Koss SB40 mod thread

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ourfpshero

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 25, 2007
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ok enough of us have these now- what can we do with them?

my 1st mod- remember the Acoustic Research 2$ headphones from buy.com? found a use for those nice velour pads

comfort is much improved
 
to diassemble these there are 3 screws on each cup -they are under the edges of the earpads. the speakers are attached to the earpad side-not the cups. on the side with the mic the wire goes to both the mic and the speakers and so only seperate about 3 inches- DONT PULL TOO MUCH!! or end up like me :) of course i took them apart several times
however it took longer to heat up the soldering iron than fix them so no biggie

it might be possible but difficult to just loosen the screws to get a little clearance to pull out and put in earpads. i might have to pull the velour pads off my dt770 and give them a try!

the pads came off these
http://www.buy.com/prod/acoustic-re...-professional-studio/q/loc/111/202011366.html
of course they were 2.00 when i got them!
 
2nd mod- i took out the koss mic- it either caught all sounds or none- i replaced it with a mic from a Genius headset that my daughter destroyed- a little soldering.. and.. a mic that works properly!
 
Good mod... wouldn't have guessed if you hadn't told me.

But that's an interesting backdrop for a pair of cans. ;)
 
aardwolf said:
Good mod... wouldn't have guessed if you hadn't told me.

But that's an interesting backdrop for a pair of cans. ;)
Click to expand...

lol -the laundry in the garage- i disassembled them on the dryer so i dont lose any little black screws
 
update- i just tried some akg 240 pads i got off headfi for 12$ on these and the bass is much increased. its the same as if u pushed the earcups against your head with the stock pads
 
Cool. I am linking this in the sticky. Thanks man. The 240 pads are a great idea.
 
wow- i have spent a little time with these now- with the akg k240 pads these are like 'dj' headphones sound. very nice bass thump-about on par with an rp-21.

now how to make the highs better......
 
Highs I can't help you with unless, um. the fabric covering the speakers? Something less dense perhaps? Dunno. Good job man. RP-21 bass? Damn. That is thumping. I might have to get another pair just to try that lol. Beats paying $350 for Darths.
 
ok

I found out how to get 240 pads thanks to Fitz on head-fi (the guy is THE akg guru/nutbag lol):

You can get replacement pads by calling Frank, the parts guy for Harman, at 818-920-3279 and ordering two of part number 2058Z1001.

I really might try that. Rp-21 bass with some sound stage would be fun for gaming.
 
Do you think that the akg velour pads would work the same, or would it take away from the bass?
 
the velour pads sound the same as the stock pads-didnt really change. if u used beyer velour pads- which are dense- it would probably give much more bass. if you want the pads (and maybe the headphones they came with) lmk- just pay postage

update w/akg pads- i can actually get a nice bass thump out of my mp3 player now (which usually cant drive the sb40 well)
 
the akg pads are probably the most dense and thus bassy of all. the beyer pads will be more comfy but slightly less bass and seal.
 
another update- i just got a senn hd280 and i can honestly say that the sb40 w/akg pads puts out more bass
 
ourfpshero said:
2nd mod- i took out the koss mic- it either caught all sounds or none- i replaced it with a mic from a Genius headset that my daughter destroyed- a little soldering.. and.. a mic that works properly!
Click to expand...

How did you go about replaceing the mic? Did you change the internals, or just replace the entire thing. I ended up removing the mic but cant seem to get it apart.
 
just the internals. the end piece of the koss mic unscrews, detach the little silver mic 'button' and solder a new one in place
 
How comfortable are these before modification? Trying to find a replacement headset for my Logitech's, they kill my ears after about an hour.


Thanks,
NeonFlak
 
Hi guys - just thought I'd share my mods. I got a set of SB40s at the start of the week after finally getting tired of the ridiculous GSM interference on my SpeedLink Medusa 5.1 set.

I had 2 immediate 'issues' with them - I wasn't expecting much from the mic, but it was cutting out and only picking up now and then as i moved the stalk. Hmmm, dodgy connection? Secondly, I can't stand double sided cables. :p

I set about dismantling them and I immediately found that there's all the features in place to have a single sided cable arrangement, running the connection wires over the top of the set through the 'hoops'. This includes:
- a slot in the hinge on the shorter side
- cut-outs in the 'webs' inside the arm to allow the wires to run round to the top of the arm.
- holes in the slider (where the headband adjustment happens)
- space in the tubes around the sprung hoops :)

Extra bonus feature: the right side speaker wire will fit in the grommet with the left speaker and mic wires, making it nice and tidy.

2 bits of wire, and 4 soldered joints later, my SB40s are single-sided :)

While i was at it i found the problem with my mic - it had been soldered too close to the plastic insulation, and the plastic between the two cores had melted, so the mic was shorting out. This was also easy to fix, as there's enough slack in the wire to simply strip it back and re-solder the joints.

Finally I swapped across the velour pads from the Medusa headset, which fit nicely except that you have to tighten the screws through the mesh screen that they have!

ourfpshero said:
it might be possible but difficult to just loosen the screws to get a little clearance to pull out and put in earpads.
Click to expand...
Yep - this worked for me. Release the screw in the deep hole fully, and undo the other two a couple of turns. This should give you 1-2mm clearance right round the pads, and you can rock it from one side to the other to get more clearance if you need it.
 
ourfpshero said:
just the internals. the end piece of the koss mic unscrews, detach the little silver mic 'button' and solder a new one in place
Click to expand...

Did you use another Koss mic, or a piece from something else?

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Zalman clip-on mic, because the SB40 mic annoys me. Honestly, though, I'm not that wild about the arm they put on the mic, either. It has a hard time getting directly in front of my mouth.

-S
 
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