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 ,

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.

@cd318 Thank you for your kind words.
After some time with the suspended speakers, I grew to like this setup even more. I can listen to music for hours without fatigue.
The motivation to try this was: With suspension, loudspeakers can move freely in the horizontal plane. And they will, in response to the music signal emitted by the drivers (Newton 3rd law). However, they do so with a frequency below the audible spectrum and the movements have no detrimental effect on the sound. To the contrary, the fixation of loudspeakers with stands, spikes etc. may transform these movements into nasty sound colorations. 
@cd318 Thank you for your kind words.
After some time with the suspended speakers, I grew to like this setup even more. I can listen to music for hours without fatigue.
The motivation to try this was: With suspension, loudspeakers can move freely in the horizontal plane. And they will, in response to the music signal emitted by the drivers (Newton 3rd law). However, they do so with a frequency below the audible spectrum and the movements have no detrimental effect on the sound. To the contrary, the fixation of loudspeakers with stands, spikes etc. may transform these movements into nasty sound colorations.
How do you suspend them?
I used 1 mm stainless steel cables. Maybe other choices could improve the results?



I used 1 mm stainless steel cables. Maybe other choices could improve the results?
I dont think nylon cable will improve but.....

How do you attach the cable?