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Posted

The fart, even though caused by a practically hermetic seal around the ears, manifests in the driver.  But I wouldn't call it scratchy -- it really does sound like a fart -- so is it farty or scratchy?  How to determine if it's the fart -- stick a straw or a finger or somehow else make sure there is a breathing hole between ear and outside world, then move head around.  (In other words, somehow break the seal.)  if it stops, then it's the fart.

Posted

Spritzer, what do you mean by massive stupidity with replacement parts?  Parts installed incorrectly, wrong parts?

 

Parts on backwards, pads screwed in place, pads backward and the spring missing. 

Posted

Parts on backwards, pads screwed in place, pads backward and the spring missing. 

I had removed my pads to check.  Everything was properly in place including the springs.  I had hard time sliding the pads back in place but eventually succeeded.  Not looking forward to replacing the pads later but luckily they look and feel like new.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I have the King Sound KS-H2 sitting on my head now.  They were offering to replace the H1's free of charge so why not... 

 

The difference in build quality is quite staggering and the suspended arc is very nice indeed.  The simple metal band can be bent so I can increase the very weak clamping force.  The capsules are still as cheap as ever but the earpad mounting and the driver assembly is very different from the H1.  Earpads are the same though which leads me to my next point... 

 

These sure do sound horrid.  Shades of the Stax OEM sets (Magnavox, Realistic, Marantz etc.) are abound here as they give just a slight hint at what makes electrostatics great but it's in the guise of a light as a feather ethereal sound.  No deep bass to speak of and this is off a KGST which has plenty of power on tap.  Top is rolled off and the midrange has a slight honky nature to it while being closed in.  There is no soundstage to speak of and what is there is very diffused. 

 

The first thing to go has to be the earpads and I saw some big "what the fuck were they thinking" in the drivers that will have to be looked at. 

Posted

They gave me my free H2 maybe 6 or 7 months ago and it's just sat in the trunk of my car since then.  I heard the H3 a couple weeks ago and it sounds better than the H1, but still not that good compared to Stax.  They're working on the H4 right now supposedly.

Posted

Keeping them in the trunk seems to be a good plan as two hours in my right speaker started to buzz very loudly.  :palm:  I seriously can't think of people listening to this and thinkging "this is good!!", it's just too bland with no presence at all. 

 

Next up is putting some 007 pads on them. 

Posted

Hehe...  :)

 

I went to town on the H2 headband when I came home from work this morning and now they are getting better.  I added the 007 classic bend right at the ends of the arc so that it forces the bottom of the pads to make better contact.  I also made arc better suit my melon head so now the fit is nice and snug.  Cleared up the bass thud but they still sound just a tad too thin for my tastes.  I'll see if I can't twist the arc a bit and angle the drivers better. 

 

Ohh and now the left channel is buzzing...  For fucks sake, how hard is it to make clean drivers?  Ohh right, it isn't if you give the slightest bit of fuck...  :palm:

Posted

I broke down and ripped the KS-H2 apart after the right side buzzing got very loud and violent (the cup vibrated due to the osculations). 

 

WOaVw3Ph.jpg

 

We start off well as this is the back of the baffle.  Some lessons learned here as this neoprene foam makes a nice seal when compressed. 

 

XYLhYdNh.jpg

 

The cable termination is very neat and tidy but here is the first major WTF moment.  It's a bit hard to see in that pic but the driver is placed backwards in a bit of a tunnel.  Not a good idea with tranducers which radiate in a figure 8 pattern.  Stax got away with in the 007 as the opening on the stators are much smaller than the size of the diaphragm.  Hence the dispersion pattern never hits a wall. 

 

ZBPrr2Bh.jpg

 

Here we have he cup and the back of the driver.  First off, thanks King Sound for being fucktards.  The drivers are glued shut so not only are they noisier than a 30 year old Stax set but I can't fucking fix it without having a good chance of fucking up the drivers.   Second bit, notice that the drivers are larger than the opening on the back of the cups.  Another brilliant bit of engineering which that neoprene ring will not fix. 

  • Like 1
Posted

Actually, isn't the cup with a smaller diameter hole a helmholtz resonator to achieve eq target? The inner neoprene ring would be for setting the Q factor of the resonance (I assume it's tuned at 3-4kHz). The outer neoprene seals the edge of the driver against the cup, doesn't it?

Arnaud

Posted

I talked to a guy over here who is partners with the main distributor of these on the west coast since he asks me what I think of the new revisions at the local meets.  I'm usually kinda quiet and just say "it sounds pretty good" but this time I told him I think they'll see a lot of improvement if they completely change that back grill to something way more open (and larger).  He said he'll let them know so we'll see. 

 

Next time I see him I'll ask him if he can hook me up with a bunch of those cables for a GB.  They're pretty nice.

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