Headphone Reboot

**MHP** · 20th March 2014

Having been accused of not having any hobbies recently, apart from work... I decided to find one. I can't take the credit for this idea as it was done by polartech on the head-fi forums a few years ago, see Here and Here.

The basic concept is to take a vintage 'headset' from the 1920/30's as used with crystal radio sets, and bring it up to date. This involves striping out the original coils and diaphragms and replacing them with modern drive units. As these sets were 'mono' the original cabling will have to be replaced as well. The idea is to not compromise the original 'look' of the headset but to allow it to be adapted for use with modern audio devices.

Here's what I have so far.

Several Sterling headsets in various states of disrepair, and

several pairs of these Brandes ones.

The headsets are composed of aluminium 'cups' with screw fit Bakelite ear pads with either wire/canvas headbands or aluminium ones.

Step one is to strip out redundant coils and cabling and to generally clean. The next step is to polish the aluminium, source the drive units and re cable.

I have a habit of not finishing what I started, so I am posting this to motivate me!

If anyone has some advice on polishing aluminium to a mirrored finish, I'd appreciate the help.

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but it seemed better suited here than in the DIY section. Please move if required.

**MHP** · 1st April 2014

Forks, headband and nuts.

Progress, various polishing mops and compounds arrived through the post last week and as it was my day off today, I thought I'd start. I used some scrap components to get used to the mops and compounds as well as testing the final finishing polish and wax.

I'm pretty happy with the results, remember these headphones are old and have seen some action so the final finish won't be factory fresh. I can remove the oxidisation and dirt but some of the deeper scratches are here to stay.

Next up are the cans and then the drive units and cabling.