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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
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,094 posts
 
The readers of this thread must be conscious that  the S.Q. increase i speak about in these posts of mine, were win one inch at a time, and  despite my hyperboles and exclamations, it was really one inch at a times...

Then it is the sum of all my  controls experiments, in the electrical grid and in the acoustical embeddings, that gives to me the results of the last day....

There is no ready made tweak someone can buy adressing all problems in the 3 embeddings and solving them all...

There is none of my device or ideas that cando the same miraculous feat and solve all problem...

But boy! it was fun and it is fun to listen, create, and increase the S.Q.

I will repeatmyself, a great audiophile experience does not need to cost big money at all, it is a myth, and a reluctant, inadvertant, accidental lie by some.... Thats all....
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,094 posts
 
Update:

My " Bell of bells"

 is a marvellous  acoustical device for a room and works marvel for me.... Cost : to low to be describe.....30 bucks in all perhaps...

The bill Charlap trios that i discover last week sound  more natural and the imaging i thanks to be very good to date was lacking, because now  it is wonderful more than a bit more...

WE NEVER KNOW WHAT WE LACK UNTIL WE GRAB IT FIRST.....
This  must be a LAW in audio hobby....

on par with this first law: 

Dont upgrade anything before embedding everything rightfully....

Before making too much other laws i will go back to music, because everything is new again....

Another law:

When all is new again, it is a new step, but probably not the last one....


:)

I quit now, my best.....






mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,094 posts
 
Update

"Twin fans combing sound room enhancer"


My friends audio experiments are very instructive, and sometimes amazing, bordering to  the incredible...

In a room  where many active controls device are already in place,  for example in mine, many "grids of cones bells", the "bell of bells",   Schumann generators grid, helmholtz bottles, etc In this kind of room 2 simple bands of copper tape 8 inches each long, wrapped around the   cone bells grid  in the center of the fans enclosure (12 cones 2 big and 10 small one all with herkimer diamonds in center) will make an enormous difference....

I wrapped the copper tape in first experiment, around all the cones grid in the center enclosure of each fan including the 2 big cones....

In a second experiments i only wrapped around the little 10 cones without  including the 2 big one....

Results: the second experiments gives a better results  but the difference that  two 8 inches long  wrapping tape around some cones  can produce  if wrapped around some cones and not around some others are staggering....

ACOUSTIC  dictate the ultimate S.Q. more than electronic design in most cases.....  

Thats all....
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,094 posts
 
I think the waves of direct sound and refracted sound in a room are an extension of the ears/brain, the waves of sound in the room are like an extension of the ears sensing organs and linked to the working creative interpretation of the music by the brain...( the imaging of the music scenery for example is a reconstruction by the brain linked to the" perceived" acoustical room like in echolocation )

The cones bells grids wrapped with copper tape on my wall, on the fans enclosures centers, on my speakers, on my computers screens, are like passive and stable beacons and tags located all along the fixed banks of a flowing river ( with different waves of sound conflicting with each others)... The ears/brain use these beacons to recreate the music image that is flowing with the waves...

But for sure the cones bells of different size are also tiny resonators, like the herkimer diamond (H.D. ) in their center, and their diameter, their composition materials, even the dimension of the H. D. all that play also a big role and they change the relation between direct sound wave and refracted sound waves .... They are not only passive beacons then, but also active players in the acoustical field....

I am not a scientist this is just metaphors to convey my experience....

:)

One thing is for sure, acoustics is not a simpler science than electronic design science at all....
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,094 posts
 
You dont know how fantastic your audio system really is...

I was like that....

It takes me the last 2 years to know that...

Most will read that like if was boasting about my system.... Not at all...

My system is low or mid-fi at most, very well chosen but not High End ...

I dont want to boast about brand names, for me it is illusory, there exist many, many good brand, with their weaker points and stronger one...

The question is:  HOW DO YOU HAVE EMBEDDED IT ?

Think about that, especially newcomers, not brainwashed by the upgrading motto.....

I am really happy....I wish the  same for all.....

:)
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