Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2014 23:16:24 GMT
Listening to Evil and Harm from the Younger Brother album A Flock of Bleeps. Nothing unusual in that except that it suddenly occurred to me that I'm listening to them on a pair of headphones, which although I don't know their exact age, would appear to be (according to the web) at the very least, 35 years old!
We probably have one or two members of our forum who are younger than these headphones?
I'm listening through a pair of AKG K240 Sextetts (LP). AKG produced these headphones with a 32mm driver but surrounded it with six passive bass 'Radiators'. These Radiators absorbed bass resonances, or something like that, giving a nice clean bass. The production run was split into three phases with early, mid, and late models distinguishable by the colour of the Radiators. I have white Radiators in my cans, so mine are the LP's or Late Production models. Since production of the Sextetts stopped in 1979, and assuming mine were the last pair off the production line, then they are at the very least, 35 years old!!
I can't remember what I paid for them a couple of years ago from a Head-fi member, but I'm pretty sure they were less than £60 pounds including shipping and taking into account euro conversion. I had to buy new elastics (a common fault), and new interior foams (another common fault) as after many years these items fail. The Head-fi member made this clear to me beforehand and even gave me contact numbers and names for AKG in the UK. I decided to keep the original cable as the whole lot sounded superb to me after a refurb. The fitted cable was a strange thing, quite thin, but with ridges all the way round it's circumference. Obviously original, and sounded absolutely excellent, so I decided to keep it. I did try solid silver for the main lead, and for the internal cabling between the drivers and the overhead 'bars', but I couldn't hear any difference whatsoever, so I reverted back to original wiring.
One phone call to the friendly, patient and helpful guy at AKG (can't remember his name) and I was sorted for elastics and foams for less than £15 including shipping. It's wonderful when you have a pair of headphones which are made by an established company, such that, you can phone up many, many years later and order parts to repair/refurb them. And they have them in stock.
Try that in twenty years time with a pair of Beats
To give you an idea of the service I received, a few days after ordering the parts, I realised that I could not remove the AKG logos on the end-pieces without destroying them and so I would need new ones. I phoned up AKG again, got the same guy again and explained what I wanted. He apologised to me and said he should have realised that since I was ordering elastics and foams he should have advised me to buy new end-piece aluminium logos. He then told me he would pop a couple of end-pieces in the post and send them to me free-of-charge as an apology! I think that when you receive service like that you should tell other people.
It was easy to replace the elastics etc, since I'd already had quite a bit of experience modifying a very "similar" headphone, our old friend the Superlux HD681.
They don't sound 35+ years old that's for sure!
Sorry, but I still can't get over them being 35+ years old, I knew they were 'vintage' and always assumed that they were maybe ten or even fifteen years old but it was only tonight I found out that production of Sextetts actually ceased in 1979.
Anyway, they sound wonderful. I guess in a way they should, as they were the hi-end in 1979! They are really quite a balanced headphone; as in nothing really dominates. They have a lovely musicality about them and are utterly un-fatiguing. That's not to say they have a rolled-off top end, because they don't. It seems to me they have plenty of extension, but it just sounds smooth and clear up top, rather than sharp and in-your-face.
They seem to sound full and expansive if I play a classical piece like Sibelius's 'Finlandia', raw and aggressive if I'm spinning The Sex Pistols 'Holidays in the Sun' but yet they also groove along to any Younger Brother or Shpongle track you can name. With any Jazz track, they sound superb. Listening to 'Sketches of Spain', 'Tuesday Wonderland', or even Boris Blank's 'Convergence' is almost to be present in the recording studio. Maybe because they are clean, musical, and well balanced is the reason they are able to pull off this trick?
Tyll measured a pair of Sextett EP's and quite liked them. Mine have a slightly different sound, which according to afficionados, is even more balanced.
In case you think I'm a fan-boy, these are absolutely not the best headphones in the world, and I'm certain they would be easily eaten by hi-end headphones of today, Senn HD-800, Grado GS1000, etc.
But they genuinely compete in the SQ stakes with AKG701's, HD600's, Grado 325i, DT-990's etc. I know because I've either got, or have listened to, all of these headphones. Yet because they are old, they seem to be completely forgotten.
AKG found them too expensive to make (for the price they were asking in 1979, remember) and tried a different, and very much cheaper, method of controlling bass resonances in the following models.
These subsequent models did not sound quite as good as the Sextetts, but the basic engineering underpinning the headphone was of such quality that they sold well for decades after. In fact you can still buy an "AKG K240" today, which looks to be the same design, although it is a pale imitation of the original Sextett. I have listened to a new K240, so I know! (Thanks Amazon returns department)
Unfortunately, one big downside, which comes from their studio heritage, is that Sextetts are 600 ohms. Don't bother plugging them into your i-pod! These headphones need a powerful amp to drive them so that they give of their best. But their 'best' is astonishingly good.
Not astonishingly good for a 35 year old headphone - astonishingly good for any headphone.
If you ever come across a pair of these for sale, and assuming the drivers are all OK, don't hesitate.
Buy them immediately, you can thank me later.
Jeff
Edit: - It must be oldies night! I've realised I'm listening to my AKG K-240 (LP) through a Musical Fidelity (RG-modded)X-10 D, feeding a Musical Fidelity (RG-modded)X-Cans V-2. How old are those components?
We probably have one or two members of our forum who are younger than these headphones?
I'm listening through a pair of AKG K240 Sextetts (LP). AKG produced these headphones with a 32mm driver but surrounded it with six passive bass 'Radiators'. These Radiators absorbed bass resonances, or something like that, giving a nice clean bass. The production run was split into three phases with early, mid, and late models distinguishable by the colour of the Radiators. I have white Radiators in my cans, so mine are the LP's or Late Production models. Since production of the Sextetts stopped in 1979, and assuming mine were the last pair off the production line, then they are at the very least, 35 years old!!
I can't remember what I paid for them a couple of years ago from a Head-fi member, but I'm pretty sure they were less than £60 pounds including shipping and taking into account euro conversion. I had to buy new elastics (a common fault), and new interior foams (another common fault) as after many years these items fail. The Head-fi member made this clear to me beforehand and even gave me contact numbers and names for AKG in the UK. I decided to keep the original cable as the whole lot sounded superb to me after a refurb. The fitted cable was a strange thing, quite thin, but with ridges all the way round it's circumference. Obviously original, and sounded absolutely excellent, so I decided to keep it. I did try solid silver for the main lead, and for the internal cabling between the drivers and the overhead 'bars', but I couldn't hear any difference whatsoever, so I reverted back to original wiring.
One phone call to the friendly, patient and helpful guy at AKG (can't remember his name) and I was sorted for elastics and foams for less than £15 including shipping. It's wonderful when you have a pair of headphones which are made by an established company, such that, you can phone up many, many years later and order parts to repair/refurb them. And they have them in stock.
Try that in twenty years time with a pair of Beats
To give you an idea of the service I received, a few days after ordering the parts, I realised that I could not remove the AKG logos on the end-pieces without destroying them and so I would need new ones. I phoned up AKG again, got the same guy again and explained what I wanted. He apologised to me and said he should have realised that since I was ordering elastics and foams he should have advised me to buy new end-piece aluminium logos. He then told me he would pop a couple of end-pieces in the post and send them to me free-of-charge as an apology! I think that when you receive service like that you should tell other people.
It was easy to replace the elastics etc, since I'd already had quite a bit of experience modifying a very "similar" headphone, our old friend the Superlux HD681.
They don't sound 35+ years old that's for sure!
Sorry, but I still can't get over them being 35+ years old, I knew they were 'vintage' and always assumed that they were maybe ten or even fifteen years old but it was only tonight I found out that production of Sextetts actually ceased in 1979.
Anyway, they sound wonderful. I guess in a way they should, as they were the hi-end in 1979! They are really quite a balanced headphone; as in nothing really dominates. They have a lovely musicality about them and are utterly un-fatiguing. That's not to say they have a rolled-off top end, because they don't. It seems to me they have plenty of extension, but it just sounds smooth and clear up top, rather than sharp and in-your-face.
They seem to sound full and expansive if I play a classical piece like Sibelius's 'Finlandia', raw and aggressive if I'm spinning The Sex Pistols 'Holidays in the Sun' but yet they also groove along to any Younger Brother or Shpongle track you can name. With any Jazz track, they sound superb. Listening to 'Sketches of Spain', 'Tuesday Wonderland', or even Boris Blank's 'Convergence' is almost to be present in the recording studio. Maybe because they are clean, musical, and well balanced is the reason they are able to pull off this trick?
Tyll measured a pair of Sextett EP's and quite liked them. Mine have a slightly different sound, which according to afficionados, is even more balanced.
In case you think I'm a fan-boy, these are absolutely not the best headphones in the world, and I'm certain they would be easily eaten by hi-end headphones of today, Senn HD-800, Grado GS1000, etc.
But they genuinely compete in the SQ stakes with AKG701's, HD600's, Grado 325i, DT-990's etc. I know because I've either got, or have listened to, all of these headphones. Yet because they are old, they seem to be completely forgotten.
AKG found them too expensive to make (for the price they were asking in 1979, remember) and tried a different, and very much cheaper, method of controlling bass resonances in the following models.
These subsequent models did not sound quite as good as the Sextetts, but the basic engineering underpinning the headphone was of such quality that they sold well for decades after. In fact you can still buy an "AKG K240" today, which looks to be the same design, although it is a pale imitation of the original Sextett. I have listened to a new K240, so I know! (Thanks Amazon returns department)
Unfortunately, one big downside, which comes from their studio heritage, is that Sextetts are 600 ohms. Don't bother plugging them into your i-pod! These headphones need a powerful amp to drive them so that they give of their best. But their 'best' is astonishingly good.
Not astonishingly good for a 35 year old headphone - astonishingly good for any headphone.
If you ever come across a pair of these for sale, and assuming the drivers are all OK, don't hesitate.
Buy them immediately, you can thank me later.
Jeff
Edit: - It must be oldies night! I've realised I'm listening to my AKG K-240 (LP) through a Musical Fidelity (RG-modded)X-10 D, feeding a Musical Fidelity (RG-modded)X-Cans V-2. How old are those components?