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Output measurements for vintage receiver (Pioneer, et al) Headphone circuits

Ricktptman

Ricktptman

High Fidelity Enthusiast
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Has anybody collated this information?
I've recently re-entered the "new" Headphone culture (I think I might be the resident honorary old guy) and outboard HP amps that run up to (and above) 6+ watts are becoming more common. At a recent show, I saw a set of planar HP's run from the SPEAKER outputs of a 60wpc vintage Yammie. It sounded pretty good to me.

I'm looking at a Gustard (If I could find one used, that'd be ideal) and a couple of others (including that 3.5w@16ohm Schiit) but the money becomes vertigo-inducing pretty quickly. Surely there's a way to skin this cat on the economic down low...

TIA,
 
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I have "too many" headphones. The hardest to drive probably are the Monoprice 1060's (improved but open version) and Senn 650's/600's. I have a set of those Bassinator JVC's from Japan (just for fun) and (my favorite thus far) Ultrasone Pro 900's. But the Ultrasones are pretty efficient. I also have the usual suspect Superlux AKG and Beyer knockoffs. I also have a couple of MCM knockoff cans that are pretty good as well. (But they're VERY efficient. Maybe too much, as their weaknesses are often the ability to handle Bass transients.) But they're better than the "brand name" phones one had to settle for in the 70's and '80's. (I also have several of sets of vintage Pioneers, two of which are Quad SE-Q404's.....) I thought knowing what the amp might be driving would help.
 
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Ricktptman said:
At a recent show, I saw a set of planar HP's run from the SPEAKER outputs of a 60wpc vintage Yammie. It sounded pretty good to me.



TIA,
Click to expand...

That was probably the HiFiMan HE-6.I used to have one and yes I drove it directly off of the taps of a 125wpc Kenwood Eleven GX with no resistors.

Looking at your headphone collection the only ones that will sound good from a vintage receiver HP out are the 1060s and Sennheisers.Ideally you want to stick with planars and 250+ohm dynamics for vintage receiver use.

I have 6 receivers,all from the 70s and while I do not know each specific resistor value used they all pretty much perform the same with driving headphones.Low ohm dynamic headphones can sound either tincan like,or get a severe case of bass bloat.

As far as an inexpensive HP amp to pair with your easy to drive headphones you can get a Magni 3 for about 100.00usd.
 
Thanks for your response, Monsterzero. This was definitely a Yamaha (blackface, but still vintage), I just don't remember the model. But it sounded quite good. I like a slight bottom octave rise (2nd octave, maybe not so much...) so maybe I'm trying to find a solution that itself is in search of a problem. The Senns are the most resistive, I think. But they still perk right up when I plug them (into the headphone jack) of a self-restored Pioneer SA-9500 II I have dedicated for just that purpose. (Complete with tone controls!) But the reason I post is I'm thinking about getting another planar. Most likely a M1060C.
 
planars are less sensitive to the whole ohm matching math.Ive ran HE-500s,Audeze LCD-2,ZMF Blackwood from all my receiver jacks with great results.The HE-6 def needed the taps though.

For the HD600/650/6xx I prefer a good OTL,but im a tube head so YMMV.
 
I've been doing a flyby for headphone/personal audio lately. I usually do it after the local yearly Canjam where I live. I bought a Schiit Magni 3 (sounds pretty much identical to the outputs on my Pioneer CT-F1250, RT-'s (a bunch of 'em) and SX-'s. (A bunch of those as well.) But the receivers (oops, forgot an Integrated, SX-9500 II) have the additional help of well placed (spectrum-wise) tone controls. I wanted to look into a DAC as well. But that research seems to reveal that I don't really need one since I have DAC's (GOOD ones) in my Oppo 105 and (the better of the two actually) Denon DCD-A100 SACD player. So I've got a Schiit Lyr 2 (and Loki) on the way for my downstairs system as the C-91 in that system doesn't have any headphone outs. I wanted at least ONE headphone amp that could deliver 6 watts if I ever needed it. I've been waiting around for a Massdrop on that Gustard H20 12wpc amp, but now that I've stuck my toe in the water (and thanks to your perspective) I think I'm approaching (and have probably run past) my infamous "sweet spot in the J Curve". I probably should've stopped with the Magni 3. I saw all the hardware fetishing at the last meet and thought there'd been some genuine progress. But when put side by side with good vintage, there hasn't been as much as I thought. I went through all of these pieces as I acquired them over the last 16 or 18 years and they've led a pretty sheltered life since. Time to move along to other stuff...lol...thanks again!
 
Magni 3 is a toy for easy to drive headphones.Plug any power hungry headphone into it and see how fast the Magni 3 shrivels up.
Plug same headphone into a receiver jack and it smiles back at you and begs for more....

Enjoy.
 
That's jibes with my experience completely. I'll keep the Magni, it's not bad, it's "merely" the equivalent of the head outs in my tape decks. But not as robust as the Integrated and Receiver Head outs. I don't mean that as faint praise, but I guess it could be looked at that way.
I think the Loki might fatten it up a bit. I'll experiment with it and post back...Thanks again...
 
Okay. They finally dropped another Mass on the Gustard H20. Now I'm headphone amp poor. Again. Another box checked off my bucket list.
 
Great! Thank you! I've found a few in Service and Owner's manuals. But not as many as would be helpful. Still working on it. That would be a handy searchable database for we vintage enthusiasts.
 
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