Any vintage AKG owners?(with expressions)

[RexAeterna]

Hey everyone. i just joined this forum about day or two ago. been browsing around getting hang around here and so forth. i was recommended by a kind and very helpful head-fier user(Ishcabible). told me lot about these forums and it's very kind and respectful community.

i was a long time head-fier user for my headphone needs and am also an Audiokarma user as well cause i'm a vintage nut(mostly amps and receivers) and love the look and sound of vinyl and some tape decks(believe me tapes can sound amazing:P). Head-fi has a so-so community from my experience. lot of people don't take opinions too kindly there and once i had an issue with the Mod there cause he didn't like my opinion on a pair of speakers(another story tho).

anyways... Wonder if anyone here is also own some of the finest of AKG line-up around here? i'm a big vintage AKG fan and find all there discontinued gear some of the best i ever put on my head. my favorite are my akg 240 sextetts lp that i still have original box to and my AKG 240DF's.

on request i will do a quick impression. i'll let everyone know i never consider myself an audiophile. i just love my music and love audio gear so i do not know some of the fancier expressions that take place in reviews that explains a certain coloration and so forth. well here it goes.

Hmm....where to start?

Well first off, these both are 600ohms so they require a good amount of voltage to be dropped from a power amp or power amp section of an integrated amp or receiver. so anything with high output impedance will get the job done and be able to drop enough voltage down to the headphones. lucky my 1972 sansui 5000x and 1983 hitachi ha-2 has an output impedance of 680ohms. my sansui is rated 1w@680ohms while my little hitachi is 1/2w@680ohms so no matter what headphone i plug in i should be dropping down enough voltage from the power amp sections of my amps.

Build quality: Both are built very well since during that time cost wasn't a big deal at all and always required the best. the ear rims are metal and has metal badges on side of the ear cups. the ear cups are made of very hard plastic and don't feel cheap. they are very flexible as well. the chord on my sextetts lp is like a rope type material with a unscrew-able 1/4'' jack(i mean unscrew-able in case has to fix solder joints or replace jack). the 240DF's have a thick rubber chord with a 3.5mm gold plated jack at the end(had no idea why akg did this) with a screw-able 1/4'' jack adapter.

the sextetts has a special strong plastic screen that protects the 6 passive membranes/drivers that surround the active main driver. the 240DF uses a simple foam screening to protect the driver(like modern AKGs). the AKG 240DF had 3 variations during it's life span. the earliest model(early 80's) had the six sextett baffles(no passive membranes tho. just the baffles that hold the membranes) and a 1/4'' jack. later was changed to smaller and more what akg called ''acoustic vents'' and was paper material. later version ''acoustic vents'' are made with woven fabric(one i have) and 3.5mm jack. the sextetts had 3 versions as well(EP,MP,LP) but all used the same 6 passive driver concept. the just the MP and EP had slight different screen protector and used different color passive membranes. the 6 passive membranes acted like ''bass traps'' and was meant to be tuned to prevent around 100-200hz resonance to prevent slow bloated bass response. also acted like dampen material for midrange and high frequencies resonance as well....

Sound quality:

i will get to my sextetts at first since these are known to be different to everyone and due to different production models. i never owned either the EP and MP versions at all so i can't give personal opinion on them. i only own pair of the LP model. all i can say about the EP and MP versions from reading around is supposedly the EP and MP has more bass and less treble. i can't conform it but it's from guessing it has something to do with the type of passive membranes used( the EP used Orange membranes. the MP were white with orange surrounds. LP was all white). anyways,other then that....

Transparency:

Both my Sextetts LP and 240DF  are very transparent headphones that can be picky on what plays on them. they will bring out every little detail  in the music from background singers coughing,to scraping of guitar strings,pressing of pedals,ect. they will also give the experience of where the recording took place and has great sense of space and air. can hear every end of reverb tails in the air. tell if the vocal booth was placed in a anechoic chamber or was altered in any way,ect. also can pick out ever mistake in recording compression/artifacts.

Clarity:
i say my sextetts lp and 240DF's are bout same playing field while the 240DF clearly has the much better clarity across the full spectrum at all times while my sextetts lp has great clarity but not same level as the DF especially in the midrange. it can vary much with each other on my mood and track.

Extension:

Both have amazing extension at both ends while my sextetts lp taking slight lead below 30hz. it has a much stronger presence down at 20hz while the DF has a strong presence down to around 35hz before major roll-off takes place. both tho can extend to 18khz before cut-off which i find very impressive since most headphones have a major dip after 10khz. also what i mean by cut-off  is they extend up to 18khz but after that there is nothing. they just drop off. this doesn't make them bright or fatiguing either.

Sound Signature:

i'm gonna do sound signature so i can explain the whole spectrum at once while not going through bass,mids,highs,ect. much easier for me to do it this way and will give you my overall expression of the headphones sonic qualities...

while many expect certain signatures from headphones like forward,laidback,bright,ect. i'll have to give a warning you my not like these then.

Both since very transparent they act like a chameleon. they will only be bright,dark,forward,laidback or whatever if the recording/track is. they will not color the sound.  only difference between my sextetts lp and Df's is my Sextetts has more bass ''presence''. by that i mean it's more noticeable on certain tracks. the DF's are considered very bass light to some but honestly they just sound like very high dampened bass to me. they will provide you with deep bass impact if the track has it. it will provide boosted mid-bass that's found in a lot of trip-hop. they will give the deep extension of lot of bass sweeps and some electronic music. just with the DF's you can hear it. not feel it. it will give you the impression of ''feeling'' the bass impact but literally will not be felt tickling your ears or vibrating the earcups. my sextett lp tho can give me that heavy ''impact'' feeling while maintaining very tight and accurate.

the midrange on both my sextetts lp and DF is the best i ever heard so far. every single guitar string from either metal to nylon can be detected. harshness,air,ect. can be detected in the vocal range with very good accuracy. i love listening to female vocals and love the sound of violin,cello,piano and guitar(acoustic and electric). sibilance can be issue with some tracks if it's there but that has lot to do with mic position in the studio and how they eq'ed it in the first place.

Treble can be bright or soft depending on recording but has wonderful speed where each crash of a cymbal doesn't give that artificial ''sizzle'' and can provide wonderful decay in the air.

soundstage on both is very expansive and ''real''. it doesn't give a wider depth of the soundstage in anyway to give more illusion sense of space. it just does it's job. some tracks like some Bjorks can sound very binaural like and can give you sense of ''realism'' like listening to a pair of loudspeakers  with a very wide dispersion pattern on and off axis in an acoustic treated room. it's also very accurate and can be wonderful as well for movies and games that need some precision cue placement detection.

well that's all. sorry i can't explain more as of now. not very good at explaining things(which is obvious). now for the pics

AKG 240 Sextetts LP:



AKG 240DF:




AKG sextett PDF files:

http://s882.photobucket.com/albums/ac26/RexAeterna/akg240sextett/         

[marcusd]

I think this is where kenrs1, edsamac and Mochan will chime in with their thoughts owning all sorts of AKG.

Myself I cant claim to owning anything vintage by AKG but did for a while have the K702 and it grew on me for large sound scapes like movies and concerts and when amped nicely with something warm and thick it performed pretty good for some genres.

I am totally unsure about the Q series though and where it is taking AKG as well as the recent move to production in China.

Oh heck of a way to start your life in headphiles - welcome bro! 

[sese]

Bro Rex,

I feel you have relayed what ought to be read. Kudos on the mini write up! 
Anything lower than 600ohm and 1W of amp will hardly give these kinds of impressions.

The DFs are what intrigue me more than the sextett LP.
I want to hear the details on the DF, and compare with a K240M v1 and v2. The v1 has slightly more bass, mid-bass presence, where the mids, mid-highs  and  highs has a slightly softer presence; compared to the v2 which has more emphasis on mids, mid-highs and highs. They are both very transparent. But there is an obvious difference on how they tuned these two versions.

Anyway. K240M v1 owner here.

We are a growing community of vintage lovers here. Thanks for signing up!  If you are in the Philippines, MAYBE we can meet up and appreciate our GEMS. hehe

[amievil]

very nice article bro! I hope i can audition those cans in the near future and be done with it. Those vintage akg cans kept me hunting ebay for so many nights 


K240 Monitor user here. Recabled to dual-entry using denko cables   

[RexAeterna]

Bro Rex,

I feel you have relayed what ought to be read. Kudos on the mini write up! 
Anything lower than 600ohm and 1W of amp will hardly give these kinds of impressions.

The DFs are what intrigue me more than the sextett LP.
I want to hear the details on the DF, and compare with a K240M v1 and v2. The v1 has slightly more bass, mid-bass presence, where the mids, mid-highs  and  highs has a slightly softer presence; compared to the v2 which has more emphasis on mids, mid-highs and highs. They are both very transparent. But there is an obvious difference on how they tuned these two versions.

Anyway. K240M v1 owner here.

We are a growing community of vintage lovers here. Thanks for signing up!  If you are in the Philippines, MAYBE we can meet up and appreciate our GEMS. hehe

thanks. yea the DF's are the most well unknown secrets across the head-fi world(well from what i notice). they are very much not talked about but have a very big underground fellowing for studio use and audiophiles who want absolute transparency and natural response. the sextetts are little more exposed compared to the DF's but vary big time on the original owner and condition since they are much older compared to the DF's(sextetts are from mid to late 70's while DF's earliest model ever found was close to early 80's). the sextetts can be a hit or miss as well since it depends on the wear of the driver it was exposed to and there were tons of different driver and baffle mix-ups(had green,grey,white driver casings on different models while have different colored passive drivers.)

i never heard the Monitors or owned a pair before. they are very common tho on ebay. i see them all the time. i'm guessing tho since AKG still has them under production on special orders(sometimes the DF's can be specially ordered as well) they are more common to find.they had some experiment models as well but renamed and sold in different countries exclusively but i don't know exactly the models.

if i lived in the Philippines i be more then happy to share and visit but i'm in the U.S at the moment. i only have stories from my dad about the Philippine Islands(grew up on Clark Air Base till he was 15). we were planning on visiting last year but something came up and didn't turn way we wanted to. 
 

[RexAeterna]

very nice article bro! I hope i can audition those cans in the near future and be done with it. Those vintage akg cans kept me hunting ebay for so many nights 


K240 Monitor user here. Recabled to dual-entry using denko cables   

thanks. yea i can't tell you the endless months of searching ebay,cragslist and bugging head-fiers to sell me their pair lol. i got lucky and won a pair of sextetts lp brand new in the box on ebay for 72 bucks. i bought my DF's couple months later from a head-fier who sent me a pair of yamaha hp-1 ortho's to audition.

it was so worth the wait in my opinion.

[Ishcabible]

Ooh, 2 to sign up for here in the K4 and RP50.

My AKG K4 has admittedly not seen too much use because I'm trying to get a new housing for them as the current one is snapped. I actually haven't used them in months...

[edsamac]

I think this is where kenrs1, edsamac and Mochan will chime in with their thoughts owning all sorts of AKG.

You had me at AKG? 

Anyway, I've only really spent time with the 240s and its modern rendition, the 242s - and indeed, I agree that they excel in their midrange purity.  Compared to the later models in the bloodline of the 24x range, I'd say this midrange purity has been tossed around a bit to favor more brightness and reach in the lows (perhaps reflecting evolving tastes in music), but you really can't argue with mids that sound so tasty to the ears.

I really want to listen to the sextetts to get what all the fuss is about.  The technical mumbo-jumbo about the 6 passive radiators yada is intriguing, yes... but I really want to know what they sound like.


Hopefully, I too shall become a vintage owner of this line of headphones.  That, or maybe I'll drift into the old AKG elects?   Haha!

[Collie]

I've owned 3 AKGs,but sadly no vintage: The K701, the K271 MKII and the more modern K242. I liked them for their time, with the K271 MKII being my favorite for its midrange clarity. If I'd ever want another AKG, I'd probably go with the vintage K340, which is surprisingly expensive these days.

[airwax]

I have not owned any AKGs but of course maybe someday a vintage one would be nice. And that sextett is sexy. Welcome bro.

[RexAeterna]

You had me at AKG? 

Anyway, I've only really spent time with the 240s and its modern rendition, the 242s - and indeed, I agree that they excel in their midrange purity.  Compared to the later models in the bloodline of the 24x range, I'd say this midrange purity has been tossed around a bit to favor more brightness and reach in the lows (perhaps reflecting evolving tastes in music), but you really can't argue with mids that sound so tasty to the ears.

I really want to listen to the sextetts to get what all the fuss is about.  The technical mumbo-jumbo about the 6 passive radiators yada is intriguing, yes... but I really want to know what they sound like.


Hopefully, I too shall become a vintage owner of this line of headphones.  That, or maybe I'll drift into the old AKG elects?   Haha!

i actually have a PDF file showing how the sextetts were equalized and so forth that i got on request by AKG. it's not complete PDF but few pages from their archives. i just need to figure how to upload it to the k240 series on wiki to share cause i would love to share it.

from the PDF file it indicates the sextetts were free-field equalized cause they eq'ed them in an anechoic chamber with a head dummy with mics attached to the earlobes. the passive radiators acted like absorbers and was tuned to absorb frequencies down to 100hz to keep the bass from becoming bloated or overpowering and keep the midrange and highs clean sounding and don't resonate like how you stuff speakers with 4'' fiber glass to absorb frequencies all the way down to 20hz to prevent any type of cab resonance cause frequencies can be majority affected and interfere when sound inside the cabs clash with soundwaves that's meant to stay ''out'' not ''in''.i'm guessing also that's why the EP and MP is known for more bass supposedly cause the materials improved over time for the passive membranes.

i say it was smart move on AKG engineers part but reason they stopped cause it's crazy expensive to add 6 passive drivers around 1 active driver(the membranes actually receive some kind of electrical charge as well when headphones are active and in use). i guess that's reason they were known to be power hungry as well and require very large mixer boards and power amps.

the sextetts can still be had for cheap still nowadays and much cheaper compared to the modern akg 240 studio MSRP. just downside depending on condition and how well they're taken care of you you might have to clean some rotted foam,re-do the solder joints,ect. and also need something to power them cause they're 600ohms cause back then 600ohms were the standard in the studios and radio broadcasting.

[RexAeterna]

Ooh, 2 to sign up for here in the K4 and RP50.

My AKG K4 has admittedly not seen too much use because I'm trying to get a new housing for them as the current one is snapped. I actually haven't used them in months...

the k4's were like little brothers to the k340 right? i'm not sure cause i remember reading about them somewhere. but congrats on getting them. they are actually one of the rare models of AKG. there is another model that was meant to replace the k340's which were smaller but used the same electrodynamic approach. i just forgot the name.

[Ishcabible]

the k4's were like little brothers to the k340 right? i'm not sure cause i remember reading about them somewhere. but congrats on getting them. they are actually one of the rare models of AKG. there is another model that was meant to replace the k340's which were smaller but used the same electrodynamic approach. i just forgot the name.

Yeah, they are, and thanks! I have no idea how I managed to buy them for $15 shipped.

And those are the K145.

[RexAeterna]

i updated my OP with an album of the sextetts printscreen copy i did on information of the sextetts PDF. you're gonna have to read them from right to left tho cause how i uploaded it and be best to be read as a slideshow. let me know if it works or not. it should tho since i never once had issues with photobuckt.

[sese]

Bro Rex,
You definitely make me want to hear more of the K240DF by how you guys write about it here. 

My brother missed out on one for sale on ebay germany, closing bid was Eu67. He miscalculated the time as he was bidding Eu77 for it. 

It was a great piece, i guess, as it was a studio demo unit for some tie and never had been used again.