# DIY Headphones and Driver Options. Any Suggestions?



## jacobgolden

Hi,
   
  I'm experimenting with building some headphones from scratch and would love some input on picking some appropriate full range drivers/speakers. I've been combing through the parts-express website and there are quite a few nice looking full range speaker options in that measure 2 - 3.5 inch.
   
  Not really sure the appropriate ohms and wattage to look for 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




   
  I know most of these aren't designed specifically for headphones but  do you think any of these would work in a set of oversize (Hifiman size cups)?
   
  Some I was looking at -
   
 *HiWave BMR5 Compact 2" Full-Range Square Speaker 5W 8 Ohm* http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=297-212
   
 *HiWave BMR12 Compact 2" Full-Range Square Speaker 12W 8 Ohm* http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=299-208
   
 *Replacement Speaker Driver for Bose 901 4-1/2" 1 Ohm* http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=290-922
   
  I know you can contact sennheiser direct and by drivers or canabolize cheaper headphones but that is more then I want to spend. and I'm already working on some modded t50rp...
   
  Any help, thoughts or links would be much appreciated. thanks!
   
  Jacob


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## Tjj226 Angel

Hello Jacob,
   
  I am literally right in the middle of making my own DIY headphones. I just came up stairs to take a dinner break.
   
  I can tell you that none of those speakers will work the way you want them to, and bare headphone drivers are few and far between. However, there are a couple options, and one way in particular I know works for sure. Audio Technica sells the bare drivers to their headphones except for the higher end stuff (I personally was able to buy the ath-ad900x drivers after calling up their office in ohio for about 60 bucks for a pair), and grado might sell their as well (though I have never personally checked). 
   
  Once you decide on a company, let me know. I am trying to make a tutorial on how to build DIY headphones, so hopefully I will have pics and other info.


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## jacobgolden

Ahh. Thanks for the reply Angel. So I'm still confused the difference between these small full range speakers and headphone drivers. Is it that  the speakers are harder to drive? or do they just not work within the cups? is it a frequency thing? I also see that the the speakers are usually like eight ohms were headphone seems to be anywear from 30 - 600 ohms.
   
  I think I might go the Audio Technica route but was hoping to use speakers that were a little more unusual
   
  Maybe some other people can chime in too if they have some experiance building DIY headphones it's sure a fun project there just doesn't seem to be that much info on headphone drivers.


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## Tjj226 Angel

Quote: 





jacobgolden said:


> Ahh. Thanks for the reply Angel. So I'm still confused the difference between these small full range speakers and headphone drivers. Is it that  the speakers are harder to drive? or do they just not work within the cups? is it a frequency thing? I also see that the the speakers are usually like eight ohms were headphone seems to be anywear from 30 - 600 ohms.
> 
> I think I might go the Audio Technica route but was hoping to use speakers that were a little more unusual
> 
> Maybe some other people can chime in too if they have some experiance building DIY headphones it's sure a fun project there just doesn't seem to be that much info on headphone drivers.


 
   
  From what I understand, normal speakers won't work because they still need crossover components where as headphone drivers don't. Headphones drivers are also specifically designed to be right next to your ear. Full blown speakers are going to move too much air, and after about an hour of listening your ears will probably bleed regardless of the volume. 
   
  Mind you that these are things that I have gathered. I could be wrong. But one thing I do know for certain is that you need headphone drivers for headphones. That much I have already asked about and have gotten the same answer.
   
  Honestly, if you want to go with something more unique, I suggest you look at the DIY electrostatic headphone thread. They are much more difficult to produce but have much greater reward than basic dynamic headphones (if you didn't know, dynamic is the type of headphones you will be making). Since that is the case, I say you stick to dynamic headphones for now, get some experience, and then tackle the bigger stuff like the electrostatic headphones.


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## jacobgolden

Interesting. Although with the full-range speakers I know you don't need a cross over. Maybe like you said it has to do with air pressure. I'm gonna have to use myself as a test subject with this one : o

The DIY electrostat phones look great but very technical. Guess ill stick with dynamics for now. I did see that some people were sourcing out ortho drivers but those are proving hard to track down. I've got a couple fostex t50rp's I'm working on but it would be great to have more of a selection when it comes to drivers.


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## Tjj226 Angel

Quote: 





jacobgolden said:


> Interesting. Although with the full-range speakers I know you don't need a cross over. Maybe like you said it has to do with air pressure. I'm gonna have to use myself as a test subject with this one : o
> The DIY electrostat phones look great but very technical. Guess ill stick with dynamics for now. I did see that some people were sourcing out ortho drivers but those are proving hard to track down. I've got a couple fostex t50rp's I'm working on but it would be great to have more of a selection when it comes to drivers.


 
   
   
  You know,if you want to go with speakers for the hell of it, then not too long ago I saw 2 inch speaker cabinets through either amazon or parts express. They were small enough where you could get away with having them on your head. 
   
  It would be nice too because that means you could just have to assemble the box, stick a wire coat hanger in both of them, glue some headband foam on the top and you are ready to go.


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## jacobgolden

Hah. Love the coat hanger headband! I'm gonna do some experimenting and if I don't die in the process ill report back!


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## Keller1

Wondering this myself since i ran out of ortho drivers i could use, do you reckon some ribbon tweeters the likes of this would to the job?
 I'm looking for a smooth and extremely fast midrange response.


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## jacobgolden

Those look cool but the frequency response is 6000 - 25000 HZ which is only the very high plus air frequencys which is great for for a tweeter but wouldn't work in headphones. That's why I was looking at 'full frequency' drivers/speakers like these -
   
 HiWave BMR5 Compact 2" Full-Range Square Speaker 5W 8 Ohm
  Frequency response : 150 to 16,000 Hz
   
  "...the wide frequency response means BMR drivers can also deliver cost savings to engineers, since no crossover components or frequency-specific drivers are required. The BMR5 2" drive unit has an extended frequency response with wide directivity and is ideally suited to compact full-range applications that require a high performance acoustic solution"
   
  It would be great to find a ribbon driver like this though....


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## Keller1

Quote: 





jacobgolden said:


> Those look cool but the frequency response is 6000 - 25000 HZ which is only the very high plus air frequencys which is great for for a tweeter but wouldn't work in headphones. That's why I was looking at 'full frequency' drivers/speakers like these -
> 
> HiWave BMR5 Compact 2" Full-Range Square Speaker 5W 8 Ohm
> Frequency response : 150 to 16,000 Hz
> ...


 
  i bought a set to try it out. Bass response gets livelier the closer your ear gets to the source. Plus if it sounds anything like an ortho with modern materials it'll have been worth it.


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## jacobgolden

Quote: 





keller1 said:


> i bought a set to try it out. Bass response gets livelier the closer your ear gets to the source. Plus if it sounds anything like an ortho with modern materials it'll have been worth it.


 
   


 Did you git the ribbon tweeter? Let us know how it sounds.


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## Keller1

Quote: 





jacobgolden said:


> Did you git the ribbon tweeter? Let us know how it sounds.


 
  Yes, I meant the ribbon tweeter.


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## jacobgolden

So after much scouring of the interwebs I found this magical page - http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/audio-products/speakers/720966
   
  Lot's of  really interesting headphone driver options for cheap. Now I'm excited to do some building!


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## Tjj226 Angel

Quote: 





jacobgolden said:


> So after much scouring of the interwebs I found this magical page - http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/audio-products/speakers/720966
> 
> Lot's of  really interesting headphone driver options for cheap. Now I'm excited to do some building!


 
  http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=194966
   
  I am not done yet, but if you read post number 9 it shows a basic idea on how I constructed mine. I would honestly stick to ordering from audio technica. Everything that is a magnetic full range speaker is something that they don't even carry themselves. Everything else is complete crap unless you really think you can make a balanced based set of headphones.


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## jacobgolden

Thanks for posting the link to your build process please keep us updated with how they are turning out. 
   
I was having some really good results recupping a a second hand Grado Prestige Series SR-60i  last night- doing a sort of thunderpants treatment that seems to be working well. 
   
So do most all the flagships make their own Drivers? Most headphones read - 50mm Titanium coated driver....The $15 Koss KSC75
has this same driver too.... I think I'm gonna order a pair of those for experimenting with....


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## Tjj226 Angel

Quote: 





jacobgolden said:


> Thanks for posting the link to your build process please keep us updated with how they are turning out.
> 
> I was having some really good results recupping a a second hand Grado Prestige Series SR-60i  last night- doing a sort of thunderpants treatment that seems to be working well.
> 
> ...


 
  I am all for cheap experiments. 
   
  As I listen to the drivers I have, I think you are truly missing out on the audio technica drivers. They sound fantastic.  I will be posting more picture later tonight. I am making the pads and headband. 
   
  Oh, and before I forget. Something that will help you out a lot when you start building your headphones would be making the baffels out of CDs and cork like mine, but also adding a 3 pin XLR jack for both drivers. Your cables will have to have 3 pin XLR, and you will need a lot of connectors, BUT the nice thing is that you can detach your cable from your driver so that you can test out your drivers as you progress without having to struggle with working around wires.


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## Keller1

Hey angel, what wood is that? How'd you work those cups out?


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## Tjj226 Angel

Quote: 





keller1 said:


> Hey angel, what wood is that? How'd you work those cups out?


 
   
  It is quarter inch thick craft wood from a home improvement store called lowes. (I see that you are from bulgaria, so I assume you don't have lowe'ses there). I am thinking it is pine or some type of soft wood. 
   
  I think you can see I made a bunch of concentric circles to make the basic shape of the cup, but to round it out I used a dremil tool with a special almost like lathe bit. http://www.lowes.com/pd_406615-353-115_0__?productId=3824357&Ntt=dremel+bit&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Ddremel%2Bbit&facetInfo=
   
  The bit removes quite a bit of material, so after attaching it to the dremel, it was simply a matter of finding the right angle to sand down the wood to round it out. Honestly, I didn't think it would work as well as it did. I think what mostly did the job was patience and a good eye. 
   
  After rounding it out, I took some sand paper and smoothed everything out.


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## Keller1

Alright, the sawafuji is definetly a tweeter with no bass response but it is moddable into a full-range speaker. The full range speaker, although lacking bass impact, adds some definete growl to the guitars and vocals, I havent really done much with it, i havent even put it in cups, let alone damped it, but i can say that a pair of headphones with 2 of these is going to be a winrar.

 Edit: Scratch that, the bass response is more then adequate. 
 Bass is quality, not quantity, extremely tight. Might become amazing once properly damped.


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## jacobgolden

Quote: 





keller1 said:


> Alright, the sawafuji is definetly a tweeter with no bass response but it is moddable into a full-range speaker. The full range speaker, although lacking bass impact, adds some definete growl to the guitars and vocals, I havent really done much with it, i havent even put it in cups, let alone damped it, but i can say that a pair of headphones with 2 of these is going to be a winrar.
> 
> Edit: Scratch that, the bass response is more then adequate.
> Bass is quality, not quantity, extremely tight. Might become amazing once properly damped.


 
  Thanks for the update. I was just wondering about that. I might just have to order me a set to experiment with. I just put in an order to parts express to try out some of the their full range 2 inch speakers. I'll let you know what I come up with. Keep us posted on those ribbon drivers!


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## Keller1

Quote: 





jacobgolden said:


> Thanks for the update. I was just wondering about that. I might just have to order me a set to experiment with. I just put in an order to parts express to try out some of the their full range 2 inch speakers. I'll let you know what I come up with. Keep us posted on those ribbon drivers!


 
  I'm going to need to order another pair because from a pair you only get a single driver that can be used as a headphone driver. Hopefully it will be faster than last time.


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## kopral 21

what kind sq you get?


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## enzedone

Hello

I'm new to this forum, but are also hunting drivers.
Have you been here, as the sell spares for their headphones
Click on headphones then accessories I think?



http://www.beyerdynamiconline.com

32 ohm 50mm drivers £46 ea. though


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## enzedone

Here they are here


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## UnCreatedVirus

tjj226 angel said:


> http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=194966
> 
> I am not done yet, but if you read post number 9 it shows a basic idea on how I constructed mine. I would honestly stick to ordering from audio technica. Everything that is a magnetic full range speaker is something that they don't even carry themselves. Everything else is complete crap unless you really think you can make a balanced based set of headphones.


 
 Thanks for letting me know that. I also came across that site. The stats/filters were extremely, EXTREMELY intimidating. Either way I don't like the site layout which is ...... horrendous. Furthermore, I have a question. What are you guys gonna make the driver casing from. I have a couple ideas in mind which require machinery. Machining isn't a problem but would like to use as little as possible.


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## Birminghamsteel

I was searching for drivers myself, and somewhere in the middle of all the threads I ran into a great source. There is a site (http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/audio-products/speakers/720966)
digikey builds subcomponents for electronics companies. Fortunately for us one of those subcomponents are headphone drivers. Even though these people seem to deal in bulk, I chatted online with a salesman who would be more than happy to sell me one single pair. The only thing is you need a part number printed on the speaker itself. They have no idea what driver goes to an audio technica model xx.


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## Birminghamsteel

I submitted a reply concerning a source for drivers; unfortunately, since it is a link to another site the moderator has to approve it. You should get it soon. Please share it with the gentleman you were talking with.
The most important thing I learned from the man who gave me the website is something called "magnetically balanced armatures" Have you ever heard of them? It completely changed my outlook on headphones. They are rectangular devices that reproduce sound from ranges like 5-38,000. 
They are in-ear only very small.
Enter those words on any search engine.


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## Birminghamsteel

I just sent this reply to Angel about the conversation you are having looking for drivers.
I submitted a reply concerning a source for drivers; unfortunately, since it is a link to another site the moderator has to approve it. You should get it soon. Please share it with the gentleman you were talking with. (That would be you)
The most important thing I learned from the man who gave me the website is something called "magnetically balanced armatures" Have you ever heard of them? It completely changed my outlook on headphones. They are rectangular devices that reproduce sound from ranges like 5-38,000. 
They are in-ear only very small.
Enter those words on any search engine.


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## HawaiiR

Did you ever end up making that video you mentioned?
 I'm in the process of trying to fix a pair of Meze 88 headphones, and would love to know how your process went. Video would be wonderful.
  
 I'm considering buying a pair of Samson SR850's and tearing those apart for the drivers - unless of course someone has a better suggestion.


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## HawaiiR

Just in case anyone is interested, I ended up going with these 50mm drivers from Lunashops

 http://www.lunashops.com/goods.php?id=4868
  
 Not, bad - a little on the bright side and bass is a tad thin, but that might have something to do with the enclosure (Meze 88 headphones). 
  
 A few thoughts on doing business with the Lunashops people. They're extremely rude when trying to figure out a problem with your shipping. In my case, they didn't write my address down correctly so it made it out to Honolulu, then got shipped back to LA and then somehow made it back to Honolulu (thankfully) where I was able to located it with the help of the post office. Lunashops was of zero help through this process, insisting that I gave them the wrong address (my verified paypal address), and basically insinuating that they weren't going to mail the drivers back to me if it had gone back to Hong Kong (which is what I was worried about once it went back to LA). Just be wary of what you could potentially get yourself into with them if you order through them and things go awry. Lunashops is definitely not on your side.

 In any case, the drivers work ok. Not thrilled at the sound signature though. Anyone know of ways to temper down the highs or thicken the bass just a bit, so the sound is more balanced?


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