Hi

I wondered if anyone could help me. Im looking for a pair of headphones for general P.A work, but ive become abit lost in all the choice.

Im looking for something that will be hardwearing as I am out on the road quite alot and also good sound quality. I do alot of sound for bands and productions if that helps, Im looking to spend about £100.

Do I want closed-back or open-backed design? What are they?

Ive looked at The AKG K171s and the BeyerDynamic DT100 also at the new Behringer model just out. Can anyone offer an opinon on these or suggest something else?

Thanks in advance

Sim

For general PA go for closed back, with a full PA on then the open back designs will have too much external spill to be useful. For studio/low level work go for open back design, they generally sound much nicer.

I have had a trusty pair of DT100's for a few years now, I would not like to mix off them as they sound dull and lifeless to me but are great for locating noisy channels and cue-ing up. Due to their ruggedness and enclosure they are found everywhere and are ideal for the way I use headphones live. Having said that when I lost them a few months ago I seriously considered getting some DT150 or 250's to replace them or even some sennheiser HD250's. I have used a pair of sennheiser HD600's in the studio and they sound great but don't think they would stand up to live use. Fortunately my DT100's were returned to me so headphone purchasing was put on hold.

Go into one of the big shops and listen to as many headphones as possible, it is the only way you can decide what you like.

The industry standard Live/Recording headphone is the DT100 (I have 5 pairs - just bought 4 pairs recently)

They're great! You can replace all the parts, the closed design has the ability to reduce external noise by 20dB, which is a fair amount

I almost bought a couple of pairs of DT150's - they have an extended bass response.

I personally don't like the HD25's by sennheiser, because the closed design, isn't great - they won't fit over ears unless they're baby's ears.

WOW! Now I'm impressed! My school actually has something industry standard! (Compared to our Sirius 24, 12yr old CCT dimmers etc)

I bet they've got an XLR cable... or maby even a neutrix connector, or an sm58.

Oh yeah! Don't blame me, I'm primarily a lampie. Now I come to think of it we've got a crateful of XLRs, 3 SM58s, 2 SM57s, some Sennheiser G2 EVOs etc.

For now at least, we're industry standard on lighting plugs too (15A). I'll stop hogging this thread with my discussions of industry standardness now. Goodbye.

Ok. Thanks everybody. One more question -

Looking at the Dt100's they look fairly heavy and cumbersome, I was thinking the sennheiser HD range looks alot lighter and easier to use. Taking into account I will be wearing these for 8/9 hours at a stretch. Could anyone suggest an alternative thats light weight and also good sound for live use.

Thanks

Sim

I have used Sony MDR-7506's for the last couple of years now and find them really comfortable, we supply DT100's with all of our desks and I can't stand them, the sony's are also favoured by most west end sound op's on our shows.
HTH Peter