Headphones by me

Phones by KarlOskar MkII

Hey Imgur! This is my first post. I've spent more hours here than I'd like to admit though... I've noticed that you guys like to see stuff that people make. And I like making stuff. So I thought I'd share! Start with the finished product, right?

I restore and convert old crystal reciever headphones into headphones that can be used with any modern sound source. My goal is to keep them as close to their original design as possible and sort of make them usable "again" instead of just making a new set of headphones, if you catch my drift. I try to get a hold of sets that are broken or unusable in their current state, I don't work on collectors items. I strip them of any old electronics (essentially an electro magnet and a steel plate) and use the old housing. I'm one guy doing this and I don't do this as a business. It's a hobby but I have been known to make commission pieces.
Below is parts of my process and some more pictures of how they turn out in the end. Keep readin'!

Lids part 1

The lids normally have a hole in them that is about 1,5cm across. Way too small to allow for any sort of good acoustics!

Lids part 2

Turn it down before you turn it up!

Lids part 3

Filing and sanding a new profile. The lids are made out of hard rubber and that stuff creates a nasty dust.

Lids part 4

Polishing and finishing.

Lids

All done!

Drivers

Anyone who has ever owned a pair of headphones will probably recognize this. This is the front grill of the KOSS PortaPros. I add some key holes to the grill to reduce the resistance across the grill. In headphone modding this pattern of hole is know as the "Kramer mod" after the dude who though it up. Credit where credit is due.

Drivers

Adding a felt distance and closing off the sides hermetically. They're now ready to be installed.

Housings

This is the basic housings, with the dampening supports for the drivers in place. I install SMA type connectors to allow for an airtight seal and to make the cables detachable/replaceable.

Drivers

Driver tuned down to size for the housing at hand. The outer ring of the drivers serves no purpose for the creation of sound.

Cables

Six strand, round braid out of teflon coated silver conductor wire. I use double grounds for mechanical support. This structure makes the cables very flexible and durable. Any sharp bends will transfer onto all of the conductors and the force will be be evenly distributed.

Cables

Six turns into threes.

Cables

Heatshrink to fix the Y in place and to add stress relief. Also the cloth lining that I dress the cables in. The original headphones always have cloth covered cabling so I stick with that.

Cables

Cable termination at the SMA plug. I use fly tying tools for this.

Cables

All done! Red means "Right".

Housings

This is from a different build to show some modifications that needs to be made sometimes to accommodate the drivers. These housings were exceptionally small so I had to turn down a small lip on the inside of the housings.

Finished stuff

Okay! That's that! The parts that I left out were the not so visual aspects of tuning the phones to make them pleasant to listen to. That involves adding different amount of different materials with different acoustic properties to the insides of the cups. Also adding ports to the cups and tuning those. Installing open headphone drivers into a closed design as this one creates some interesting changes in the sound of the headphones. I like to think they sound better than the original PortaPros!
This is not your average DJ/ Dre Beats, "make your temporal bones flutter ina bass powered hurricane bordering the brown note"-variety of headphones though. I like to keep the bass manageable. You should be able to distinguish what note an upright bass is playing and not just feel the vibration. Trying to keep the frequency response as flat as possible!

What follows are some promo pictures that my brother helped me with (he's the bald one). They're intended to show off the phones and how they look while worn. Enjoi!

I add some earpads to the phones to make them comfy and to isolate them.

Different pair, older job. These are my own that I use every day.

Leather strap that goes over a shirt button. Takes all the strain from the cable off of you neck and the connectors. Good for extended use.

They started out as a BBC issue.

In this picture you can see the bass vent/port. I fine tune these using a watchmakers cutting broach. 1/10 of a mm makes a big difference!

Also serial number.

I add a layer of breathable cloth to the lids to protect the diaphragm from dirt and stuff.

Note I add to the boxes

"In this box lies a set of headphones that began their journey in the early 20th century. They've seen the world around them change into a very different place during the past century. Now, these headphones too have changed. By hand, they have been carefully restored and modified to be used with todays technology and todays people. A hundred years later and they are still around, sounding better than ever. It's a different form of recycling and way of provoking thought."

Box

That's all folks!

If there's something you'd like to know, speak up! I can't hear a thing with these badboys on...