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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
b_mueller
45 posts
 
Actually, I did it: hanging the loudspeakers from the ceiling! Before, I used bedrock stands from Mapleshade. Loudspeakers were close to the floor and tilted upwards. Now, they are not tilted anymore and positioned higher, the tweeter is now at 110 cm above ground. Stil fighting with exact positioning- I have to control the position with the length of the wires which is tedious.
The sound is brighter, highs are more pronounced. - I attribute this to the changed position. There is less punch in the middle and lower bass. Everything opened up, there is more space and texture to the sound, voices are more lifelike. Satisfaction comes at lower volumes.
A spontaneous analogy: it is like swimming naked instead of wearing a swimming suit - there is more joy and life to the sound.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
12,987 posts
 
Thanks for the impression.... it is indeed interesting.....

But the lost in some bandwidth indicate that perhaps it is not better than my double dissymetrcally compressed springs sets over and under the damped speakers....

 I have all the bass in the world and  i dont think that gaining in the  higher bandwith and losing in the  bass will be an improvement.... But it is an impression.... It would be necessary to experiment..... I am too glad with my actual situation to do so tough...

😊



b_mueller
45 posts
 
I would not say there is a loss in bass... the bass has a different quality, less punch but more texture. Also, I have a subwoofer for the bass from 11 to 60 Hz that operates as before.
But you are right, I need to optimize the set up stilll. I am sure your solution works great!
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
12,987 posts
 
I would not say there is a loss in bass... the bass has a different quality, less punch but more texture.
This is good...

 The texture is what is important.... It is then positive...
cd318
2,636 posts
 
@b_mueller ,

Thanks for your interesting posts.

That's the first time in over 30 years of interest in audio that I've read of someone actually suspending their speakers from the ceiling with strings rather than just suggesting it.

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