Interesting, because what I tool from the “tone wheel” is that they type 1 & 2 woods, would be more bass focused. I’m not doubting you. I’m wondering if I am not interpreting the wheel appropriately.
They are. I am in a conversation with mark right now. I thought back in the spring that he told me the 4’s and the 5’s would be bassier. Hopefully he doesn’t mind, but here is what he explained to me about an hour ago:
"Hi Shane, thank you for the additional information, every bit helps.
Re: bass, we listeners always has this conundrum to resolve: you can have fat (but sloppy) bass, or you can have tight, fast bass.
(Or a compromise between them.)
We can’t have cake and eat it too, big fat bass that is also tight and hard firm in texture.
How this relates to our woods, think of them as a continuum.
Type 1 bleeds into Type 2, bleeds into Type 3 etc.
They get their sonic characteristics depending on physical characteristics of the wood.
Type 1 woods are light, soft and low density, high porosity woods have fattest bass,
By the time you get to Type 5, you have heavy, hard, dense woods with low porosity.
Type 1 gives you fattest bass, with least control. Based on initial feedback, this is where I thought you might be heading, if that is top priority go with that.
A Type 5 gives you tightest, harder, most precise, fastest and tuneful bass, at the cost of some bass volume/fatness.
If that sounds good, and is top priority, go with that.
Type 3 gets you in the middle, and that is where mids are emphasized over top and bottom.
For your vocal priority, Type 3 works great.
To maintain some bass fatness, and open midrange, maybe look at Type 2.
Hope that helps"
I am thinking that maybe a 4 might be perfect for me. I do not want big sloppy bass like an Argon.
Thank you for sharing that.
The more time I am getting with the set I have - the more I am impressed and confident that this is where I would like to focus my attention on “building” a set of HP’s. I am so happy that I got these because, I almost bought an Arya new on black Friday and I fear that I would have been bummed if I heard these after…
My chambers are type 4 (Bolivian Purpleheart - which unfortunately has been discontinued). The bass is plentiful and thunderous, but it’s not sloppy. It’s tight and controlled and miraculously does not bleed into the mids, but it’s very aggressive and forward.
The wood types are also arranged on a loose euphonic - to - analytical scale. If I read the chart correctly, type 1 is the bassy and euphonic grouping while type 4 is the bassy and analytical grouping. Of course, none of my words should replace getting it from the source. Also, from descriptions I’ve heard about Lawton mods, deep, extended, and pretty clean bass is a constant for all the wood types, the chambers vary that by degree but it’s there on all of them - that’s my interpretation based on talking with several people who have experience with Lawton chambers, and my own experience. Take it for what it’s worth (probably not much )
I had pretty much made up my mind to move on, but the option of cups keeps pulling at me. Rather than spend a lot of money on a new set of closed backs, maybe just try some cups…
I ordered 4 sets of Lawton Cups a couple weeks ago. They’re in-country now so hopefully arriving in a couple days! (to Australia - for TH610s) I’ll let you know how they sound because I had the same thoughts about moving on to something else but from all the reviews I couldnt really find anything that compares and I’ve already listened to all the top contenders except for the new Focal Radiance…
All Museum Grade except for the Black Limba which is Exhibition Grade.
Wild Ziricote (Type 5 - 1970 / 2200 lbf Janka Hardness)
Wild Ziricote by Hilton, on Flickr
Wild Chechen (Type 4 - 2250 / 2300 lbf Janka Hardness)
Wild Chechen by Hilton, on Flickr
Flame Marbled Walnut (Type 1 - 1010 lbf Janka Hardness)
Flame Marbled Walnut by Hilton, on Flickr
Black Limba (Type 1 - 490 / 840 lbf Janka Hardness - really soft!)
Black Limba by Hilton, on Flickr
Just got notification! Out for delivery - should get them in the morning!!
PS. Im going to measure these with minidsp ears.
Wow, you really went all in! That is a large investment. I envy you as this should be a lot of fun.
Looks so gooooooddd
Which cups do you already have? I would be very much interested in a comprehensive comparison between as many cups as possible lol! Surprised this has never been done so far (at least not to the extent I wish).
I would be especially interested in the differences between #'s 1, 4 and 5. I think 4 is probably the right one for me, but I am really curious about 3 and 5.
Will you screw them on or just use tape or hand pressure to test each one out?
REALLY looking forward to your feedback.
I have the stock TH610 walnut cups only so far.
ill try quick swapping the cups by hand pressure alone to start and then screwed in for some longer listening sessions. I have to wait a couple weeks for the mini dsp ears to arrive before I can do formal testing with waterfall RT60 and early decay time graphs. This should help to define the sonic characteristics objectively… though I will try make some subjective personal assessments before hand so im not too biased by measurements.
Please do some personal/subjective tests. I would love to hear how each cup affects mids or bass.
Maybe pick one of your vocal favourites and one of your bassy favourite and run through each cup?
iirc, it is not recommended to screw and unscrew the cups a lot as they could strip. I could be wrong but I think I remember seeing that
I’ll be assessing the full frequency response in different ranges.
sub bass (below 50hz)
bass (50 - 100hz)
mid bass (100 - 250hz)
lower midrange (250 - 400hz)
midrange (400 - 1khz)
upper midrange (1khz - 4khz)
lower treble (4khz - 8khz)
treble (8khz - 16khz)
upper treble (16khz - 20khz)
though my hearing as far as my 50year old ears can go is about 14k.
I’ll be using a variety of music from single drum kicks, snares, toms and cymbals to piano notes, violin, cello and double bass, as well as jazz vocals/music, orchestral, Pop, rock, hard rock, edm, dance and short burst test tones.
First off, thanks for the list of terms and their frequencies!
You are DEFINITELY way more detailed than me. I was just thinking about some initial impressions and comparisons.
No problem.
Ill be comparing to HD600, Sony MDR-1A with RME ADI-2 DAC, and iBasso DX220 with a few different amp modules. (and maybe a FiiO Q5 with different amp modules though thats really starting to push it s its going to take a long time as it is and already get confusing without it!)
Yeah, definitely this. Taking my Emu Ebony cups off 2 times was enough for 2/8 (on both cups combined) to be gone.
Thanks for heads up!