. So this suggestion leaves the Ortho Treble Droop uncorrected.

If you don't plan on doing a lot of tuning and testing and farting around, go ahead and glue the felt onto the back of the driver: spread a thin layer of something sticky on the back magnet face, stick the felt disc on, done. If there's any chance you'll second-guess the mod, don't glue but do replace the yellow/orange Yamafoam disc with some stiff opencell foam. Aquarium filter foam would be ideal if you can cut it easily enough, but there are other choices.

Now-- do you already have this HP-1? Have you listened to it with the amp it'll be paired with? What do you think of the sound? What, if anything, needs improvement?

If you feel that only a small tweak will make them just right, do the mod Ludo outlined. Otherwise, go for Stage One.

Edited February 9, 2009 by deepak

[dBel84]

This is what I have found has good success ( it differs slightly from previous damping schemes in that the driver is not heavily damped directly )

1. remove stock vent damping

2. layer of dense thin felt covering the entire bottom and up the sides

3. a ring of thick dense felt - you could use the stock vent damping but it falls apart so I cut a ring of "smeggy" felt about 5mm wide.

4. foam disc inserted into space

5. felt puck about 1/3 the size of the driver placed centrally - vary the thickness / density of this

6. reflex dot if it needs it.

This gives them a very live feel without killing them and making them pretend stats ;-)

..dB

[deepak]

This is what I have found has good success ( it differs slightly from previous damping schemes in that the driver is not heavily damped directly )

1. remove stock vent damping

2. layer of dense thin felt covering the entire bottom and up the sides

3. a ring of thick dense felt - you could use the stock vent damping but it falls apart so I cut a ring of "smeggy" felt about 5mm wide.

4. foam disc inserted into space

5. felt puck about 1/3 the size of the driver placed centrally - vary the thickness / density of this

6. reflex dot if it needs it.

This gives them a very live feel without killing them and making them pretend stats ;-)

..dB

The reflex dot brings the treble more forward though? This is why I've never bothered with it.

In stock form other than the "treble sag" they're still quite balanced (ie not cutting off everything above 5 khz ), just lacking in estat like transients.

I guess in my iteration the treble is well balanced with the rest of the spectrum... but I'm using the SR-007 mk1 as my only comparison/reference.

I still crave slightly more bass (god damn I probably sound like a raving SR-007 fanboy), but I think the Yama is at its limit, unless there are some sekrat bass mods I don't know about.

[dBel84]

I found that this mod actually pushes up the bass response - hence not heavily damping it against the driver - let it "flap a little" = not really but you get the idea ..dB

[Kabeer]

I still crave slightly more bass (god damn I probably sound like a raving SR-007 fanboy), but I think the Yama is at its limit, unless there are some sekrat bass mods I don't know about.

Although you could still fiddle with tuning. The Hp/YH-1 arent known for being the bassiest Yamaha's. They supposedly go v.deep, but not with big volume down there.

Have you heard a YH-100?

[deepak]

Have you heard a YH-100?

I haven't. Faust3d has suggested the same to me.

[ludoo]

Although you could still fiddle with tuning. The Hp/YH-1 arent known for being the bassiest Yamaha's. They supposedly go v.deep, but not with big volume down there.

Have you heard a YH-100?

My YH-1 don't go that low, but then neither did my YH-100.

BTW, will mods kill me/make me listen to ibuds if I posted something in the FS forum?

Edit: and BTW2, why is it that I almost never get alert emails from HC? and also, as soon as it stops raining (rain is the enemy for us cyclists) I will go and get the group buy felt. Hope all of you are still interested or I'll have to make me a nice expensive coat with small v. expensive squares of cashmere.

[Smeggy]

I get the same trouble receiving notice mails from H-F for some reason

I think you'll be fine in the sale forums Ludo. You didn't join just to sell stuff, you're one of the good guys and I'll happily vouch for you

[Dusty Chalk]

One shouldn't be judged (or not judged) over here purely based on one's presence over there.

Oh, and you two -- it's probably your service providers spam filters. Either that or you have notifications turned off -- look in user CP.

[Smeggy]

Nah, my CP is all set properly. Notifications from H-F come sporadically at best. Oddly, PMs always get notified, regular threads are very hit and miss. In fact, not a single one today despite the fact I know there are plenty of replies in threads over there.

Who knows... itth a mythtery as Sinead would thay.

[ludoo]

Same here, CP is set to forward notifications, and zero messages in the Spam folders.

BTW if you need a skilled Linux/Unix sysadmin just ask.

Edit: checked my CP, and I had PM notifications turned off; weird, but I guess it's my fault I did not get any...

[deepak]

BTW, will mods kill me/make me listen to ibuds if I posted something in the FS forum?

No you won't. You came here and participated in discussions so there is nothing wrong with using the FS forum now.

[ludoo]

No you won't. You came here and participated in discussions so there is nothing wrong with using the FS forum now.

Thanks, and sorry for the OT.

[mypasswordis]

I played around with my AT-702 SFI 120 ohm transplants some more, removing the mesh and fibrous paper that were in front of the drivers. I did it by accident when I tried removing the weatherstrip and they came with it.

I then had to make up for the increased treble by plugging up the center holes with electrical tape and half-covering all of the outer holes with weatherstrip. I still need to get to work on some decent sealing pads.

[Salt Peanuts]

Has anyone tried T50RP with different ear pads? I've been enjoying my modded pair, but one thing that bothers me a bit is that ear pad openings are not quite big enough to completely go around my ears. I know Smeggy has SR-007 pads on his pair, but I'm looking for something that doesn't cost more than the actual cans (and doesn't require modding the housing shape).

[Smeggy]

One thing you can try is K240 or Stax SR-5 pads, either should fit fairly well and you can slip a 5mm thick strip of something under the pad behind your ear for better clearance.

[Dusty Chalk]

site:homepage2.nifty.com fostex t40rp - Google Image Search

[cetoole]

Dusty, that is the old T40, not the new RP. Where did you get it?

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh, that's not mine, that's just someone in Japan, I think.

[Torpedo]

Well, my first post as an official ortho club member

I got the T30s from Faust3D and while I could appreciate many good qualities in them, they weren't sounding really astonishing or like a wonderful dynamic-electrostatic hybrid as I was expecting. At that moment I was using the Gilmore Reference. There was punchy, fast and quite clear bass, but excessive. There was organic midrange, with good timbre, and also fast clear treble, but recessed, not extended and kind of too fast decaying. I could anticipate there was speed and resolution somewhere, but overall they behaved like warm non fatiguing cans, though quite upfront and with no stage depth to speak of.

At that point I started to do some trials with other pads and putting the CD3000's over them improved comfort -one of the weakest points of these cans- and made the presentation more airy, with deeper stage. The most noticeable and favorable effect was getting more treble and making the presentation more balanced. However using the CD3000's pads over them was quite impractical since there's no way to keep them in place unless I glued them.

Then the Beta 22 arrived. Looks like a lot of power had the bass improved, being cleaner, clearer, faster, though still excessive. So I decided to work on the stock pads to see if I could get some of the benefits I noticed when using the CD3000's ones. I placed foam rings beneath the pads and the driver, and glued bovine leather rings over those 70's vinyl pads, so the contact on the ears skin is way more agreeable and managed to get the drivers slightly further from them. Nice improvement but not quite the same as using the thicker bigger pads. I suppose I'd need to find adequate pads to get where I'd like to be, but it's not an easy task. Fortunately I've spotted a shop where they have the 9cm of diameter ones which could fit. I would get them along this week.

This afternoon we went to a shop where the only deal with felt of all imaginable thicknesses, densities, colors... I got pieces of medium density in different thickness, and also high density one, but they had just 3 or 8mm thick, so just got the 3mm one.

As for now I've replaced the old stock fiber damping piece with 6mm medium density felt. Finally I've got the bass at a more sensible level, still a bit excessive, but not obscuring the midrange and allowing the treble to show off a little more. Since I don't completely trust my own ears when trying tweaks and "improvements" I've asked my wife to listen to the cans. She just had listened them when I made the pads more comfy and thicker, and she didn't like them, too much bass and too dark sound for her taste. When listening after placing the felt, her face looked more like this then like this Looks like we're going in the right direction.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the T30 enclosure. Its shape allows little space for damping, unless you want to compress the wire. I'm considering to change the single 6mm medium density disc for two 3mm discs, one of medium density felt and the other of high density. I'd be thankful if any of you could suggest what would be better to get a bit less bass and helping the treble to "develop" so the whole thing is more balanced. Would you use the higher density felt closer to the driver or would you use the mid density one in that place? Would you use some reflecting material (like aluminum foil) between them? I know I can try it myself and then reporting, but these cans are 30 years old and I don't think the old plastic frame will stand many unscrewing-screwing cycles on the two points the driver is hold to it, so I'd rather try first the things that should work better to get the results I'd like.

Advanced thanks for your hints

[deepak]

Welcome aboard orto-head

I received my T50RP (with new style pads ), time to start modding them.