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Author Topic: AKG K240 LP Sextetts  (Read 1754 times)

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ultrabike

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AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« on: November 08, 2014, 06:55:08 AM »

The set has cotton spacers along the rim of the pads. It has also been re-cabled. These are the LP version. CHEERS REX! :)p5

Sound

These IMO are a set of good sounding cans. They are warm and pleasant. They also have some emphasis in the high mids and treble area, but depending on source, not obnoxiously so. When listening to them I felt the emphasis was perhaps centered around 10 kHz. It turns out 10 kHz is perhaps in the hot area but things seem more centered around 6 kHz. Not particularly articulate or analytic, but manage some sparkle and sizzle up top.

There is quite a bit of bass impact and fullness.

Depending on how loud one listens, these may benefit from a highish voltage amplifier.

Comfort

These are very lite and surprisingly comfy. The headband is wide and adjustable (suspension). Something sorely missed in some somewhat heavy cans.

Presentation

Aliens.

Price

Discontinued methinks. Perhaps $140 on ebay, dunno. Hard to find and plenty of versions that look somewhat alike IMO.

Overall

Like.

Measurements

These cans should respond to changes in the enclosure. Given the pads are sealed I measured them as sealed cans. Also note that I distortion was measured at 86 dB since getting 90 dB was not possible with the 2i2... cans are about 600 ohms.

Frequency Response



Distortion Right



Distortion Left



CSD Right



CSD Left



Impedance

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Solderdude

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2014, 08:32:38 AM »

Thanks for measuring these.
I always wondered about them.
They came across as very V-shaped to me and somewhat similar to a stock HD681, albeit somewhat less 'edgy'.

It appears to me Superlux not only copied the exterior design but also wanted to copy the sound signature.
The Superlux has more of a subwoofer type lows though.


HD681-stock

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RexAeterna

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2014, 01:04:28 PM »

These are one weird beast but always had soft spot and love for them.

The measurements seem to turn bit different than the EP models measured before and seem bit cleaner in the csd in comparison too. Maybe better material with the passive drivers? Maybe how I refurbished them acoustically too. Who knows.

When I got them while they were already great condition and previous owner tried refurbing the inside I found the overly thick closed-cell foam was too much. While some believe it was more mechanical and not necessary. to me it looked like how passive diaphams design it was best to try to "slow" the energy with opencell type stuff so I used fiberfill to replace the foam. Very light and cushy enough to prevent the cups scrapping.

I found them bit warm but not overly so like the fr measurement shows I feel. It just didn't seem like it. Compared to the studios, the studios sounded much warmer, dull and not as clean.  Found the studios have enough top but didn't seem to have that right type of sparkle like the sextetts. They seem bit bright to me but not too bad. I always thought the pros, dfs and my modded fostex to be brighter but that's probably because they have more top and air energy.

They did seem to react like speakers to me with amping. I knew they had crazy peaks in the impedance in certain frequency ranges. I found they always performed better off speaker outputs in like a smoother type of way. But maybe it was cause of the over dampening from the extreme low output impedance of speaker outs and endless voltage supply they were capable providing just cause it was just a pair of headphones despite the nominal 600ohm load.

I always thought they were better than the 702 that people loved so much. I always found these, my dfs, fostex, lambda pros, and SA5000 to have overall better performance and more likeable.  Only newer akg I liked a lot were the 601's.

Well anyhoo, thanks ultrabike for the interesting measurements. Glad you like them too. Tip though, taking the cotton out make them colder sounding in the midbass area but due to closeness of the drivers might seem weird. Well to me I didn't like the plastic being to close to my ears. They gotten brighter and less warm but wasn't too bad but liked it bit more with cotton under the pads cause it was nice for gaming.
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donunus

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2014, 03:34:30 PM »

looking at that graph, it looks like the way my EP sounded. The new K240S china made model sounds way more accurate than that. I had an old Austria one, it wasn't bad but I feel these chinese ones are better. They crap out when given lots of volume on the vali though.
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RexAeterna

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2014, 04:03:53 PM »

looking at that graph, it looks like the way my EP sounded. The new K240S china made model sounds way more accurate than that. I had an old Austria one, it wasn't bad but I feel these chinese ones are better. They crap out when given lots of volume on the vali though.

I had china made model 240s too and I found them lot warmer than both the lp's I use to own. The sextetts sounded smoother with more extension and lot better stereo imaging. I even tried the studios once off speaker outputs both my sansuis and Yamaha power amp and found the studios not as good. I think it has lot do with the passive radiators maybe. I found even the monitors and 240DF with the woven cloth fabric ports to be more finely tuned and smoother than the studios. I got my studios at local guitar center and spent about twice as much compared to near nothing prices I got my sextetts models and 240DF for and was really disappointed by the studios performance. Removing the foam disc from the studios helped with the warmth but the pain my ears endured with it's really bad treble of death stabs it was best to keep the foam discs in the studios. Later on I decided to rip apart the studios and used it for parts. Only thing I saw the studios woth for.

I had 2 different sextetts lp models.  One with the white case drivers and one I gave away to ultrabike has the red casing drivers. I never owned both my sextetts simutatiously so I was never able to compare differences. I just I always really liked both and lot more than the studio models. The k271 I like bit more than the studios and the k601 is only other newer akg I liked too. Other then that I don't find the others worth it in my opinion.
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ultrabike

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2014, 05:46:32 PM »

It appears to me Superlux not only copied the exterior design but also wanted to copy the sound signature.
The Superlux has more of a subwoofer type lows though.

They are very similar construction-wise indeed. Down to the headband and surrounding circles which are perhaps used as ports like in the later K240 models. It seems the Superluxes use a 50mm driver with a 32 ohm impedance though (http://avlex.com/products/hd-681/) and that may account for some of the differences. But yes, lots of similarities it seems.

The measurements seem to turn bit different than the EP models measured before and seem bit cleaner in the csd in comparison too. Maybe better material with the passive drivers? Maybe how I refurbished them acoustically too. Who knows.

Though not exactly the same, but I do see some similarities though:

EP model:



LP model:



Based on measurements alone, the LP does seem to carry a little more sizzle.

Well anyhoo, thanks ultrabike for the interesting measurements. Glad you like them too. Tip though, taking the cotton out make them colder sounding in the midbass area but due to closeness of the drivers might seem weird. Well to me I didn't like the plastic being to close to my ears. They gotten brighter and less warm but wasn't too bad but liked it bit more with cotton under the pads cause it was nice for gaming.

I think the cotton idea is fantastic, and these do great with both movies and games! Thanks mang!
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firev1

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2014, 04:39:42 AM »

The Shure pads are wonderful with the 240 models :3 very comfy and plushy. depending on your taste, you could cut out the thick felt driver covers too. I do that with my DFs
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RexAeterna

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2014, 09:45:10 AM »

The Shure pads are wonderful with the 240 models :3 very comfy and plushy. depending on your taste, you could cut out the thick felt driver covers too. I do that with my DFs

You're right. I tried the 840 pads on the DF and sextetts before and liked it. Where most the warmness signature and certain brightness comes from is the 240 pads alone. I know the 840 pads are more oval but can be rounded out with some use of cotton under the pads

Felt? On the sextett drivers I assume? Was always afraid of doing anything other then rewiring and simple dampening. The df I have screen cloth protector that pefefectly wraps around that came from pair of old wireless sennhesier model. Also cutted some really nice black polyester felt for them.
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RexAeterna

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2014, 01:22:10 PM »

I just noticed...for some reason looking at the ep and the lp results, the lp has less ringing than the ep. I wonder if cause the fiberglass in the enclosure or the passive drivers are made differently from ep to lp or both. Interesting though.
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RexAeterna

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Re: AKG K240 LP Sextetts
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2014, 01:42:53 PM »

The Shure pads are wonderful with the 240 models :3 very comfy and plushy. depending on your taste, you could cut out the thick felt driver covers too. I do that with my DFs

Just realized what you said. Yea I used a combination of 240 studio foam disc(s) and some nice polyester felt together. Tuned done the top nicely. I also cut the plastic tri thing on the baffle in front of the driver. Used transparent cloth that perfectly wraps around cups that I took off from pair of wireless sennheiser headphones. In the enclosure I just stuffed it with polyester fiberfill and cut little square pieces of thin layers of fiberglass and placed it behind the drivers and clipped the brackets over it. I replaced the handband with an old spare sextett handband(with holes in it).

I went through a complete refurb process with the 240DF after I sent to marv in the past. They weren't in the greatest condition then and knew they were gonna sound brighter than usual cause was limited in supplies when I modded my t50rp at the time.
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''I'm a music lover. Not an audiophile.''

''The World is Study.''

''I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.''

''Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.''