(NGC) - Question on late 60s early 70s Pioneer headphones

[Gliderjohn]

Ran across a set on Pioneer headphones at an antique shop which appear to be late 60s to maybe mid 70s vintage and appear to be in great shape along with box and all. Now that era had the big plug. Are there any adapters out there that enables one to use them with modern stuff?
GliderJohn

[V7Record]

Yup, lots of adapters out there.  Used to get them at Radio Shack, these days just go to ebay and search 1/4 to 1/8 adaptor and a bunch pop up.
Brian

[Gliderjohn]

Thanks V7. I think we still have a Radio Shack in Wichita. I can buy the headphones for about $18 so I thought what the hell, worth a shot as I think the quality was quite good, at least in the day.
GliderJohn

[pebra]

I think I remember those. White shells for the earpieces?
I had two pairs. Thought they were good value for the money, but my hearing was probably shitty even then.
After some years the padding around the ears started shredding.

[Gliderjohn]

The ear pieces are a pale green color. Padding and all was like new.
GliderJohn

[Cool Runnings]

Have you tried modern day Sennheiser phones?

[fossil]

Gliderjohn, at what sort of device do you want to run the phone? Important is the impedance of the headphone. Modern portable devices (smartphones, MP3 - players ans the like) need an impedance of appr. 18 to 36 Ohms, older headphones (as most of the Pioneers) have about 600 Ohms. This means that on a modern device an old headphone can be really quiet.

The 70�s were the time when I sold and serviced HiFi. I always had a special love for Pioneer products, I still use classic components from Pioneer (SA8500II, TX9500II, S-1010 speakers, and more). I was (and still am) addicted to good headphones. But Pioneers phones did never impress me. Brands like AKG, Beyerdynamic, of course Sennheiser and Koss were always superior to other brands. Interestingly the three German brands (and, yes, I know AKG is Austrian, but they produce in Munich) also are world-leading at microphones - a very related species of devices.

Of course the price you mentioned looks attractive. I would buy this headphone in any case and then wonder how I can use it.

Some old models of headphones are still in production - for a good reason: AKG K141, Beyerdynamic DT-880, Sennheiser HD-25. This last one is available in a smartphone - compatible version called Amperior - my favourite phone. The Beyer also comes in three impedances.

[Cool Runnings]

Don't forget the headphone amp. 

[fossil]

OK, then...
Should be a vacuum tube type....

[Gliderjohn]

The good news is that my current amp is old enough that it still has the old style big jack. My intent was more for hoping to use with my Mac Air laptop. Probably just need to get earbuds for that.
Thanks to all for the info.
GliderJohn

[LaMojo]

Modern portable devices (smartphones, MP3 - players ans the like) need an impedance of appr. 18 to 36 Ohms, older headphones (as most of the Pioneers) have about 600 Ohms. This means that on a modern device an old headphone can be really quiet.

Almost all of the older stereo headphones of that era had the 8 ohm impedance match to tube and solid state amps.  The only 600 ohm headphones I know of were used in communications gear and some consumer electronics in the 40 - 50's.  There are minor exceptions of course.

I have three large shortwave/longwave sets that were made during WWII and shortly after.  They all required a 600 ohm speaker/headphones.   The workaround is to use an audio transformer.   

As Fossel said, even if you found an adapter the older headphones will have low volume - not because of the impedance mismatch but the small handheld devices simply don't have the power to drive what are essentially small speakers in those big headphones.  Of course, you could always use an inline audio amp. 

78 Deg @ 5 PM in NE Louisiana !

[Murray]

Have you tried modern day Sennheiser phones?

This fi you start around 517? (I have 515's) yes they cost a bit but totally worth it. I pods and the like will drive them but you'll run into the lower quality of MP3's vs lossless formats.

[drums4money]

The ear pieces are a pale green color. Padding and all was like new.
GliderJohn

Those are cool phones.  I don't have a pair of those yet.

I love tinkering with old phones- that's my hobby when the weather's crappy.  I've really enjoyed restoring some older phones for acquaintances in addition to the ones I build as "Old School Audio".  There's plenty of inexpensive (Guzzi Content) little amps to play with, or you can spend mad dollars if you're so inclined.  A nifty one is by Bravo: http://www.parts-express.com/bravo-audio-v1-mini-valve-deluxe-class-a-tube-headphone-amplifier--310-354

Here's some 70's Zenith phones:


Working on some Audio Technica 703's for a friend:


Set of Old School phones:

[fossil]

8 Ohms! Ah, I forgot about this impedance, as it was of no importance here in Europe. It is possible that the Pioneer in question has this impedance. We liked a higher impedance more as the influence of alterations in the impedance regarding to the frequency had less influence on the frequency response. Sennheiser e.g. introduced 2000 Ohms with the famous HD 414. Later versions had 600 Ohms.

[LowRyter]

funny story.

I bought a pair of Koss Pro4AA back in 1974.  They are studio headphones and used for many recording in the day.  After about 5 years, one of the ear pieces would cut out and the plastic head bands broke.  I kept them and fiddled with the earpiece but mostly forgot about them.

Anyway, my son was shopping for headphones and did some reasearch.  Found out that Koss had put these phones back in production in the early 90s and have sold them continuously since.   More importantly, they have a lifetime warranty.
 
So I got them repaired free.  They work and sound great.