HD650 Dynamat Mods - Proof That It's Not BS

Discussion in 'Modifications and Tweaks' started by purr1n, May 16, 2016.

  1. juanchotazo99

    juanchotazo99 New

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Could you please test if simple mass loading with something like plasticine gives similar results to the Dynamat?
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Absolutely not. I'm done here. Someone else can play with multi-colored play-doh.
     
  3. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,773
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    small island claimed by China
    I tried a blu-tack equivalent before I got my Dynamat and loaded it up with several times the weight of the Dynamat I eventually used. Didn't actually weight it, but with the tack they were a lot heavier. http://imgur.com/a/shNiW

    Soundwise (to my ears), it wasn't nearly as effective as Dynamat. Made a difference in solidifying and extending the bass, but not nearly as much as Dynamat.
     
  4. Serious

    Serious Inquisitive Frequency Response Plot

    Pyrate BWC MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,594
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    near Munich, Germany
    I was more interested in seeing if there were changes from the midbass on. One could of course extend the timescale even more to look at lower frequencies.
    I don't know about ARTA (or CLIO or whatever) but in REW I can set the impulse response window longer than I could realistically ever want (max seems to be 5 seconds). The max IR window should be much longer for the FR so I doubt that it would be limited for the CSDs.
    Okay, thanks. Where I live there are no trucks going down the streets, or noisy neighbours, so I wasn't sure if this would be a problem. (I also expected the noise to be low enough based on the spectrums you've shown.) I thought I saw some changes to the low frequency decay with some of the things I've tried but even then it's hard to say and much better to just use your ears.
    I finally ordered some dynamat extreme for myself to try these things.
     
  5. take

    take Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    185
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Suffolk County, NY
    I too noticed this exactly, with the HD600. It got fatiguing and did weird things when the spider was there without the foam between it and the driver. It's almost certainly reflections IMO, I didn't perform the quarter mod.
     
  6. zonto

    zonto Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,975
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    This is awesome! Thanks for posting.

    To reiterate a couple posts by @M3NTAL and me (here and here) in the main HD650 appreciation thread, Second Skin's Damplifier Pro may be a better option for the community mods than Dynamat Extreme.

    Advantages:
    1. Better Damping: Foil is 50% thicker than Dynamat Extreme.
    2. Color: Black instead of bright silver. No Very subtle logo. Stealth(ier) mod.
    3. Adhesive: Higher rubber content and ~20% thicker than adhesive used on Dynamat Extreme.
    4. Price: A U.S. sampler pack containing sizes potentially perfect for headphone modding is only $7.50 shipped. Also comes with other samples, including regular Damplifier. (Damplifier: 1mm total thickness vs. Damplifier Pro: 2mm total thickness.)
      • My Damplifier Pro sample is 3" x 3.25". (Seems sufficient after eyeballing pictures of mods, but others would have to confirm. Haven't done mine yet. Edit: Sufficient for modding one pair of headphones. I even did so without using any pieces with the logo on the foil.)
      • International version is $32.95 flat. Edit: increased shipping price since original post.
    (Source)

    Second Skin is well-respected in the car audio world. I've personally used and sold RAAMaudio products, and it looks like they have a 1x2ft sheet of dampener for $6 (plus $10.60 shipping). Can't find specs, but I covered most of my old car in the stuff and was very pleased. Silver though.

    Edit 6/13/16: Pictures of my stealth mods using Damplifier Pro here.
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2016
  7. BrettMatthews

    BrettMatthews Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2016
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Canada
    @Marvey Is the picture of the driver in the first post the final stage of the mod that was used for the modded measurements?
     
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Yes, that was final. I prefer to damp to strategic spots. Don't have time to lay the Dynamat over everything.
     
  9. BrettMatthews

    BrettMatthews Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2016
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Canada
    Awesome, thanks. My first use of the dynamat was the same as your the picture in the other HD650 thread (where it talks about the 3 mods), I will add a bit more to duplicate this one including removing the spider. Thanks again.
     
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Initially I wasn't too sure this made a difference, but now I am super positive, from both subjective point of view (being able to try stock again), and from a measurement point of view. As @CEE TEE said to me, he did all the mods up to this point, and it just wasn't quite right, what he heard. I shipped these back to him and I think he is happy now.
     
  11. zonto

    zonto Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,975
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    @Marvey Was there any audible difference in sound with the donut of Dynamat covering the entire magnet up to the hole as compared to the initial Dynamat placement that only covered part of the magnet on each side? It looks like the donut has the effect of lengthening the port vent behind the driver so theoretically there should be some.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2016
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    LOL, it's not a port (tuned), it's just a vent. A lot of speaker drivers have them.

    I think there is a difference, mainly from there being more material on the magnet dampening the driver more.
     
  13. Vent

    Vent Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2016
    Likes Received:
    296
    Trophy Points:
    63
    For the first few days after the coin mod, I thought I could feel the pressure off the drivers more. This might be totally my imagination (it definitely seems less noticeable now, perhaps I've just gotten used to it), but if its not perhaps this contributes to the rare report of the mods increasing fatigue.

    Also, is it just me or do the headphones seem louder after these mods? Listening at the same volume as before I couldn't even hear my phone ring.

    The phones do definitely seem more interesting after the mods. Its hard for me to say for sure without being able to directly compare (the mods took me about two hours to complete; that Dynamat was a total grinch to work with). Perhaps we could organize a loaner tour for stock HD650's for people that have done the mods. I'd be willing to put some part of the cash forward to acquire a pair to pass around. Just a thought.
     
  14. GodsInHisHeaven

    GodsInHisHeaven New

    Joined:
    May 19, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Is there a reason not to put dynamat on the whole outer ring and even cover the little holes?

    I actually just did that and seem to conceive a better bass slam. I am not sure though if the mid suffered a little though.
     
  15. Grattle

    Grattle Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,006
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    USA
    It seems to me that the foil cover should be removed from the dynamat. Wouldn't it reflect more off of that foil than just the black gooey material?
     
  16. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    7,467
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Winnipeg
    Yes... but really no more than the bare plastic in the first place. The dynamat is not there to absorb reflections in the chamber. The dynamat is there to reduce the internal plastic vibration. It does this by a mechanism called constrained layer damping.

    Thought exercise: take a flat vibrating surface. If you glue a hard top on, it doesn't really do much except maybe stiffen the overall thing. If you slap goop on the surface instead, well the goop kinda sucks up some of that vibrational energy, but the top surface of the goop is bouncing around much like your original surface. Now, adhere the hard top to the goop. What this does is it makes the goop more effective, because now it is constrained. The top is no longer vibrating and thus internally is sucking up even more energy.
     
  17. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2016
    Likes Received:
    10,697
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NOVA
    Home Page:
    There's that and the fact that all of these mass damping materials are turning movement into heat through friction. Albeit the amount of heat generated while damping the frame of an HD650 is likely very little, the thick aluminum foil acts as a heat sink, too, in addition to the constrained layer damping effects. It's also there to help make sure you don't have a goopy, rubbery mess on every flat surface to which it's been applied.
     

Share This Page