The Stax thread (New)

[kintsaki]

Originally Posted by spritzer

1. They are glued on so you can just pull them off. Do it slowly and you'll manage to pull off most of the glue with the pads.
........
........

Amazing!

How can you respond to all of our questions with such articulate answers regardless of the
time of day (and night perhaps...)

I guess whoever called you God of Headphones (in a recent spot) knew what he was talking about.

So here you have it:

"Spritzer" a "Headphone Zeus"

"kintsaki" a sinful mortal that is not particularly fond of his O2.

[milkpowder]

Impressive isn't it Goodness knows how he knows so much...

[spritzer]

One does pick up a few things after having fixed up and modified dozens of Stax phones.

[Elephas]

Originally Posted by kintsaki

Amazing!

How can you respond to all of our questions with such articulate answers regardless of the
time of day (and night perhaps...)

I think he's actually been slacking off a bit and becoming somewhat lazy.

I suspect that many recent questions aren't really challenging enough to be interesting to him, and some boredom might be the cause of the laziness.

I recall some impressive performances maybe about two years ago. Weird questions about obscure topics that few people could possibly know anything about, all answered and dealt with within hours.

[Col12]

Sorry to post out of the blue as a Newbie but was wondering if anyone can give me some advice? I posted this elsewhere but this might be a better thread to ask in.

I have a pair of Stax Gamma Pro and SRD7SB that I have had for many years, but have not used them for a long time as the thin diaphrams of the Gammas Developed holes in many years ago reducing the volume and freqency response (I had a look inside). Also the headband if broken.

I have recently found out after after all these years doing some research that this was the wrong type of adaptor for these Gamma Pros, - the SRD7SB being a "NORMAL" type 6 pin adapter and the Gamma Pros being a "PRO" type 5 pin connection which require different bias voltages. The shop that originally sold the adaptor and headphones to my Dad did not realise this.


So my question is this: - although the 5 pin PRO plug of the headphones fits into the 6 pin NORMAL adaptor socket, - has the damage the diaphrams endured been due to this mismatch of does this type of damage occur naturally over time? Is it OK to use the 5 pin PRO plug in a 6 pin NORMAL adaptor or is it a real no no?

Also was wondering (as I have tried in the UK and parts are not availiable anymore), - is it possible to still buy replacement parts anywhere at all, - I obviously need new diaphrams and headband for my Gamma Pros or they are junk?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Colin

[Comfy]

Originally Posted by kintsaki

"kintsaki" a sinful mortal that is not particularly fond of his O2.

Let us know when you've had enough of that horrible, horrible pair of earspeakers... Some of us might be willing to offer a hecatombe of euros for them...

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by Col12

... the thin diaphrams of the Gammas Developed holes in many years ago reducing the volume and freqency response (I had a look inside). Also the headband if broken
... although the 5 pin PRO plug of the headphones fits into the 6 pin NORMAL adaptor socket, - has the damage the diaphrams endured been due to this mismatch?

Hey Colin, welcome to the right place.

You've got two problems, and they may not be related. First off, don't worry about driving a "PRO" bias set off of a "NORMAL" bias adapter. It isn't harmful, but it's also not very effective. Going the other way around IS harmful, however, but it's harder to make that mistake.

When earspeakers are driven too loud or too hard, they can "arc", sending bursts of electricity across the diaphragm and burning holes in it. Once the earspeakers start arcing a little bit, they arc faster and faster until they're more hole than not. As far as I know, this is irreparable damage, and to fix them you would need a new set of panels.

Typically, this only happens at extremely high listening levels -- if yours degraded at lower listening levels, it may be the fault of the mismatched adapter. Not sure how that would be, though.

[Col12]

Hi Sherwood,
Many thanks for you kind and very helpful reply.

I agree it is strange that the Gamma Pro diaphrams have become damaged. The damage definitely happened when my father had them many years ago and he does not listen loud. Both of the diaphrams are indeed damaged, I had a look- one a fair bit wosre than the other, - quite big holes. And is is strange this happened at low volumes using a NORMAL bias adaptor.

The only thing I can think of is that this particular "NORMAL" socketed adaptor is the SRD7SB model, - the self bias model, - and is non mains powered unlike most of the others, - perhaps this Self biasing energiser damages PRO headphones more easily?, but I am just guessing!

I assume there is nowhere now you can buy new Gamma Pro Diaphrams and no way to repair them?

Many thanks again,
Colin

Originally Posted by Sherwood

Hey Colin, welcome to the right place.

You've got two problems, and they may not be related. First off, don't worry about driving a "PRO" bias set off of a "NORMAL" bias adapter. It isn't harmful, but it's also not very effective. Going the other way around IS harmful, however, but it's harder to make that mistake.

When earspeakers are driven too loud or too hard, they can "arc", sending bursts of electricity across the diaphragm and burning holes in it. Once the earspeakers start arcing a little bit, they arc faster and faster until they're more hole than not. As far as I know, this is irreparable damage, and to fix them you would need a new set of panels.

Typically, this only happens at extremely high listening levels -- if yours degraded at lower listening levels, it may be the fault of the mismatched adapter. Not sure how that would be, though.

[spritzer]

Originally Posted by Elephas

I think he's actually been slacking off a bit and becoming somewhat lazy.

I suspect that many recent questions aren't really challenging enough to be interesting to him, and some boredom might be the cause of the laziness.

I recall some impressive performances maybe about two years ago. Weird questions about obscure topics that few people could possibly know anything about, all answered and dealt with within hours.

Damn right, throw me something challenging to do.

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by Col12

I assume there is nowhere now you can buy new Gamma Pro Diaphrams and no way to repair them?

You might try placing a call to Yamas Inc.

Yama's Enterprises, Inc.
16617 S. Normandie Ave., STE C
Gardena, CA 90247-5457
Tel: 310-327-3913 Fax: 310-324-7422
info [at] yamasinc.com

They're the North American Distributor for Stax products, and they may have Gamma drivers and assemblies (though I really doubt it).

The Self-Biasing adapter looks exactly the same as a mains-biased adapter to the headphone, so I doubt the fact that it's an SB had anything to do with it. More likely, given the age of the phones and their previous use, they were accidentally blasted with speaker listening volumes sometime in their history. Tough to say.

If you cannot repair the gamma, and are still interested in Stax, you should keep a look out for a set of old normal bias SR-Lambda earphones on here, audiogon and ebay. If you look for awhile you can find them for about $200, and they're all sorts of awesome. They'll work properly with your SRD-7SB, and sound better than most everything else in the price range.

[mypasswordis]

You've posted the same question four times.

[Oublie]

One of the reasons stax stopped making the energizer boxes was because of issues with arcing head speakers. I however, have a few of these driving different cans and have yet to have any problems. You won't be getting anywhere near proper sound quality from a pro on a normal 230v bias but if anything I would probably blame a faulty energizer rather than the low bias. (i have 2 of em and have had no issues so far) BTW what amp were you driving them with and what's its rms wattage?

[milkpowder]

Originally Posted by spritzer

Damn right, throw me something challenging to do.

[Oublie]

Originally Posted by spritzer

Damn right, throw me something challenging to do.

Easy design a better amp than the Blue Hawaii SE using easily gotten parts.
And give us the schematic!

[Keithpgdrb]

design an equal or superior replacement cable for the normal bias stax cans. They will be needed!!

and make it really easy to get. (i'm still waiting to hear back from a stax rep from weeks ago...)