Smeggy Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 Thanks for the pics/guide, guys, I'll definitely give it a try.OTOH, my T40RP's distinctly say, "Mk II" right on the box, so maybe not. I wouldn't get too concerned at the moment. Fostex has one of the most confusing naming conventions of all time. It's almost impossible to tell what you have from either the box or the model number.
mypasswordis Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 The current generation Fostexen are known as the T50RP, the T40RPMkII, and the T20RPMkII. wualta also posted a link about the Japanese adding an 'n' to the end of the models, possibly to denote the new pads.
faust3d Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 Thanks for the pics/guide, guys, I'll definitely give it a try.OTOH, my T40RP's distinctly say, "Mk II" right on the box, so maybe not. Cool. You have a T40 with new type driver, should be the same as new T50 driver. Take some pics of the insides for us, puhleazeee.
mypasswordis Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 My sentiments, exactly. If it turns out to be better than the T40v1 I'll finally have found enough perfection to stop looking. I can't wait.
Smeggy Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 I want to know what the differences are because the driver specs are different in power handling and some other minor stuff. It'd be great to get a closeup of the circuit board to see if anything there can be differentiated.
Dusty Chalk Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 (le sigh) Not sure I have any cameras with a decent macro...(which I only just learned about this weekend is a requirement to take the kinds of pictures you-all're looking for)...
Smeggy Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 I'm sure whatever you can manage will be fine, as long as you get a decent lens and get those closeups we want Remember Dusty, we're all counting on you..... and I know you wouldn't dream of letting the side down [/guilt-trip] hehe
Kabeer Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 Cool. You have a T40 with new type driver, should be the same as new T50 driver. Take some pics of the insides for us, puhleazeee. Nope, The T50rp driver has higher input current peak, and a larger quoted freq. response than the T20 and T40MKII's according to Fostex's website. Unless of course they have changed that without updating the site... "http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/music_products/rp_series.shtml" On some borchures it quotes only the T50rp as having the Copper traces, where as this site doesnt specifically say its the T50 only, its more vague. Either way all three have different drivers according to the specs.
faust3d Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 Yet the replacement parts on Fostex webpage are the same for all 3, it's a muddy issue that was mulled over in the other ortho thread before. Dusty will bring clarity to it, I hope
Dusty Chalk Posted January 15, 2009 Report Posted January 15, 2009 You guys... I do have access to a camera with a decent macro, but I don't know how soon I will be able to have access to it, so, again, I'll see what I can do. I've never taken a headphone apart before. I'm scared. Hold me.
TomB Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 I listened to a pair of T50rp yesterday, and they really are quite good. Good enough that I ordered a pair when I got home. They had a reflex dot, felt against the vents I think, and a little bit of chassis damping, and were quite bassy, and it went nice and low. I was suspecting that thin craft felt would be about what I want in the way of damping, though we didnt really mess around with it at all. Maybe more. I will see when they arrive.Well, I can confirm that the T50rp at B&H Photo is the NEW one with the smooth pads. We agreed it was one of the higher priced deals with shipping - about $81, but I've ordered from them on and off for 30 years - I guess I felt they might be reliable after that length of time. Unfortunately, I'm not impressed so far - they don't hold a candle to the modded Yama YH-3's you let me borrow, except for more bass. The T50rp's are definitely more efficient than the other Ortho's I've tried, but seems like mine are rolled off in the highs compared to the fluid transperency of the Yamaha's. Maybe more burn-in?
cetoole Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 Or maybe it was the ~5mm of thick wool and cashmere felt I have damping that driver. We never said orthos were anything extra special stock (except the T50v1). I can also confirm that the T50rp from American Musical Supply is the new version.
mypasswordis Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 No, just like the YH-3's, they require a fair bit of modding to sound their best. I agree that stock they sound pretty bad, muddy, rolled off, uncontrolled, bad, not good, etc. Most orthos sound pretty bad stock, actually, from my experience, an exception being the YH-1. Look through some of Faust's earlier posts in this thread for one possible way of modding the T50RPv2. I chose to do it another way, but it pretty much accomplishes the same thing. The headphone chassis is desperately in need of damping and the backwave is desperately in need of controlling/diminishing. I personally prefer a brighter sound, so I'm going to damp the backs of the drivers even harder than I am now, and I already have one layer of superfelt put on. Edit: What cetoole said.
cetoole Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 Justin, my HP-1 wasnt stock. It didnt sound too special stock, at least IMO.
Smeggy Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 Well, I can confirm that the T50rp at B&H Photo is the NEW one with the smooth pads. We agreed it was one of the higher priced deals with shipping - about $81, but I've ordered from them on and off for 30 years - I guess I felt they might be reliable after that length of time. Unfortunately, I'm not impressed so far - they don't hold a candle to the modded Yama YH-3's you let me borrow, except for more bass. The T50rp's are definitely more efficient than the other Ortho's I've tried, but seems like mine are rolled off in the highs compared to the fluid transperency of the Yamaha's. Maybe more burn-in? New, mine sounded nice, nothing spectacular by any means. After a few days of heavy blasting to loosen them up and fixing that crappy housing they are stupendous. Very smooth, deep and sparkling highs. I still don't have and never heard a Yammy HP/YH3 so I'll reserve judgment on those until I get the chance of a pair. It's now the only Yammy I still want. The 1000 would probably be good too but they'll never be available at a sane price.
Dusty Chalk Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 What is this superfelt? Is this some sort of extra special acoustic felt, or is it just a certain type of felt that I can pick up at the local G Street Fabrics?
mypasswordis Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 It's the designation us early ortho adopters call felt with a certain percentage of wool in it. I forget what the percentage was, maybe around 30%? We call the completely synthetic stuff craft felt, the felt with no wool. I'm not sure what we call 100% wool felt. Then there's the special stuff ludoo has to offer, like cashmere felt and whatnot.
wualta Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 Now don't go all woolly on us. Uberfelt or superfelt simply meant a denser felt with higher acoustic resistance. As our resident fabrics expert would say, density is not a function of the donating animal, so whether that animal was a sheep or an acryl doesn't matter. Now-- can you obtain higher absolute values of acoustic R with wool? Do wool fibers tangle better in the traditional felting processes? I dunno. As for the T50RPv2, its stock listenabilty is a relative thing. I'll guarantee you, though, that you'd all find it a big improvement over the v1 version.
mypasswordis Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 Ah, I thought we had tried to standardize our felts nomenclature awhile back so that we could have repeatable results, but it seems that that's been undone. I think wool obtained from natural sources does have more ability to soak in backwave rather than reflect it due to its more rough nature.
mypasswordis Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 It's gotta be magic! It's gotta be! Colin, I wish you could come over again and hear the T40 again to make sure I'm not going nuts. That's probably not enough reason to, but once I get some decent pads, and make something I'm willing to bet is going to be very very nice with the Alpha Pro drivers, you gotta come over. I'll probably have fixed up and modded the ESP10 by then also. I'll let you know when I finish, which shouldn't be until mid to late March. But damn.
ludoo Posted January 16, 2009 Report Posted January 16, 2009 Unfortunately, I'm not impressed so far - they don't hold a candle to the modded Yama YH-3's you let me borrow <censored>. Yay! HP/YH-3 FTW!
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