Classic Sennheiser HD480 Headphone earpads

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD480 headphones, back when new they were "good HiFi".  

But the foam inside the earpads has disintegrated over time, and spares are difficult to find.  Canford Audio will sell a pair of their own design, but unfortunately as Canford are primarily a business supplier, they have minimum order value, a postage charge, etc.. so, unless one is shopping for other things they carry, one set of ear pads ends up costing over £50!

Disintegrated foam from the earpads

However, there is a way to fix them....  and its very very cheap.... 

wadding, not the easiest thing to photograph!

Quilting wadding.   Available from shops which sells supplies for quilting, and one needs a small piece of offcut of approx 10mm thick (1/2 inch would be fine).   The material I have is a synthetic, very open weave.   

Dismantle the headphone - run a finger nail around the metal trim ring behind the earpiece, and the trim piece and earpad will pop off.  Brush or gently hoover the remains of the foam from the earphone, and remove it from the mesh fabric cover.   

Use the metal trim piece as a template, and use a pen to draw round its outer edge on the wadding.  Then cut out with scissors to make a circle.  Its not precision cutting, just near-enough.  

Earphone, trim ring, and earpad with new wadding inside.

 

Push the round piece of wadding into the earphone mesh, running finger around a few times so it seats neatly.   

Refit trim piece and earpad to earphones by gently clicking into place.  Probably need to work around the rim a few times to get it to seat.   

HD480's with newly repadded earpads

I'm very happy with the result.    And having seen how the earpads are constructed, a replacement cover fabric doesn't look that hard....  As I'm pushing 60 my hearing isn't what it was when the phones were new, but such repairs mean these have a continued life.