The Stax thread (New)

[Carl]

Originally Posted by spritzer

Ok, now I'll have to find some of the older stuff to try out...

Good luck on that one. T2s come up for sale more often than they do.

[spritzer]

Originally Posted by audiod

spritzer,
I have a spare E/9 energizer that hums, but I'm sure the trans are good. Thanks thats a good idea. Also thanks for the ESP-9 pin out. Do you know the bias voltage on the E/9?

AudioD

You can fix the hum issue by replacing all diodes and caps. There is quite a bit of information over on Headwize on this issue though no one there has got the correct speaker wiring. The pin out is untested and I do not know how all of the circuitry inside the cups will affect a Stax amp. I will put an IEC connector on the E.9 soon so I can measure the active bias since it is supposed to be higher then the self biased.

BTW. Is there anyone that has any pictures of the inside of a 240v E.9? Mine is a 115v and I'm not sure how it can be changed and it is such a rats nest of wires I'd like to have something to work from.

Originally Posted by Carl

Good luck on that one. T2s come up for sale more often than they do.

Waiting is half the fun...

[Duggeh]

Originally Posted by spritzer

BTW. Is there anyone that has any pictures of the inside of a 240v E.9? Mine is a 115v and I'm not sure how it can be changed and it is such a rats nest of wires I'd like to have something to work from.

http://www.thismanwillkillyou.com/bu...i/DSC00035.JPG


Thats the only one I have uploaded to hand, although I appreciate it may not be useful. Ill have a look through my files for more, but I suspect I never took any detailed pictures of the interior.

[NeilPeart]

I'm very curious regarding these SRDs - I would like to drive an SR-Lambda Signature (one just sold on eBay for $400, BTW) but which SRD to buy? Does the SRD-7 (standard) lack the Pro output?

[jjcha]

Originally Posted by NeilPeart

I'm very curious regarding these SRDs - I would like to drive an SR-Lambda Signature (one just sold on eBay for $400, BTW) but which SRD to buy? Does the SRD-7 (standard) lack the Pro output?

You'll need a SRD-7 mk2. The normal SRD-7 only has normal bias. I'm sure there are a few others with Pro bias outputs, but they're not as common as the normal biased ones.

Best,

-Jason

[Lloyd297]

Originally Posted by Carl

I wasn't saying stats are sonically neutral. I was saying the things that make then not sonically neutral has very little to do with the driver.

Here's a little experiment to try. Fiddle around with an equalizer (borrow one if you don't have one), and try to EQ one electrostatic mirror the FR of a different electrostatic headphone. While you can't fully get rid of bass roll-offs and the like, you can get them pretty impressively close in sound. You can't make a dynamic headphone sound like a 'stat with EQ, though.

That's a bit like saying a particular cone material is sonically neutral but it becomes coloured once you add a magnet, a surround, a frame, a box, etc. The point is that stat drivers (which I disagree are inherently sonically neutral - how do you make every point move in sync with every other point?) come with stators, frame, housing, etc, and so you're listening to a complex that is in most cases far from sonically neutral.

Your experiment is interesting if somewhat skewed. You say EQ'ing different stats can make them sound very close in sound. First of all, if this is true then you have no need to go for an Omega or an Orpheus: just get the cheapest stat phone you can buy and add an equalizer. Secondly, you say you can't equalize a dynamic to sound like a stat but the converse is true: you can't equalize a stat to sound like a dynamic, with all its strengths.

[jjcha]

Sigh. I've been out of the head-fi thing for a while, but I got the HE90 and Aristaeus in earlier. Been playing with them, plus a few other things...



I will say, the iRiver + Dared + SRD-7 mk2 + HE90 sounds better than it damn well deserves to. We'll see at the end of the day which headphone remains standing. What can I say... I like all of them!!

Best,

-Jason

[smeggy]

Good grief Jason!

There's a treat for these old eyes

[Carl]

Originally Posted by Lloyd297

Your experiment is interesting if somewhat skewed. You say EQ'ing different stats can make them sound very close in sound. First of all, if this is true then you have no need to go for an Omega or an Orpheus: just get the cheapest stat phone you can buy and add an equalizer.

To a point this is true. The difference in sound from a cheaper pair of electrostatics like a SR-5 compared to one of the big five electrostatics driven off the same amp isn't as large as one might expect. There are decently sized differences is character from headphones - the HE60 and HE90's diffuseness, the ESP950's snap, the Sigma's amorphousness, the 4070's solidity - which aren't really FR related but caused by the earcups, driver distance and angle, the amount of damping material behind the driver, etc.

Secondly, you say you can't equalize a dynamic to sound like a stat but the converse is true: you can't equalize a stat to sound like a dynamic, with all its strengths.

Agreed.

[jjcha]

Originally Posted by smeggy

Good grief Jason!

There's a treat for these old eyes

Heh, well I will say I wish I had a pair of Gammas here right now... out of some rigs, the HE90 kind of reminds me of them, but doesn't quite have the impact...

Best,

-Jason

[Carl]

Originally Posted by jjcha

Heh, well I will say I wish I had a pair of Gammas here right now... out of some rigs, the HE90 kind of reminds me of them, but doesn't quite have the impact...

Best,

-Jason

You could always try the circumaural pads on the SRX tweak.

[Duggeh]

Sweet picture. MY first thought was "yoink".

[smeggy]

Originally Posted by Carl

You could always try the circumaural pads on the SRX tweak.

That doesn't actually sound anything like my gammas. If I remove the padding it gets closer but still not very close for some reason. I did some listening over the weekend and the gamma sounds quite different to the X, I don't know if it's the really cheap housings or the cable but I couldn't get the X to sound the same as the gamma no matter what. The X is vastly better even though I thought they shared driver, now I'm not so certain even though they look the same.

Can't explain it but there it is. The gamma sounds off and hollow/boxy.

[wualta]

Originally Posted by NeilPeart

I'm very curious regarding these SRDs - I would like to drive an SR-Lambda Signature (one just sold on eBay for $400, BTW) but which SRD to buy? Does the SRD-7 (standard) lack the Pro output?

Yes. There are four flavors of SRD-7 that I'm aware of. Small photos available on the Stax Brand History page.

1) the first version, silver face, two jacks fed 230V of bias-- ie, the original, standard, non-Pro bias voltage. Bias circuit runs on mains power, 100--240v, 50/60 Hz.

2) the SRD-7SB. Same as above, but black/grey face. Rectifies and stores up 230V of bias from the audio signal itself. No need for mains power, can be used anywhere in the world. I've never owned the Stax version, but Koss and Superex made self-biasing transformer boxes. My inexpensive Superex PEP-79 would occasionally run out of juice if I listened to quiet classical stuff over a long period and I'd have to crank the volume up momentarily to restore proper bias levels. Listeners to hypercompressed pop shouldn't have a problem.

3) SRD-7 Mk 2. This is more or less the same box as the 7 (investigations and comparisons pending), but with a black face and a classic voltage multiplier circuit (looks like a bridge truss) added to give 580V from one jack and the normal 230V from the other. Mains power.

4) SRD-7 Pro. Same as above but with two Pro-bias jacks.

[jjcha]

Originally Posted by wualta

3) SRD-7 Mk 2. This is more or less the same box as the 7 (investigations and comparisons pending), but with a black face and a classic voltage multiplier circuit (looks like a bridge truss) added to give 580V from one jack and the normal 230V from the other. Mains power.

Just FYI - there is a silver face version of the SRD-7/mk2 - it's the one in the photo. But yeah, both need external bias but otherwise it looks pretty much the same as the regular SRD-7 - with some differences.... hang on...



Also the speaker jacks on the back are diff (the mk2 have posts that take banana plugs, while the regular one are just for spades), and the fonts are different again...

Heh, sorry... just happened to have everything on the desk right now as I'm playing with the gear...

Best,

-Jason