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Being that Peerless/Tymphany has a 50mm headphone unit that piqued my interest:
https://www.parts-express.com/peerle...ragm--264-1510
I set out for a plan to implement them. The central cone is hard paper, not the usual mylar, so it should be relatively stiff. In theory the losses will be less pistonically. The VC is a 1", and the unit is well vented.
I found these two 50mm frame choices that are very low cost just to give these a try:
https://www.parts-express.com/pyle-p...ones--248-4414
https://www.parts-express.com/tascam...black--246-301
The Tascam were OOS, and the Pyles were cheaper, so I ultimately ordered the Pyle frames. Being that I have genuine (yes, there are fakes/copies such as these and others) Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones, I'm familiar with the frame style, and the fit and comfort level. These Pyles are not quite as strong or durable, but still fit me rather nicely.
To those that think I gutted them from the get-go, I didn't, and actually listened to them as they were first. I was pleasantly surprised at the price point. The bass sounds a bit high-Q, but solid, and the mids are present without being forward. The treble can be a bit sibilant though. Still- for $25 I don't think I've heard better. That said- I highly recommend removing the Pyle logos on the cups (they're ugly anyway), and sealing the hole in what was the left one on my pair. This improves the left to right balance in terms of both focus and isolation. I placed tape across the hole on the outside, and that partially fixed it. The full solution was to fill the hole with E6000 adhesive, and they were much better after that.
To the breakdown of the frames/drivers....
The cushions come off rather easily. The stock elements are glued lightly to the back of a plastic face with integrated grill. Removal of 3 small screws removes the faces from the cups. Be advised the leads are soldered to the drivers, so be careful after the screws are removed. You don't want to break off the leads at the wire inlets so the leads are easier to work with. For the uninitiated, or just to mark polarity, when snipping the wires, leave about a 1/4" of colored wire on the original drivers' terminals. The red and blue are positives, and the copper color is the joined negative. I reused the original wiring, as that made this much easier of a swap. A light work around the inset of the elements with a small flat-bit screwdriver removes them rather easily. I did drill the grill center out with a 1/4" drill bit to make the grille more open in the center than it was. There is a divot in the grill center easy to use as a pilot for this process. There are 3 raised parts on the backside of the grill that I snipped off and cut flush to avoid any possible contact by the paper cone while under operation. Also on the faces is what looks like a piece of felt tape. This is applied over 2 small vents below the elements to likely be a tuned bass vent into the ear-cups for the listener. I would not recommend removing this tape, as bass will likely become overblown- unless you want that. There are also vents below the back of the cups on the outside, likely for heat/ventilation concerns and for the wearer to have longer term comfort. (These external vents are also on my Sony cans. I have not had them apart to see if the inner cup vents are present, but I doubt it.)
There is no damping in the cup chambers as purchased, but I feel a little won't hurt., so I plan to add a bit of cotton to each cup.
Element measurements on my WT2:
And the Peerless drivers:
Measurement notes: The thing to note is that these diaphragms are very low mass, and that breathing, any kind of shock or vibration to the device, or thumping or even just hand holding the elements under test will severely alter the measurements I posted above. Alligator clips on the frame edge and contacting the solder pads were the method of connection.
The Fs is lower, and the Qts is also lower on the Peerless units, so the bass should be better, extend lower, and not sound quite as loose in theory. The tones on the WT2 testing revealed a pretty strong peak at about 3.5k, so I hope that won't need to be tamed. It also shows a peak in the datasheet from the Peerless units from Tymphany, but the response is otherwise smooth as they tested it. The bass will of course come up when placed in a headphone application.
In that direction, I went and looked at SL's ERS-4 article about passive equalization for reference headphones or in-ear monitoring, just in the case that this would need to be altered.
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/reference_earphones.htm
I am currently sitting awaiting glue to dry, so I have not yet installed the newer elements/faces into the sacrificial frames. I just went around the perimeter with E6000 to secure the elements into the faces.
Back of altered grill/face, you can see the tape covered vents to the right of the central area:
More to come,
Wolf
https://www.parts-express.com/peerle...ragm--264-1510
I set out for a plan to implement them. The central cone is hard paper, not the usual mylar, so it should be relatively stiff. In theory the losses will be less pistonically. The VC is a 1", and the unit is well vented.
I found these two 50mm frame choices that are very low cost just to give these a try:
https://www.parts-express.com/pyle-p...ones--248-4414
https://www.parts-express.com/tascam...black--246-301
The Tascam were OOS, and the Pyles were cheaper, so I ultimately ordered the Pyle frames. Being that I have genuine (yes, there are fakes/copies such as these and others) Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones, I'm familiar with the frame style, and the fit and comfort level. These Pyles are not quite as strong or durable, but still fit me rather nicely.
To those that think I gutted them from the get-go, I didn't, and actually listened to them as they were first. I was pleasantly surprised at the price point. The bass sounds a bit high-Q, but solid, and the mids are present without being forward. The treble can be a bit sibilant though. Still- for $25 I don't think I've heard better. That said- I highly recommend removing the Pyle logos on the cups (they're ugly anyway), and sealing the hole in what was the left one on my pair. This improves the left to right balance in terms of both focus and isolation. I placed tape across the hole on the outside, and that partially fixed it. The full solution was to fill the hole with E6000 adhesive, and they were much better after that.
To the breakdown of the frames/drivers....
The cushions come off rather easily. The stock elements are glued lightly to the back of a plastic face with integrated grill. Removal of 3 small screws removes the faces from the cups. Be advised the leads are soldered to the drivers, so be careful after the screws are removed. You don't want to break off the leads at the wire inlets so the leads are easier to work with. For the uninitiated, or just to mark polarity, when snipping the wires, leave about a 1/4" of colored wire on the original drivers' terminals. The red and blue are positives, and the copper color is the joined negative. I reused the original wiring, as that made this much easier of a swap. A light work around the inset of the elements with a small flat-bit screwdriver removes them rather easily. I did drill the grill center out with a 1/4" drill bit to make the grille more open in the center than it was. There is a divot in the grill center easy to use as a pilot for this process. There are 3 raised parts on the backside of the grill that I snipped off and cut flush to avoid any possible contact by the paper cone while under operation. Also on the faces is what looks like a piece of felt tape. This is applied over 2 small vents below the elements to likely be a tuned bass vent into the ear-cups for the listener. I would not recommend removing this tape, as bass will likely become overblown- unless you want that. There are also vents below the back of the cups on the outside, likely for heat/ventilation concerns and for the wearer to have longer term comfort. (These external vents are also on my Sony cans. I have not had them apart to see if the inner cup vents are present, but I doubt it.)
There is no damping in the cup chambers as purchased, but I feel a little won't hurt., so I plan to add a bit of cotton to each cup.
Element measurements on my WT2:
And the Peerless drivers:
Measurement notes: The thing to note is that these diaphragms are very low mass, and that breathing, any kind of shock or vibration to the device, or thumping or even just hand holding the elements under test will severely alter the measurements I posted above. Alligator clips on the frame edge and contacting the solder pads were the method of connection.
The Fs is lower, and the Qts is also lower on the Peerless units, so the bass should be better, extend lower, and not sound quite as loose in theory. The tones on the WT2 testing revealed a pretty strong peak at about 3.5k, so I hope that won't need to be tamed. It also shows a peak in the datasheet from the Peerless units from Tymphany, but the response is otherwise smooth as they tested it. The bass will of course come up when placed in a headphone application.
In that direction, I went and looked at SL's ERS-4 article about passive equalization for reference headphones or in-ear monitoring, just in the case that this would need to be altered.
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/reference_earphones.htm
I am currently sitting awaiting glue to dry, so I have not yet installed the newer elements/faces into the sacrificial frames. I just went around the perimeter with E6000 to secure the elements into the faces.
Back of altered grill/face, you can see the tape covered vents to the right of the central area:
More to come,
Wolf
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