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A Different Kind of Re-foam job: Sennheiser headphones


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Ok, so this is a vintage Speaker forum, but headphones have been called "earspeakers" by some ;) and these are definitely vintage.

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD-420 'phones that must be about 35 years old by now. They replaced my first pair, which were uncomfortable Superex jobs.

The Senns had been highly ranked in Consumer Reports and Stereo Review. Compared to the Superex they were light and comfortable.

Over the years I had acquired other cans: Stax Lambda, Sony MDR-V6 and, this Christmas, Grado SR80i.

The Senns had become a little less comfortable but were otherwise still good.

In searching for some information on them I found Martin Davies's very helpful blog and decided to follow his repair advice: http://vastmeridian.blogspot.com/2013/02/senheisser-headphone-renovation-for.html

I won't repeat his excellent step-by-step instructions here but will add a couple of comments:

As shown in the photos below, once I pulled off the ear-pads the foam was just a crumbled, sticky mess.

I tossed the ear-pads in the wash with some dark clothes and washed in cold water. Did not run thru the dryer. The pads came out nice and clean.

After removing the gunk from the transducers with a soft toothbrush and canned air, I popped the earpiece off the headband with some trepidation but it worked. It's just a force-fit ball and socket arrangement and although it's old the plastic survived. I found it much easier to work on replacing the ear-pads with one earpiece removed from the headband.

One caution: I noticed some discoloration of the gold color foam on the outside of the earpiece and tried to brush it off with the toothbrush. The foam just crumbled (see second photo). Don't do that!

I put the 80mm replacement foam inside the earpad as shown in the blog, then carefully eased the plastic "surround" back onto the earpiece. This is the hardest part but with some patience it works out fine.

Before popping the removed earpiece back into place I soaked the headband in some near-boiling water to soften it a bit to aid flexibility. That worked.

The completed 'phones are clean and comfy! Total cost: $5.98 (for a bag of TEN foams).

If any CSP member wants to try this send a PM and I'll mail you a pair of foams--I really don't need 8 spares!

sorry--none left.

Kent

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