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Miracles in Audio, by luck, by good choices,by design or by tweaking...

I owned a low cost headphone for many years, the Fostex TH7B, first version( a new one close version exist Fostex TH7BK), semi-open headphone...I was never completely satisfied by any headphones I ever owned: Hifiman 400, Stax basic lamda, Stax 5 gold,Akg 340,Akg 701, beyerdynamic 990, and T150... Because in each of them with all their qualities I never listen to at the same times, a confortable headphone with natural timbre and voicing, with a good imaging and a realistic soundstage(not too close to my ears)...


For the last days I tweaked this Fostex, to damp his internal resonance I used sorbothane, I put some shungite stones at the exterior part of the cups and I use some Herkimer diamond in the interior pads( 3 at 120 degree) … Now this low cost headphones crush all my others if I sum all his qualities... For example his mids and voicing cannot beat the AKG 340 but among all my other headphones it is the best that is near that mids and it is more confortable, and with longer cable than the 340...His imaging is better and more realistic than the 340 etc etc...It is the same if I compare with the others...


His most important qualities is natural timbre and clear imaging,very precise pinned point accuracy and natural, so clear it crush for that ALL the others to dust...In the French audio circle the reviews were more than very positive few years ago...Diapason d’or and choc Classica...I am not the only one impressed buy the ratio quality/price... But remember that thesae reviewers dont tweak their headphone...The difference between before and after the tweaks are staggering...


Yes Miracles happens in Audio: cost is under 100 American dollars... Few years ago they cost me 50 bucks new... I never dreamed that I will go back to headphones...


I will enjoy your miracles stories of any kind ….My best to all...
128x128mahgister
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mahgister OP
13,214 posts
 
I just ordered 80 little Herkimer diamonds, smaller than the one I already own, to balance my new micro cones... :) ( around 10 bucks)

All is perfect like it is now but something say in me that I will increase the S.Q. with some of the new cones if I add in them H.D. of the require size... Less than 0.1 gram each....


Balancing the effects is one of the KEY to tone accuracy....And I must try because of the improving results when I added some H.D. inside some of the Alaskan regular cones.... Some of these empty little cones screams to me.... :)
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mahgister OP
13,214 posts
 
Update:

The key is to balance empty cones with the one with Herkimer diamond....And using two different size of cones … 

The ears decide.... And with a little experiment it is easy to touch the optimal balancing locations between those.... Between my speakers, all around the computer screen is a magical spot...All along the drivers of my 2-way Mission is a magical spot....And With "the Bell of bells" and his 2 layered cones of 2 different size, in the center of my room, the sound has never been so good in all listening positions, nearfield or regular... :)

Piano for tonal accuracy listening, or vibraphone+ piano....Orchestra is good for imaging accuracy.....Tabla for dynamics....


The truth of the experiment is that 2 micro H.D. in a micro cones of 7 mm or 9332 inch can completely change the S.Q. in a room.... Why?

The only explanation for me is that our ears and the room are one, and the cones are like " steady tags" on a wave flows feedback swirling around the room through which the " Brain Fourier analysis computer" read more easily.... This is only metaphor not science ,I use that metaphor to convey my guiding idea behind my experiments...The grid of cones stabilize for the brain the recognizing process of competing sounds waves between the obstructing distorsion created by the topology of the room accidents...
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mahgister OP
13,214 posts
 
I now has proven to myself many times that at low cost I can transform completely the sound in my room.... I made it many times and at each times in a positive increasing way...

Why the 4 micro Herkimer diamonds I just added to 4 cones , 2 hours ago, suffice to completely increase tonal accuracy and imaging is so astounding, that I dont really have explanations.... The grid of cones plays like tags on flowing waves yes, but why, for example ,these last four 7 millimeter pieces of rocks (H.D.) inside 4 cones moves so much the S.Q. in an increasing way is beyond me.... :)


My grid of cones, 2 size of cones, is composed now of 70 pieces around speakers and walls....Less than half with Herkimer diamonds for balancing effects...Total cost including H.D. is around 45 bucks...
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mahgister OP
13,214 posts
 


Musical sound waves bouncing back in a room are more akin to " a language", a temporary living quasi-crystals, than to only a mechanical random phenomena...The sound is like a sensible equation, made visible for the eyes, like the wind on undulating grass... Imagine that if you put some 3/8 inch resonant bowls, on some critical points on the walls of a room, the pattern of the musical sound waves are now less blurred and present to the ears some clearer image where the waves are more clearly perceived, like undulating flags on a flowing river.... I guess Fourier analysis will be useful.... :)


Note: some bowl are empty some with an Herkimer diamond like 2 kind of flags on the flowing frequencies river.... But my analogy dont explain how the resonant bowl affect the flowing waves themselves and not only mark up the turbulent flows for the ears....
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,214 posts
 
Update:

I added some 10 tiny Alaskans bowls or bells 9/32 inch or 7mm  on the wall to my right and left...


Improvement  in timbre and imaging.... 2 are with Herkimer diamond inside for balancing  the others...


I will install 50 more in few weeks.... :)


Ridiculous cost to work on the acoustic and nobody pay attention ...


Very strange..... 


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