AKG 240 Headphones

[W1RKW]

A question for you radio and studio jocks;  I've had these headphones for a number of years and I think they sound excellent and they're comfortable but recently I noticed something that never occurred to me before.  In order to get the same apparent sound level out of them I have turn up the volume more than if I were using speakers.  Has anyone noticed this?  Is there anyway to compensate for this "inefficiency" in apparent loudness to match the apparent level of the speaker(s)?  I primarily use them on the audio system but they do find there way to the station when I want to go incognito during late night hours.

[WA3VJB]

Good set o' cans. I've got the K-141, similar.

Most likely reason for the discrepency in level --

The output voltage and impedance of your stereo headphone amplifier might not match that of professional headphones, so you have to adjust accordingly. 

(Presume you realize the headphone driver circuit is probably NOT the same as the one driving your speakers.)

[Glenn NY4NC]

Which model of 240? The "M" version (for "monitor") are 600 ohms and typically require a bit more drive to get the same output as you would get from a lower impedance model..

Great phones, I have three pairs in my studio..

A question for you radio and studio jocks;  I've had these headphones for a number of years and I think they sound excellent and they're comfortable but recently I noticed something that never occurred to me before.  In order to get the same apparent sound level out of them I have turn up the volume more than if I were using speakers.  Has anyone noticed this?  Is there anyway to compensate for this "inefficiency" in apparent loudness to match the apparent level of the speaker(s)?  I primarily use them on the audio system but they do find there way to the station when I want to go incognito during late night hours.

[W1RKW]

Glenn,
I guess that does explain it.  I do have the Monitor series and they're stamped 600ohms.  It never occurred to me that was the case.

Paul,
I'm not sure what I have to drive the headphones on the audio system, if it's a separate headphone amp or tapped off the main power amp through dropping resistors.

In any event, it's not a big deal.  At first I thought I did something to them then I started thinking hard about the positions of the controls in the passed when using the phones and concluded that they just take a little more juice to make them come alive.

yes, they do sound excellent and I like how light they are.  No fatigue when wearing them for long periods of time.

Thanks guys.

Bob

[w1guh]

Love the 240's.  In addition to everything said about them here, they're practically indestructible.  About the only way to break them is to pull the cord too hard, but then, a quick knot around the thingie there will take care of that...and...if you DO pull the wire out, they're easily fixable.

And yes, they're very comfortable...only phones I've had that I could listen to for hours on end and get neither physical nor sonic fatigue.

[W1RKW]

That's the other thing that's nice about them, no sonic fatigue.  I had a pair of Koss HP's (don't know model) previous to the 240's.  They sounded OK but not great in comparison. They were slightly heavier but I couldn't listen to them for more than an hour.  The audio from them just didn't sit right with me and I would get tired of their "acoustics".  I'd actually get a headache from them even at moderate  levels.  The 240's don't do that at all.