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Author Topic: DLR No.1 headphones project  (Read 9011 times)

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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #15 on: October 21, 2010, 05:56:34 AM »
The driver housing were closed with a small piece of the acoustic foam from the front face of the donor Sennheisers left inside to act as a dust catcher for the rear port.
However, the work now turns to the more subtle art of tuning or analysis of sound quality.

It was interesting to observe through initial listening tests that the classic telephone sound of old phones was not entirely due to speaker/balanced armature/carbon diaphram frequency response; The ability of these Sennheiser drivers is considerable but they are completely strangled in this application due to the earpiece design. It's fascinating to think that at the time of manufacture, so little must have been understood about response, that the earpieces reduced even further the ability of the original armatures.

Anticipating this to a degree, I had already drilled out the surrounding three holes to 4.5mm.
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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #16 on: October 21, 2010, 06:07:50 AM »
However, even with the considerably enlarged centre section of the screw on earpieces, the response was still considerably compressed.
The following shots show each earpieces pink noise response on the front of the driver-housings. (Note that the earpiece shown lying next to the DLR driver-housing in each image is NOT the one being tested.)
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #17 on: October 21, 2010, 08:39:13 AM »
And so it was obvious that to achieve even a passing attempt at a neutral reproductive curve that there was going to have to be less earpiece and more driver!

But at what expense to originality- or the perception of it? It would be straight forward to remove the entire centre section of each earpiece which would give total "transparency" to the grille within but that would be innapropriate; producing a very visible butchering. A kind of headphones-hotrod!! After all- if I really wanted the uncompromised sound of Sennheiser £30 headphones- I wouldn't be doing this!- I'd just be wearing them! So a result in context is called for.

Measurement of the donor Sennheiser grilles showed twelve slotted holes for sound within the surface area of the driver underneath. The drivers themselves have a diametre of 35mm. Advanced computer modelling techniques allowed for this pattern to be transposed onto the front face of the earpieces themselves so as to produce a matching set of holes that would align when tightened with the grilles below.
A hole size of 5.5 mm on a diametre of 25mm was chosen.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2010, 08:46:03 AM by andromedanwarmachine »
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #18 on: October 29, 2010, 09:15:37 AM »
well, the jury is in on the playback quality of these things...

Two or three things are apparent. Firstly there is a general bathroom-mid-frequency-early-reflections kind of component to the sound.
The bakelite earpieces themselves were of considerable thickness; more than 7mm (for whatever design purpose I can't imagine) and each hole, which matches to a corresponding gap in the donor headphone grille, is acting like a little reverberant tunnel for the sound to pass down. Bakelite is I suppose halfway to being a ceramic compound and the effect is very much like a micro-bathroom sound with a muddling of the mid-frequency information. Because of the small distances involved between driver surface and ear the reflective influence is slight.
I've got to say; I've never listened so critically to anything before and have been establishing all sorts of shortfalls in material I have been testing with! The sound is not unpleasant and entirely within the expectations of many domestic ear phones but it is apparent that the earpieces are having an effect.
Secondly, these cans are really efficient and have great bottom/low mid response!! I have not even approached 70% of their ability but the DLR driver housings are very sturdy "cabinets" for the donor drivers to fire from. The considerably sized "port" which I added to each rear piece (hidden under the strain-relief) acts as a small sound O/P itself and plays back a much attenuated version of the content within!
And finally, thanks to the dozen 5.5mm holes drilled in each earpiece- they are quite uncomfortable!! The centre-in concave bevel of the earpieces themselves is not enough to remove the drilled surfaces from the ear cartilage and as such parts of my ears touch these drilled surfaces. Although not sharp, these holes have an edge and I expect if worn for long perios my ears whould bare octopus-style marks afterwards!!

Analysis responses and final pictures to follow.

JimP
« Last Edit: October 29, 2010, 09:25:07 AM by andromedawarmachine »
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #19 on: March 03, 2011, 07:26:17 AM »
"bump" as they say...

for the benefit of anyone looking for this from The "Mics in the King's Speech" thread..

and if not- sorry!
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

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Offline yousef

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #20 on: March 11, 2011, 06:06:25 PM »
Absolutely fascinating stuff - sorry I missed this at the time.

Excellent work there - and I'd be interested to know if these mutant cans see much use.
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Offline gkatz

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #21 on: March 12, 2011, 10:06:04 PM »
this is cool stuff, can you post a picture of the whole thing?

Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #22 on: March 15, 2011, 10:45:27 AM »
Wow- well; thanks for asking!

to answer your question yousef; No- they actually don't see much use! Primarily because I'm not an iPod/personal stereo wearer and I don't think the donor Sennheiser drivers (although they are really good) are quite up to the standard of my HD 25's for recording monitoring on location.

I had to consider an alternative headphone cord as the braided twisted 3-core flex which I made for them kind of has a mind of it's own! I added an old lapel-mic clip to the cable to attach it to the collar of whatever I'm wearing to try and keep it under control! The original DLR/S.G. Brown lead was much more flexible- I might try to source another set of the more ubiquitos DLR No.1's from eBay to get the cable to make a combination stereo lead for them which is appropriately sourced!

I went out to try and find a modern braided cable to have an alternative, which turned out to be much smaller and not twisted and found a really cheap pair of nasty cans to take apart; the quality of the cabling and plug; playing a significantly lesser role in overall quality than the drivers themselves...

I then had to make new epoxy glass FR4 mountings for the new gauge of cable.

Thanks gkatz, I will get a shot of the completed article tonight...

JimP
« Last Edit: March 15, 2011, 10:48:47 AM by andromedanwarmachine »
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #23 on: March 17, 2011, 06:36:00 AM »
So, the revised three core lead was too unwielding.

I found a cheap-cheap pair of in-ear headphones that had a great woven-cable which would be perfect.
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #24 on: March 17, 2011, 06:40:17 AM »
relative to what had passed before, it was a small task to get the cable from these cans and make new FR4 mounts to bond them too. Due to the miniature nature of the cable I decided to drill the FR4 pieces a couple of times to thread the cable through them.
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #25 on: March 17, 2011, 06:47:42 AM »
so that worked out fine, but then DISASTER!

As must be the case with many things of antiquity used in a modern context; a part broke. In this case; a folded wire mounting for one of the drive unit housings snapped at the bend. Fortunately I was able to fabricate another.
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

http://soundcloud.com/andromedanwarmachine
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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #26 on: March 17, 2011, 06:55:48 AM »
The final detail concerned the actual comfort of the things on the ears; The bakelite surfaces press with some strength into one's lobes and the drilled holes which were added to the ear-cups to improve speaker>ear coupling have sharp edges. Despite countersinking, these edges become painful overtime and it became obvious that an earpad of somesort would be required.
I came across some adhesive blackfelt which would be perfect and be again an "invisible" modification to the headphones as seen externally. A scalpel removed every individual cut out inline with the holes beneath.

Result!
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

http://soundcloud.com/andromedanwarmachine
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Offline yousef

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #27 on: March 18, 2011, 08:29:52 AM »
Just wow...

As someone who can't even repair a guitar lead without much profanity, burnt fingers and ruined furnishings I am just in awe of what has clearly been a labour of love for you.

Any plans for similar projects?
music>other stuff>ears
my recordings: http://db.etree.org/yousef
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Offline andromedanwarmachine

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Re: DLR No.1 headphones project
« Reply #28 on: March 24, 2011, 03:36:26 AM »
thanks for that yousef!

I now have plans for the next thing that I have to make, but it won't really be a project as such. More of a build.

I need to make a new twin XLR to 3.5mm minjack socket adaptor to match the connector mounting pitch of my new location recorder. I prefer not to use inline leads for this sort of thing and like to encapsulate all the connectors and wiring involved in a single epoxy resin package.

It'll be short, but this thread will appear in Battery Boxes & Pre-amps...

Thanks for your interest!

JimP
Phillips N2233 "full auto shutoff"> Aiwa HSF-150 (x2)> Sony WM-D6C (x2)> Sony TCD-D3> Sony MZ-R3> Marantz PMD-650> Sony MZ-RH1> HHB Portadisc> Macbook 13"& M-box 2 +ProTools 8! and now Nagra LB!

http://soundcloud.com/andromedanwarmachine
http://soundcloud.com/bells-of-scotland
http://soundcloud.com/bells-of-the-world

 

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