Custom Wooden Cups for Your Denons– Not Just for Looks

How often is plastic used in the construction of genuine musical instruments? The sad fact is that the plastic cups of the Denon AH-D2000 have a negative impact on that phone’s tone and timbre, producing a tainted sound that can only be described as “plastic-y”.

 

When you switch from the Denon D2000 to the D5000, the chief difference being the latter’s wooden cups, you can appreciate the significant effect wood has on the sound, which suddenly becomes more organic, natural, and musical. Sadly, the D5000’s cups will not retro-fit to your D2000 even if you could manage to find a pair.

 

We also felt that the design of the cups themselves could be improved; it appears the priority was to create a slim profile for the headphones rather than optimize them for sound quality and soundstage size.

 

After spending a tremendous amount of time experimenting with different sizes and shapes of cups in order to find a design that truly offers a superior sound, Lawton Audio proudly introduces our new line of exotic, hand-turned wooden cups for Denon AH Series headphones.

 

Improved Design for Better Sound

Our cups are slightly larger than the stock cups with slightly thicker walls that provide better resonance control. The larger size puts a bit more air behind the driver which we find creates the illusion of the sound happening on a larger scale and on a bigger soundstage, for a more “out-of-head” experience. The final size was determined by rejecting some that were too large, and others not quite large enough until we were satisfied we had achieved a design that provided only positives without compromising any other aspects of the sound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                  

                                                                                    Our Custom Cups vs. Stock Denon Cups

 

Different Woods, Different Sound

As a general rule, we ask our customers to choose their wood with their ears rather than their eyes (although we think all of our custom cups are delightful works of miniature wooden art). Each wood has a unique sound of its own; if you can hear differences between cables, you will certainly be able to discern the differences between woods; the changes are about at the same level. This allows us to further customize your headphones to better match your personal sonic and musical priorities. Density, relative hardness/softness and weight are the three factors that have the biggest influence on sound. In general, the harder, denser, heavier woods with tighter grain structure tend to have a more controlled, solid and authoritative sound, a bit warmer and drier in tone, with better bass control. The lighter-density woods tend to present a more liquid sound, and have slightly more extension at both ends, with a bit more aggressive bass and airier soundstage. (For comparison’s sake, the stock D5000 cups tend to be closer in sound to the lighter-density woods.) To help you determine which cups are right for you, we ask you a series of questions:

 

1. What kind of music do you listen to?

2. Are you an active listener (air guitar, foot tapping, head bobbing, etc.), or a passive listener (relax and float away)?

3. Do you tend to prefer a crisp, focused, detailed sound with a dry, neutral tone (analytical sound), or do you prefer a warmer, smoother, more romantic, liquid sound (euphonic)?

4. What are the most important aspects of music/sound reproduction for you?

 

Free Damping for Your Custom Cups

If you are purchasing our cups separately to install yourself, we strongly recommend having us damp them for you with one of our damping compounds. This is free of charge. We do not use extremely heavy, hard and dense woods for our cups, as these types of woods just do not sound very musical. The woods we select are medium-density to low-density and tend to be lighter in weight and relatively soft to medium softness. There is enough variation and different combinations of these three variables in our standard wood selection to allow us to tailor the wood to your tastes.  In our opinion, they do all require some additional damping (just as we normally apply to all the Denon stock cups) to prevent unwanted resonances and enable your headphones to sound their best. After scouring the market and experimenting with 6 types of damping compounds, we have found two that we feel are the most effective and best made. One is a heavier, firmer, and more rigid compound we use on the lowest density and softest woods, the other is a lighter weight, less rigid and thinner damping compound we like to use on the medium-density and slightly harder woods. In the end, you are assured a balanced sound that is neither over nor under-damped.

 

Our damping materials do not diminish any of the benefits of going with a wooden cup or otherwise impact the sound in anything but a positive way. The damping material, by its nature is invisible from a sonic perspective, aside from controlling unwanted resonances.

 

The Beauty of Rare & Exotic Woods

Each pair of Lawton Audio custom cups are one-of-a-kind hand made works of art, crafted by master wood turners Roshan and George, from some very exotic and beautiful woods. Some of their natural beauty gets lost in mere 2-D digital photos; there’s no way for your computer screen to capture the depth and layering, the sheen and richness of subtle color changes, or the cat’s-eye effect present in many of these cups that shift as you change viewing angles. If you think these pictures look great, wait ‘til you see them in person!

 

Easy Do-It-Yourself Installation

Installing your new custom cups for your Denon AH-D2000 is a snap, requiring no specialized tools. Please take a look at our Installation Guide for easy, step-by-step instructions.

 

 

Custom Cups for D2000 On Sale Now!

Please click HERE to view and purchase your Custom Cups.