Pioneer SE L40 Restoration

haggy38

Active Member
I was able to get this vintage pioneer headphones in poor shape, lots of nicotine residue everywhere... and rough shape!!

I will try to restore this beautiful headphones and see if is possible to save the original 38-70IF drivers

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Unfortunately one of the drivers diaphragm is bad, so guess I will replace both with a modern cheap ones, any sugguestions?

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Great job on the cleanup :thumbsup:
Real shame about the driver hope you get them up an running.
 
Thanks, It seems there was another tinker here:no:.... and not a good one, it seems missing a plastic retention clip, ear pads destroyed !!

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This is the plastic clip that I will try to design on Rhino and print in my Monoprice mini 3d printer....

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Thanks, It seems there was another tinker here:no:.... and not a good one, it seems missing a plastic retention clip, ear pads destroyed !!

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What about the copper clips that protrudes from the recess holes on drivers I'm missing one on mine , what are you doing with yours? Since you have to replace the drivers you might have some spare copper clips?
Thx Tim
PS let me know I would take them off your hands.
 
What about the copper clips that protrudes from the recess holes on drivers I'm missing one on mine , what are you doing with yours? Since you have to replace the drivers you might have some spare copper clips?
Thx Tim
PS let me know I would take them off your hands.
Still waiting for a reply.
 
Hi, still undecided if I will restore the original drivers, if not I can send you the parts you need, I will let you know next week.

Regards,
Gustavo
 
This is another lovely Pioneer SE L40 in mint condition........ I know modern headphones sounds better but nothing beats vintage ones!!

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Out of curiosity what kind of prices do you usually see the older pioneer headphones up for? These pics you're posting look fantastic!
 
Out of curiosity what kind of prices do you usually see the older pioneer headphones up for? These pics you're posting look fantastic!

Hi, that depends of the actual shape, I paid $200 for the SE L40 and $250 for the Monitor 10, included original box. Pretty sure you can find a nice one if you’re patient.

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Gustavo
 
I just acquired a pair of SE L40 headphones. Do you recall what products you used to clean the leather and metal?
 
I bought a pair of these a few months ago on Ebay. Unfortunately one of the drivers was damaged, only outputting weak distorted sound. I have searched in vain for a replacement driver (38-701F) to no avail. I'm pretty sure these are not available anywhere, no NOS or alternative. The only option is from a donor pair, but as it is pretty much the only thing that can go wrong, they just aren't anywhere to be found.

Anyway, I decided to have a repairing it. Carefully and slowly working around the edge of the diaphram with a tiny screwdriver, I managed to release it. I could lift the voice coil out of the magnet and leave the fine wires connected.

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I cleaned out the gap with some double-sided sticky tape on a sliver of fine card. I found quite a few small fragments (see the picture in between the screwdriver and tweezers) in there which would have been causing rubbing on the coil. After cleaning I added a small drop of ferrofluid in to the gap and glued the cone back on with a single layer of evo-stick. Disappointingly, the sound was still bad.

Today I disassembled it again cleaned one more time, but this time I didn't glue the cone back before trying it. Great full range none distorted sound. I think the cone was too tight or slightly off line the first time, being loose allows the ferrofluid to do it's job and hold the coil away from the magnet. A very small amount of the remaining glue is holding the cone lightly and stopping any buzzing.

Very pleased as up until now they have been useless, or destined to become someone else's donor-pair! I would say, I you have this problem it's worth a go, nothing to loose! The design of these headphones means it it fairly easy for small particles to get in to the coil gap (ie anything smaller than the mesh gap on the outside of them). Obviously all wiring connections etc., should be checked before doing this.

Sound great by the way, and surely some of the best looking headphones ever made!

Dan
 
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