Vintage Headphones

Hey guys and gals,

Fletch here. I have aquired some vintage stereo equipment. I have a great Pioneer reciever, turntable and some incredible speakers circa the late 1960's. All of the stuff is that "wood grain" type finish.

All I need now is some vintage headphones to top it off. Since I didn't live during that time period, I was wondering from those who did, can you remember brands/models that would serve my purpose well?

I'm looking at these right now....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...709174800&rd=1

Any tips, comments, speculations or insults?


Thanks a bunch,

~Fletch

BTW, any of you rat bastids bid against me, I'm gonna make you bleed.

I understand the want for vintage stuff, but are you looking for a good pair of headphones? or a pair of good vintage ones? I don't know much about older stereo equipment, BUT if you are in the market for a good set of headphones, I highly recomend the Bose Triport Headphones, or the Triport Acoustics.

Obviously, they make speakers (even itty-bitty ones) far better than they did 30 years ago... But I really miss those big heavy earmuffs screening out the background noise, and you might find the bass response from the larger speakers to your taste.

Koss did make good stuff back then, and those look pretty inexpensive. I'd go for it.

Right on. I'm just lookin' for something that's going to be period correct and will sound good.

I've got news for ya guys. DSOTM sounds 10x better on my vintage set than my newer sound system.

There's no comparison.


~Fletch

Fletch.... I'M JEALOUS!!!

That's a sin you know.

Y'know, don't covet thy neighbor's ass, thy neighbor's wife, and the like.

(Go ahead, start with the 'ass' jokes )

Sure there is - if it's 10X better, you must have had a 1X system for a baseline.

Really, they did some things differently - For one thing, dual transformer coupled power supplies are much cleaner than the cheap switchers in everything today. For another, a transistor based class A amplifier has much lower harmonic distortion (no zero-crossing transients, is why) than the op-amp based class AB (or other hybrids) commonly used today.

Plus, while I hate to feed the "consumer crap" myth, they really were built to last longer than things are today - technology seemed so much more stable before computers.

Well, I can't really say much in the way of electrical jargin (although I will be able to in two years, as I'll be a junior studying electrical engineering).

However, I can say this. DSOTM, for example, is sooooo much "deeper" sounding on my vintage stuff. It's three dimensional compared to when I play it on a cd which seems very 1-D. Now if you had it in 5.1 surround sound, yeah, I'm sure it would sound incredible. But there is just something in the "scratchiness" and seeing the record spin around that just does it for me. It just feels so much more authentic and real. Feels like you can dive right into the sound.


Aneurysm, I do not covet your ass, just for the record.


Haha.


~Fletch

Good luck. I've been an engineer for more years than I want to think about... It has been a rewarding and interesting career. Plus, I may be the luckiest man in the world - I don't have to work on anything I'm not interested in.

BTW, my wife is starting her junior year in EE at UC Davis this fall. My retirement will commence shortly following her graduation.

Fletch:- I had a pair of Koss headphones in the early 70's, and they were the business, they looked very similar to the pair on ebay, but I cant remember the model no. The sound quality was very good, terrific bass, definitely worth the money. Another pair I had round about the same time were made by a company called Dynatron. They were big and bulky by todays standards, but they felt really comfortable and the sound was excellent. I would love to get another pair if I could find them.

DSOTM definately benefits from the pluses of vinyl - better, solid bass, and a kind of 'airiness' that can't be reproduced on CD.

I had a pair of Sennheisers in the early 70's that were just wonderful.

Yeah, in my circle of acquaintances, Sennheisers were generally agreed to be the best available - and they sure weren't cheap. Really innovative, too - they were the first to come out with the 'earbud' style phones and the tiny piezo speakers.

My favorites belonged to a roommate I had - they were by Technics, with nearly flat muffs and big squishy calfskin pads. You couldn't hear a damn thing (aside, of course, from the music) when wearing them. Good thing he never knew how close I was to 'accidently' packing 'em when I moved out...

Headphones are cool