The vintage Ortho thread

Thank you RD. And aknowledging dBel84 for recently providing advice elsewheres and offering spare parts.

More photos:





^ That was in back of cups. Like a thin felt similar to whats used on the drivers. Then the 40+ year old foam...

 

First attempt:
Felt-ish disc behind driver. Damplifier (dynamat) laid around edge of driver and front baffle. Then a circle of felt-ish on edge of cups.

 

Had to rearrange green felt so cups could better clip together. Sealed up most of the front baffle. After I figure out pads then Ill play more with seal. Probably add some mass and absorption material to back of cup. Measures and impressions later.

 

YHD3 mod caused bass to become more linear but lesser in amplitude compared to highs.

Id guess that disc felt is reflecting treble energy back and/or is damping bass (in combination with mass damplifer). Im going to remove disc felt and see what happens.

Seal certainly will need adjusting. I temporarily sealed using tape from outside of cups for quick mods. Will remove tape and listen/measure before disc felt removal.

edit: I will slow on posts to concentrate my updates for more substance.

edit2: After pad rolling, leaning towards needing less porous pads to combo with damped driver (rear disc felt). Leather pads would boost that bass back up and maintain control of driver. I like foam pads for open sound, but treble too uneven here so need a different tactic.

 

Yeah, too much stuff in that little chassis.Remember, that the diaphragms of the the YHD series are tensioned, thinner and a bit higher tuned than their predecessors and would require lesser damping than the older Yammies.

I would probably start with removing the damplifier first and maybe later the side felt if the bass is still not upto the snuff. You can also try sealing the driver to the baffle with some blutac to improve bass extension.

 

Why remove mass damplifier? Thats a constant good so long as you don’t change internal cup volume significantly. Isnt blutac same idea?

I had not read that about the YHD series, I thought they were just smaller. Interesting. I know Wualta commented that the latest Yamahas (yhd) may have been the best. Thought it was because of his preference for the foam pads combined with closer distance of ear and driver. He did say that Yamaha got better at producing the fine etching etc. over time which meant more effecient drivers. Ive not read all of ortho roundup.

Like you, kabeer and dbel84 also advised very little mods or just pad rolling would be sufficient for yhd3. Thanks

 

Transplanted YHD-3 drivers to Koss KPH-30i. Cup sides filled with butyl for mass and to block rear wave cancellation. Koss stock lite foam in back. Geekria Grado style S-pad w/hole. New enclosure has benefit of unobstruction of driver and easier to mount pads. Pic below is before I added butyl and pads - was test fitting.

 

Feel like TTVJ deluxe pads will be necessary. Ugh$

 

Nearly a decade ago I was experimenting with transplanting an SFI ortho driver into an AKG Sextett.

Here's an old thread but the pics are long gone.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ort...-into-akg-k240-sextett-lp-in-progress.569510/

but the album is here: https://www.head-fi.org/media/albums/orthomod-2-sextett.43719/

Would anybody be interested in all this stuff? It's been sitting in a box in the basement for years. Really no idea if it's worth anything these days.

 

People always obsess way too much about mass/vibration damping. Acoustic treatment is waaaaaaaay more important. Mass damping at best gives you less distortion in bass. But it’s not necessary for a great sounding modded ortho. If you’re not getting the sound you want simplify things and take that out of the equation. Getting the damping and pads right can get you excellent bass with no vibration damping.

only exception is the T50rp which suffers in the bass and needs everything possible but it can even have great bass with proper acoustic treatment and no vibration damping.

 

edit: secret sauce

 

Yes, i only used half the thickness for an earpad

 

Yamaha YH-2




Pads are worn and lumpy. Sounds warm and fuzzy - pleasantly so, swell mids, treble is peaky (6kHz), sound stage is small. Going to mod using @dBel84 's guidance. YH-1 incoming and @rhythmdevils himself will mod.

 

YH-2 plastic is creaky at pivot - quite annoying. Ordered a cheap Stax SR-34 out of curiosity and just in case... I think YH-3 would be worth consideration just for the sturdier looking build similar to YHD-3. I read in ortho roundup the YH-3 driver might be tensioned a little lower for more bass which sounds appealing. I couldnt find a reference spec sheet so dont quote me on this.

Tyll measured some of these vintage orthos.

So many neat and unique ortho designs (and rebrands). Unfortunately stuff not as abundant or as cheap as before wualta ortho roundup. Same with electrets but thats another thread.

YH-2 question: are the pads glued on? Mine might be - I dont want to accidentally destroy when disassembling.

 

yes, pads are glued on - use a small flat screw driver to edge the pads away from the positions that overly the screws



remove the front plate with pads attached.

dB

@Thujone has measurements from a modded pair. He might be willing to share his experience now that it has had time to settle in

 

SBAF’s better ortho thread - too nice to dump my posts on.

Tyll’s measures (condition of units unknown):
Yamaha HP-1 , YH-3 , another HP-1 and YH-3.

HF Wualta’s Ortho Roundup.

 

Modding YH-2 using my interpretation of dbel84’s worded guide.:

I usually strip out all the original foam and felt pieces. Line the bottom of the cup with a layer of dense felt, I use a disc of porous paper like tea bag filter paper up against the driver and then a 3-5mm disc of dense foam to hold it all in place) every driver needs a little variation as the drivers are not identical.​

Spoiler: PICS

The pads came off easy, the adhesive goop stayed behind and had to be scraped off in order to see the screws. Interestingly, the drivers seemingly might not be tightly held in place. The driver is butted up against the foam damping. Anyways, that was the opposite experience of YHD-3 where it was all clipped in firmly. YH-2 as you can see is center pinned, YHD-3 is not. This changes the behavior of the driver, but um I can't explain how. Would have to look for explanations in the giant ortho roundup thread again. Non-center pin I imagine I recall equates to larger surface area for excursion for more bass.

Edit: Mod instruction add from dbel84:

One thing I forgot for the mod - use blutak or some similar sticky sealant to make a thin roll around the front edge of the driver to "glue and seal" it to the front plate.
​

Hopefully will have this done and measured later today. My YHD-3 needs retune because I added new pads so cant do comparison just yet...

 

This is without recommended sealant added yet. Also, left/right side's not modded symmetrically. The left side had all the adhesive mess scraped off the front plate, and right side did not (yet) because lazy. Also, pads are just temporarily and prob inadequately affixed for a quick measure with EARS.



Quick 1minute listen to random known song sounds clearer and brighter. Better(?) not immediately apparent. Incomplete.

Edit: Incomplete listen. Incomplete mod.

 

I think that is a great result. The 6k region might give it a slight edginess

 

I’m not going to spend much looking for replacement pads because it would be cheaper to just buy another Yamaha in better condition. dB and rd advised the same.

First shot at new pads are from Geekria. Nice try: larger diameter but smaller ear hole, and tad less compliant foam. Will try and report back later.