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Post by Rabbit on Mar 13, 2013 12:11:03 GMT
I agree Mick. It's a really worthwhile DIY project and you end up with a very nice headphone for that money.
I'm really chuffed with mine and use it at the moment exclusively.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2013 12:54:12 GMT
I agree Mick. It's a really worthwhile DIY project and you end up with a very nice headphone for that money. I'm really chuffed with mine and use it at the moment exclusively. Certainly are great value for money Ian, even in standard form plus 940 ear pads, i find them quiet addictive. I have only added modeling clay to the cups so far, which seems to add a little more clarity to the music. The standard cable, i have no problems with, so that`s staying, at least for now. The filter should add the final touch for me, which hopefully, won`t be too long in coming. Mick.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 13, 2013 20:15:42 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2013 20:37:22 GMT
All well and good!! but what do they sound like my friend. Bl""dy hell, get a life. Mick.
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Mar 13, 2013 21:39:26 GMT
Just ruined my pair... got some Mogami Neglex starquad dual entry...(too f...ing stiff)... i soldered directly on the circuit...and as i tried to put the drivers carefully in, i heard a slight "snap"... that was it the flimsy printed celophane board ripped off... Tried to remedy... negative... Fostex T50rp... RIP... Shame it was one of my best headphones ever... i shall not go into them again though... too pissed off at the moment... so is DIY... PLease be carefull when pulling on the wires... the printed circuirt is very flimsy... Thats that then... (If someone has a ruined pair, and i change my mind and still want to give them another go... i might consider buying it from him... )
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 13, 2013 22:27:05 GMT
Just ruined my pair... got some Mogami Neglex starquad dual entry...(too f...ing stiff)... i soldered directly on the circuit...and as i tried to put the drivers carefully in, i heard a slight "snap"... that was it the flimsy printed celophane board ripped off... Tried to remedy... negative... Fostex T50rp... RIP... Shame it was one of my best headphones ever... i shall not go into them again though... too pissed off at the moment... so is DIY... PLease be carefull when pulling on the wires... the printed circuirt is very flimsy... Thats that then... (If someone has a ruined pair, and i change my mind and still want to give them another go... i might consider buying it from him... ) Bummer Chris Don't despair mate, things will look better in the light of day..... I can empathise with the way you are feeling..... A clear head in the morning will find a fix, don't worry All the best, Mike.
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Mar 14, 2013 7:11:56 GMT
Thanks Mike... i am feeling already better drinking my coffee and preparing to go to work...
Luckily i have a few pairs of good headphones, (i am an addict...)... so i will miss them a lot, but it is not the end of the world...
I am in my blood a hiend guy though... (although i cant afford anything any more it seems... due to this worldwide conspiracy to ruin the middle class...) and i am still dreaming of the Audeze's LCD2... who knows...
To all, please be very careful of this printed circuit... it is a cellophane type... i thought it was a normal board, and that is how the accident happened... had i known (or observed more carefully) i would have avoided this...
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Crispy
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Post by Crispy on Mar 14, 2013 10:04:47 GMT
Just ruined my pair... got some Mogami Neglex starquad dual entry...(too f...ing stiff)... i soldered directly on the circuit...and as i tried to put the drivers carefully in, i heard a slight "snap"... that was it the flimsy printed celophane board ripped off... Tried to remedy... negative... Fostex T50rp... RIP... Shame it was one of my best headphones ever... i shall not go into them again though... too pissed off at the moment... so is DIY... PLease be carefull when pulling on the wires... the printed circuirt is very flimsy... Thats that then... (If someone has a ruined pair, and i change my mind and still want to give them another go... i might consider buying it from him... ) Bummer Chris Don't despair mate, things will look better in the light of day..... I can empathise with the way you are feeling..... A clear head in the morning will find a fix, don't worry All the best, Mike. Chris, give it day or two then have another look, I thought I had totally ruined my dads Leak headphones but after a couple of days and a good think I came back to them and mended them no problem. rockgrotto.proboards.com/thread/7223/first-proper-headphones?page=3The repair was not pretty but they still work fine. Chris
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Post by pagan on Mar 14, 2013 12:16:49 GMT
Bummer Chris Don't despair mate, things will look better in the light of day..... I can empathise with the way you are feeling..... A clear head in the morning will find a fix, don't worry All the best, Mike. Chris, give it day or two then have another look, I thought I had totally ruined my dads Leak headphones but after a couple of days and a good think I came back to them and mended them no problem. rockgrotto.proboards.com/thread/7223/first-proper-headphones?page=3The repair was not pretty but they still work fine. Chris Chris post a pic of what you damaged. Tracks can be re-soldered, unless it was on the actual diaphragm,, But the leads go onto a fixed part of the "flimsey cellophane pcb" and the cellophane can be glued with supa-glue. There may be other ways,,,,,, may not be pretty,,, but it may work. Whats to loose?
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Mar 14, 2013 13:41:28 GMT
Thanks for the support my friends... i am at work still, when i get home i will post a picture...
The problem is that in my frustration i made the damage worse, by trying to scrape the track and resolder...i ended up burning the thicker part of the track, the rest are miniature ones i think going to the individula hair threads on the membrane... i doubt there is any chance of repair...
But maybe one of you can give me asolution!!
Thanks again!!
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Post by Imagemaker18 on Mar 15, 2013 4:53:15 GMT
Thanks for the support my friends... i am at work still, when i get home i will post a picture... The problem is that in my frustration i made the damage worse, by trying to scrape the track and resolder...i ended up burning the thicker part of the track, the rest are miniature ones i think going to the individula hair threads on the membrane... i doubt there is any chance of repair... But maybe one of you can give me asolution!! Thanks again!! Chris, I empathize with you about this, and it happened to me once a couple of years ago, but, if I were you, I would not give up! I know it can be very frustrating. There is a way to fix this, however! You most probably need to replace the damaged driver. Allow me to suggest the following: If you contact Fostex International ( fostex.com ), they may be able to direct you to a parts supplier, who can sell you a new driver. If you haven't so done already, one way to prevent strain on the connections to the printed circuit cellophane is to allow some slack to the cable inside the cup, and glue the wire to the cup wall with hot glue before it exits the cup. I myself always use a piece of nylon strap, wrapped tight around the cable before it exits the cup. Sometimes, I even use both a strap and hot glue for a more secure setup. Here are a couple of photos, showing the cable on one of my modded phone pairs (the T40RP): Good Luck! Israel
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Mar 15, 2013 8:59:25 GMT
Thank you Israel, it is exactly what i have done except i didn't give enough slack to the cable together with the extra stiffness of the mogami... I couldn't post picture because i had a few friends over last night after work, and it ended up as usual... drinking the whole house dry, listening to music, and discussing life... The one friend took the driver to try to see if he can uncover one of those minute tracks to try to precision solder on it. If this is not possible i will see my other options... i see that the driver is on back order at Fostex USA and costs 69 USD... i might want to get another pair and have a spare driver, and everything from the phone than to go just for a driver... Also there is a debate as to if all the Fostex phones have the same drivers... it seems to me improbable... but some claim based on the looks and weight which is identical... the specs though seem different as given by Fostex... does anyone have any thoughts on that... Naturally if the drivers are identical, i need only buy a pair of 20's or 40's and scavange their parts which are identical except the cup... What do you think?
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 15, 2013 9:04:17 GMT
Chris, the drivers seem to be the same. There is an old version as well but all new ones are the same. The difference on the T40 seems to be how well matched the drivers are. A new T50 is better in this respect.
It's only by measuring what they are doing that you would notice the differences between drivers so when Frans modded mine, he did each cup separately and watched the measurements on his rig. It was then that he noticed matching anomalies on the T40 and compensated for them.
TBH, it might be better to buy a new headphone.
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Mar 15, 2013 9:11:10 GMT
Thank you Ian, i am considering a new phone, because the price of one driver is absurd compared to the price of the entire headphone... the million dollar question is should i buy a 20 40 or 50 model, considering their pricing, and how big would be the difference in these matching anomalies... (what is a matching anomaly?), you mean that all headphones are matched individually or the batches of drivers are placed in two large categories (good / not as good) before putting them on the phones?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2013 10:12:47 GMT
Hi Chris,
That price doesn`t seem to bad (equates to £45.5)+postage if you relate it to the total cost of a pr of these HP`s purchased in the UK.
Of course if you managed to purchase your pr at anything like the USA price then yes.... its an expensive replacement.
Personally i think i would go for a new pr, and keep what you have (presumably one decent driver) plus the main body for spares.
Unfortunately, when we start "messing" with the internals, there is always the risk of fatal damage.
Sorry to hear of your plight, but i certainly think the SQ these HP`s produce, is worthy of the total cost of two prs.
Mick.
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 15, 2013 11:10:02 GMT
Thank you Ian, i am considering a new phone, because the price of one driver is absurd compared to the price of the entire headphone... the million dollar question is should i buy a 20 40 or 50 model, considering their pricing, and how big would be the difference in these matching anomalies... (what is a matching anomaly?), you mean that all headphones are matched individually or the batches of drivers are placed in two large categories (good / not as good) before putting them on the phones? Sorry Chris .... what I'm trying to say is that quality control is better on the T50 perhaps than the T40 so the drivers match a little better. More easily seen by taking measurements than hearing. If you're going to mod them, the T40 is fine imo. If just the pads and no internals, the T50 is pretty good imo, although it still needs the treble to be extended. They both mod to the same kind of thing though so a T40 would be good. It's just that the drivers aren't so closely matched, I think. (That's what Frans found anyway)
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chris1967
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Post by chris1967 on Mar 16, 2013 17:46:28 GMT
Well... my friend did it!! he managed to scrape a little off the celophane and managed to precision solder some transformer wire on the very small track... Uploaded with ImageShack.usI took it up from there and solder the same on the other side... Also added some extra damping on the ear side of the baffle Uploaded with ImageShack.usSoldered the nasty Mogami on the copper wire Uploaded with ImageShack.usAnd voila... dual entry modded Fostex singing again... Uploaded with ImageShack.us That was a drama with happy ending... never opening these phones again, i tell you...
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 16, 2013 18:48:51 GMT
Wow!!!! Well done Chris. You've got them back again. I bet that was fiddly. My right hand is too clumsy to even do normal soldering, let alone what's going on there. Also my eyesight is slowly getting worse and I can't see tiny things as well as I used to be able to. I really struggle with it actually, because I used to put a lot of things together when I was younger and following a very nasty electric shock from the mains, I lost my nerve touching anything that had a plug on it.
I literally flew through the air.
Tiny jobs like that become guesswork for me nowadays!!! ie - stick the soldering iron in and hope it hit the right spot.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 16, 2013 19:43:25 GMT
Got myself some genuine plasticine baby Pure class A "uncut" plasticine..... it doesn't come cheap tho'..... £1.75 for a packet...... SHIPPED! Enough fekkin' plasticine in the packet to "mod" 100 pairs of these things..... I may use the leftovers to make one of these: Anyhoo..... sourced my plasticine here: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-CHILDRENS-KIDS-New-Plasticine-8-Assorted-Coloured-Strips-Pack-/200905853665?pt=UK_Crafts_Children_s_Crafts_EH&hash=item2ec6ec0ae1Sure does look perty! The different colours will also improve sound quality: I'm going to have a good listen to the plasticine damped T50RP and then experiment with a few other materials..... got my fresh sheep's wool washed and dried, they are local "award winning" sheep so anybody who wants the best quality sheep's wool just let me know..... I'll give you a bit FOC.....
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Crispy
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Post by Crispy on Mar 16, 2013 19:46:47 GMT
That was a drama with happy ending... never opening these phones again, i tell you... Well done Chris I told you all was not lost, sometimes you just have to step back from it, have a really good think and usually some solution will come along. You now need to get some serious listening done with these phones I would be interested to know what you think to the isolation of these modded phones. Happy listening Chris
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 16, 2013 19:51:32 GMT
Chris, the isolation is very good actually. I sit in the front room with the TV on and a noisy 7 year old squawking away and I'm ok with them!!
Mike, nothing but the best eh? It's enough to make you turn the headphones inside out just to show off those lovely colours!! Real sheep's wool is apparently the best stuff to use!! Just be careful you don't get a kick in the nuts gathering all that headphone wadding!!
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 16, 2013 20:06:10 GMT
I'm going to treat the cups with a thick coat of bitumen (body schutz) and fill any void in the enclosure with sheep's wool..... I won't be "felting" the drivers but will be using a rubber honeycomb instead.... you know the small rubber stick on feet you get? Well, when you pop them off the backing you are left with a piece of self adhesive rubber which has holes in it, perfect for this I think! I'll show you what I mean when I get round to it. I've had the plasticine running for about 1 hour now and already can say it has made a BIG improvement..... maybe it's the placement of the different "colours" or the fact the plasticine has added damping (more likely) but I can already sense better bass response and more informative mids. It will now be VERY easy to over egg the pudding so every mod I make, from here on in, will be a tiny one.... I am not going to slap things in holus bolus, from here on in it's all about tiny steps..... I don't agree with the felt over the driver mod BUT will try it.... what I am trying to achieve is to tune the enclosure to give "filter" like performance WITHOUT the filter..... the plasticine "alone" has made a very big improvement, it's now a case of much experimentation and a lot of listening. Phase one complete
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 16, 2013 20:16:01 GMT
I'm going to treat the cups with a thick coat of bitumen (body schutz) and fill any void in the enclosure with sheep's wool..... I won't be "felting" the drivers but will be using a rubber honeycomb instead.... you know the small rubber stick on feet you get? Well, when you pop them off the backing you are left with a piece of self adhesive rubber which has holes in it, perfect for this I think! I'll show you what I mean when I get round to it. I've had the plasticine running for about 1 hour now and already can say it has made a BIG improvement..... maybe it's the placement of the different "colours" or the fact the plasticine has added damping (more likely) but I can already sense better bass response and more informative mids. It will now be VERY easy to over egg the pudding so every mod I make, from here on in, will be a tiny one.... I am not going to slap things in holus bolus, from here on in it's all about tiny steps..... I don't agree with the felt over the driver mod BUT will try it.... what I am trying to achieve is to tune the enclosure to give "filter" like performance WITHOUT the filter..... the plasticine "alone" has made a very big improvement, it's now a case of much experimentation and a lot of listening. Phase one complete Great. The loading of the baffle just makes it a more solid platform I guess Mike. So if anything, it should bring a little more clarity and also give clearer imaging. You are right, it's very tempting to do too much and you think' you've improved them just because they're different. The LFF mods are his own secret which he won't let out. I did try when I spoke to him but he manages to get them very flat without any filtering. I'm not certain how high up they go, but the drivers do work up there. I have no idea why Fostex let them tail off as much except that they are intended as monitor headphones rather than hi fi ones, so they must have been more concerned with making sure the mids were right. You probably know already, but the screw threads can be a bit fragile in the cups with continual doing up and undoing.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 16, 2013 20:16:05 GMT
Mike, nothing but the best eh? You can't beat 100% "pure" Plasticine I'm a great believer that the "inside" should be to the same standard of build as the outside..... if you're going to show off your internal plasticine then the least you can do is make it look good! That's why I am going to employ it in the T50RP Ian. Will (the farmer who lives near me) has won best in show for the past 10 years running..... these are top quality sheep so it seems STUPID not to use their wool, which is freely available from the fences. I'm ok when I'm gathering the wool..... it's when I unzip my flies they start to get a bit uneasy ;-)
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 16, 2013 20:22:15 GMT
I am confident I can tune these to "better" than "with filter" and I'll publish my results as soon as Mike.
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