... About how to dramatically reduce the presence of spurious resonances in one's system using Plast-i-Clay. The latest recipient of the "treatment" here is my set of Sennheiser HD-555 headphones, which I had taken apart to remove the piece of foam rubber that alters the tuning of the ear cup- the only difference (aside from cosmetics) between these and the almost $100 more expensive HD-595. As long as I was going to do this, I figured what the hey, while I'm in there...
So I applied probably about 3/4 cubic inch of the stuff on each side in "strategic locations" inside the cans- back plate of the driver, mounting structure and so on (taking care to observe all admonitions not to block any airflow by obstructing vents and so forth). Might not sound like much but it was applied fairly liberally.
And the result? The usual: like the two pairs of speakers and turntable I "treated", instrumental separation and clarity improved noticeably; the "edges" of notes are better defined, and low frequencies are clearer and tighter. What surprised me with the "cans" was that these benefits extend throughout the frequency range- the highs benefit as well. I wasn't expecting this but speculate that it is at least partly due to the fact that, being headphones, we are talking about a full range driver, yet I hear the improved clarity in the highs even when there aren't any lows present. Oh well, ain't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.
Only potential drawback is that the increased clarity may tell you things about your source material that you may not wanna know if you listen to compressed material like internet radio (which I do some of the time). For that, a slightly "softer" presentation may be desirable in some cases. As I once heard, "The truth will set you free- but first it will piss you off."
And in the case of the 555s, which are on the bright side to begin with, rolling the treble a bit is a good idea with a lot of source material, but I was already doing that anyway.
Bottom line- If you have never heard of the Plast-i-Clay "tweak", go back and look at Frank's Audio Basics articles (free for the downloading). The highest bang-for-the-buck of any "tweak" I have ever tried- the benefits are real and immediately obvious. Save what you were gonna spend on those "audiophile" fuses or little bridges to raise your speaker wires off the floor and spend it on Plasticlay (aka "plasticine" plastilina" etc) at the art supply store instead. You'll be glad you did.
Just thought Frank might wanna know that information is out there and is still being used to make serious improvements to audio gear at almost no cost. Hmm, wonder how hard my Tivoli Audio Kloss Model One table radio would be to crack open...
