Question Broken AKG C50BT

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Hi all,

Not sure if you can help but I think I've borked my AKG C50BT Headphones :(

I was at the gym the other day & the right headphone was a little rattly but was working fine (Sounded like something loose inside the ear piece itself)
Took them off to see if I could work out what was happening & the right earpiece could spin a full 360 on the headband which had never been able to happen before, anyway carried on with the weird rattle & everything worked fine.

Finished the Gym session popped to the car & put them on the seat, got home picked them up & the entire right earpiece had come off the headband & was just held on by the wire as in the picture below
Now it still works & I can get it back on the headband with some difficulty but I'm pretty sure this shouldn't happen

Does anyone know of a fix for it?
I bought them new but from a deal in the forum so not sure on warranty implications with AKG.
Going to Email them today with pictures anyway to see but just wondered if anyone had encountered something similar, it's a shame as they are amazing headphones.

IMG20200129084826.jpg
IMG20200129084840.jpg


Thanks

Neil
 
I do not have direct experience with this model, from the description I expect some part of the housing is broken and you will have to hope it is a relatively cheap fix
 
I do not have direct experience with this model, from the description I expect some part of the housing is broken and you will have to hope it is a relatively cheap fix

Thank you Steven.

Will see what AKG come back with but feel I will be looking for a replacement now :(
Shame as they are amazing headphones but not sure I can justify the £80 they are on Richer Sounds

Might have to start looking for a sub £50 replacement now

Thanks again

Neil
 
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might be of some use.
Im looking for some cheap BT headphones and the AKG's are sub £50 on ebay which is in the price range im looking at.

Wow thanks for that, that's a great idea.

Will certainly look into doing that

If you are looking for a set then I can definitely recommend them, absolutely love my set.
They sound fantastic, well worth the money, just be prepared for this to possibly happen ;) lol

Thanks again

Neil
 
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Wow thanks for that, that's a great idea.

Will certainly look into doing that

If you are looking for a set then I can definitely recommend them, absolutely love my set.
They sound fantastic, well worth the money, just be prepared for this to possibly happen ;) lol

Thanks again

Neil
thanks. they seem to fit the ticket. have looked into others too Sony CH500/510 and the JBL 450/460/500

im using some cheap in ear wireless ones at the moment for work but want something for home as my phone is usb-c only and i keep losing my usb-c to 3.5mm jobby.

would prefer over ear to in ear.
 
thanks. they seem to fit the ticket. have looked into others too Sony CH500/510 and the JBL 450/460/500

im using some cheap in ear wireless ones at the moment for work but want something for home as my phone is usb-c only and i keep losing my usb-c to 3.5mm jobby.

would prefer over ear to in ear.

No worries
I was in the same boat & had been using cheap wireless or wired ones & these are such an amazing step up
The increase in quality quality blew me away

I had a pair of Soundmagic E10 in ears before these & I thought they were pretty brilliant but now I've had on ears there is no way I could go back to in ear
The quality difference is just so vast

Neil
 
The ear cup hidge is held down by a plastic grip like those found in mains plugs held down by two screws. If you twist them too much you will yank the grip & screws out of their sockers and destroy plastic holding down the screws. I manage to hack fix this with Gorillaweld titannium bond epoxy. Steps to my fix goes something like this.

Items I used.
Gorillaweld titannium bond epoxy
Mini hand drill
Emtpy butter tub
Toothpicks
Tweezers
scissors
phillips precision screwdriver

1. Pull gently side ways on the ear pads where it meets the plastic grooves to remove the pad. You should see 4 screws. Unscrew those and remove the cover. Becareful the magnet is strong. Screws may fly towards the speakers!

2. Gather all the broken plastic pieces save the screws. Study the plastic screw sockets how it originally put together. Look at the other unbroken one but should be easy to make out without looking. It might be easier to work if temporaly pull out the silver hidge out abit and you might want to remove the three screws to loosen the round PCB for easier access and to apply epoxy later.

3. Cut the butter tub in to small panels and make few strips to mix the epoxy. You only need tiny bit. Pea size.

4. Glue the plastics it back to how it was with epoxy. I used toothpicks to paste. You only have few minutes before it hardens.

5. I re-enforced the side walls of the screw sockets with couple more batches of eproxy with dry time in between. Aviod putting eproxy where the silver hinge comes in. Although I did patch cracks with epoxy carefully & thinly.

6. Once all dry you probably notice the original hinge grip might not fit back in with the epoxy mess. If it fits great.

7. If not cut a small piece of butter tub near the lid edge to make a new grip with ridge end to hold down the silver hinge butt. To stop it from falling out. Drill the two holes and screw it down.

8. Reverse the disassembly steps to put everything back. Done.

I have thought of rebuilding the screw sockets entirely with eproxy but the old bits manage to hold.

Hope this helps.
 

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Thank you very much for this Snorlax! Going to give it a go over the weekend!
I was going to suggest the same idea but with Lidl epoxy putty. .its a 2 quid fix.
 
The ear cup hidge is held down by a plastic grip like those found in mains plugs held down by two screws. If you twist them too much you will yank the grip & screws out of their sockers and destroy plastic holding down the screws. I manage to hack fix this with Gorillaweld titannium bond epoxy. Steps to my fix goes something like this.

Items I used.
Gorillaweld titannium bond epoxy
Mini hand drill
Emtpy butter tub
Toothpicks
Tweezers
scissors
phillips precision screwdriver

1. Pull gently side ways on the ear pads where it meets the plastic grooves to remove the pad. You should see 4 screws. Unscrew those and remove the cover. Becareful the magnet is strong. Screws may fly towards the speakers!

2. Gather all the broken plastic pieces save the screws. Study the plastic screw sockets how it originally put together. Look at the other unbroken one but should be easy to make out without looking. It might be easier to work if temporaly pull out the silver hidge out abit and you might want to remove the three screws to loosen the round PCB for easier access and to apply epoxy later.

3. Cut the butter tub in to small panels and make few strips to mix the epoxy. You only need tiny bit. Pea size.

4. Glue the plastics it back to how it was with epoxy. I used toothpicks to paste. You only have few minutes before it hardens.

5. I re-enforced the side walls of the screw sockets with couple more batches of eproxy with dry time in between. Aviod putting eproxy where the silver hinge comes in. Although I did patch cracks with epoxy carefully & thinly.

6. Once all dry you probably notice the original hinge grip might not fit back in with the epoxy mess. If it fits great.

7. If not cut a small piece of butter tub near the lid edge to make a new grip with ridge end to hold down the silver hinge butt. To stop it from falling out. Drill the two holes and screw it down.

8. Reverse the disassembly steps to put everything back. Done.

I have thought of rebuilding the screw sockets entirely with eproxy but the old bits manage to hold.

Hope this helps.
Thanks for your step-by-step instructions on this. I’ve had the same thing happen. Trouble is I don’t see or hear broken plastic bits anywhere. Can it still be fixed without them? Also what type of screwdriver is required to open those screws up?
Thanks again.
 

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Thanks for your step-by-step instructions on this. I’ve had the same thing happen. Trouble is I don’t see or hear broken plastic bits anywhere. Can it still be fixed without them? Also what type of screwdriver is required to open those screws up?
Thanks again.
I just used a small philips screwdriver from a precision set.
Hopefully the plastic might just have cracked from a slow crank and still stuck to the main piece.

It might be more challenging to fix without the orignal bits. I didn't have to fix it without them. Building one up entirely from epoxy alone might be difficult.

Another last ditch hack came to mind if the plastic is completely lost is substitute them with 2 small similar sized wall screw plugs/anchors. Loose the smooth part of the wall plug use the jagged anchor part & rough it up for better epoxy adhesion.

Hope it helps. Good luck... :S
 
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Hi, Thanks for the images. Will def be helpful if one of mine does end up needing a repair.

I'd add that for rebuilding small parts entirely, a mix of superglue and bicarb.

The bicarb (US:baking soda) acts to give the superglue some body, setting hard and can replace small parts made out of hard plastic/wood/bone which can be filed/sanded/drilled/painted.
Def a dry run is recommended as the glue will set pretty quickly. Youtube has many examples of building or repairing guitar slotted nuts.

Epoxy and bicarb results reported as brittle. I've read of people using a mix of epoxy and talcum powder. Epoxy manufacturers say fillers and dyes weaken the bond. Still, might work well enough and its a case of experimenting separately before application..

HTH
Cheers

I just used a small philips screwdriver from a precision set.
Hopefully the plastic might just have cracked from a slow crank and still stuck to the main piece.

It might be more challenging to fix without the orignal bits. I didn't have to fix it without them. Building one up entirely from epoxy alone might be difficult.

Another last ditch hack came to mind if the plastic is completely lost is substitute them with 2 small similar sized wall screw plugs/anchors. Loose the smooth part of the wall plug use the jagged anchor part & rough it up for better epoxy adhesion.

Hope it helps. Good luck... :S
 
Thanks @Snorlax mine just broke so will be trying this!

Did you manage to fix yours @Soundwave
 
Thanks @Snorlax mine just broke so will be trying this!

Did you manage to fix yours @Soundwave
Can I suggest an alternative?. There is a new product on the market by Bostick called Fix and Flash. .Yes I am a sucker for new gimmicks , but on this one I am sold. ... There are competitors on Amazon etc, but this is available in B&Q . It consists of a very small tube of a transparent gel ..only 5 ml and a blue light source. It is the same technology as those dental fillings. Basically adjust the parts to fit, put a tiny bead of the gel and while holding it in position play the light on it for 30 seconds .Job done!. It is really expensive per ml ,but only a small amount is used.
I have had two pairs of glasses and the frames were detaching from the frame assembly. I have previously tried all the combinations of superglue, Araldite and non would hold. One my second go with this, one pair has remained fixed for at least a month, and the second ..which has had multiple araldite repairs lasted a week. So for a neat repair on a high value product ..go for it!.
 
@dannnielll thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look at the Fix and Flash. I was tempted to use Milliput epoxy putty which I have already, but it's messy to work with.
 

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