28 replies to this topic

[tropicalrips]

finally got my BLACK soft pads for the SR-80
actually they are still the same 414 pads for Senn cans, dyed black



bought this fabric dye from a tailor, cost : $2.50 per tin, its a power form, mix with hot water, the instructions also says add salt, not sure what the salt is for but i add it anyway



let the pads soak for about 5 mins, making sure that every part has being dyed, squeeze out the access and leave them to dry for about 20 mins. then rinse off with clean water. now the pads are black


before and after



new black pads with the original "donuts"

i decided to leave the centre of this new pair of 414 pads uncut, i prefer the way they sounded without the center hole, the previous pair that i had with the cut-out sounded too bright for me they were sold off



one last shot, i think the Grados look best from this angle

Edited by tropicalrips, 01 March 2004 - 03:24 PM.

[cmk]

Impressive man! Great work.

[tropicalrips]

now i need to do some extensive testing/listening to make sure the pads don't turn my ears black

i think they should be quite safe, after washing them with clean water, the black dye still stays on.

[N@Z]

Hey, they look pretty good from the photos actually. I was considering this but was unsure if the dye would stay on in the long term. Keep us posted of your ear colour! Hehehe! This is another DIY mod I wanna try!

[tropicalrips]

i think the trick is in the hot water & salt, my mom says to use vinegar in the mixture to make the dye stay on, i thought that was a little too extreme so i just add salt

N@Z there's also a "coffee" color dye, i think that will look good on your RS-1 i also saw dark blue and few lighter colors. the dyed pads actually do look good, u won't be able to tell they use to be yellow

Edited by tropicalrips, 01 March 2004 - 06:44 PM.

[N@Z]

How hot does the water need to be?

[tropicalrips]

i use boiling water to dissolve the dye & salt, then just throw the pads into the mix need to squeeze them a little to get them to absorb the mixture

i use about 1 teaspoon of dye with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, (didn't really follow the instructions ) with about 2 glasses of water

sounds like a recipe for making bread

after about 20-30 mins, the pads drys off a little and u will find theres quite a lot of extra dye on them, need to rinse them out with clean water, the color looks a little lighter after this process, i think if u like them more "black" u can repeat the dyeing process again.

[Rameish]

Hmmm...in b&w photography the stop bath is made from acid to sTop THe dev process.

[tropicalrips]

update :
after about 4 hrs of testing/listening & field test today, my ears hav not turn black
sweat on the black dye pad also did not cause the color to drop or fade

[yekim]

tropicalrips - well done
my experience is kinda funny - i used the same dye and my yellow senn pads turned green!!
i could have used more water or less salt or done something wrong.

[Q00]

more dye!

[Absolute0]

Perhaps you used blue dye since green = yellow + blue...

tropicalrips: The dyed pads are really pretty, but somehow I still prefer them yellow!

[tropicalrips]

[tropicalrips]

another mod for the SR-80



decided to take the SR-80 modding another step further, removing the "SR80" badge



the color of the grills where the badge used to be was a little different from the rest of the grill, i use a black marker to paint over the whole grill

i don't think this actually improves the sound, but at least it improves the look of the headphone makes them look more "pro" like

next step : replacing the whole grill and maybe change the stock cable as well

[N@Z]

Makes it look more like tropicalrip'ssandro' Mod! Removing the badge didn't change the sound even a little bit?

I just noticed something, does the current line of SRs have that 'blister' (just above the word Prestige)? I didn't have that on mine.