Retrofit ANR

I don't know about their retrofit kits but Richard has been taking care of my DRE 6000 headsets for a couple years now. He does an excellent job and I love what he does with them.
 
Yes, easy install (in DC's) and working great for last four years. Got tired of having to change batteries since there was no auto-off (at least on the kit I bought) and I would forget to turn the ANR off. The fix was to wire in an old cellphone car adapter, to switch the unit on & off with the aircraft's dc bus. I feel the audio quality is very good but have no experience with other ANR headsets to compare it to.
 
I have heard good things. My only hangup is that it doesn't change the clamping force which is the entire point of going ANR for me. I hate the way headsets can vice grip to your head.
 
I put a kit in my old Softcomm D4s. It really wan't hard to do, you relaly do however, need a 27 watt sodering iron and a clamp on "designed for purpose" heat skin, and be pretty good with solder. You get about two chances to do any of the installation steps, but you don't get a third.

They work well. But, now I have a CHEAP ANR headset, not exactly what I really wanted. I have SIX manufactured ANR headsets besides them, accumulated over the years....so you relaly have to have a Favorite Headset that you want to promote to the next level, not save $$s as I tried to do.

Telex 30
Telex 50
Pilot 1771
Pilot 1776
Telex 500
Telex ANR 2000
 
Inverted said:
I have heard good things. My only hangup is that it doesn't change the clamping force which is the entire point of going ANR for me. I hate the way headsets can vice grip to your head.
Click to expand...

Exactly... My DC's feel "clampy" after a couple of hours and painful by around 4-5+.

I bought a set of Lightspeed Zulu.2s and couldn't be happier.
 
I did the Headsets, Inc. ANR conversion on an old set of DCs I had, and it works great. Funny thing is, while I agree that the DCs do have more clamping than som either headsets, I discovered that, with the ANR, the "clamping" was not nearly so bad, so I find myself wondering how much was really clamping, and how much was just the fatigue that comes with enduring a long flight with a lot of noise.

Ymmv, but I liked it enough that I did another headset for my son, and he is happy as well. I do recommend that, if you do the Headsets, Inc. conversion, you spring for (1) the integral y-cable, and (2) the auto shut-off box.
 
I actually bought a set of DRE-6000 headsets off of ebay and had Richard and company refurb them. They work great and my total cost with the refurb was about $150. I found a second set that matched the first and had Richard refurb them with a total cost of about $120. Now I have a matched set. You can really hear the difference when you turn the ANR on. This is one of those company's that understands customer service.
 
I have a DRE 6000 I converted myself using the HI kit. Not difficult at all. No special equipment; I used a soldering station and heat gun, with a needlenose pliers and rubber band on the handle for a heat sink. This could be done with any old soldering iron as long as the tip is clean.

The kit even comes with solder!

The DREs come with floating (but unpowered) microphones, unlike the DCs. You just have to ground one side. It's probably noisier, but it doesn't seem to cause issues.

The good news is that the HI kit replaces the cheap DRE speakers with better ones. And the headset is naturally much more comfy than David Clamps.
 
Thanks for all the responses!

I've got a pair of DC 10.xx and a pair of ASA 100-something. I'd like a Zulu but can't bring myself to part with $1,000.

I might do the ASAs first for practice. That way I'm not out too much if I screw up.
 
Inverted said:
I have heard good things. My only hangup is that it doesn't change the clamping force which is the entire point of going ANR for me. I hate the way headsets can vice grip to your head.
Click to expand...

that was the selling point for me, too.
 
Flying_Nun said:
Thanks for all the responses!

I've got a pair of DC 10.xx and a pair of ASA 100-something. I'd like a Zulu but can't bring myself to part with $1,000.

I might do the ASAs first for practice. That way I'm not out too much if I screw up.
Click to expand...

You could get a used set of noise cancelling for less. If you don't need bluetooth, the Bose X are nice.
 
Flying_Nun said:
I'd like a Zulu but can't bring myself to part with $1,000.
Click to expand...

No need to.

Paste these links into Google.

bose aviation headset site:craigslist.org

zulu aviation headset site:craigslist.org

Lightspeed aviation headset site:craigslist.org​

I have bought several nice Bose X and Zulus in $350 range, and other ANR Lightspeeds around $150.

Just takes a little patience. It seems that retiring airline pilots and students who start with Bose headsets and never get certificated dump their headsets cheap from time to time.
 
Flying_Nun said:
Thanks for all the responses!

I've got a pair of DC 10.xx and a pair of ASA 100-something. I'd like a Zulu but can't bring myself to part with $1,000.

I might do the ASAs first for practice. That way I'm not out too much if I screw up.
Click to expand...


I bought a used set of Lightspeed 30-3G's and traded them up. My net price was in the low $700s.

The 30-3G's are pretty good as far as ANR, but mine had a cracked headband and cracked wiring insulation.

Any David Clark passive headset is worth $200 if you trade it in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top