I ran across a pair of (probably) Micro Seiki MX-5 vintage electrostatic headphones in one local used hi-fi equip store. There is very little information about these cans floating around. Are they any good? Are they worth obtaining?

Thanks in advance for ideas.

They're one of the rarest 'stats, so they're almost worth owning soley for that. I believe they were made for Micro Seiki by Stax way back when (late 70s? early 80s?). I'm not sure what voltage bias they use, but they should be able to be rigged up to a standard Stax amp.

Someday someone needs to get a bunch of rare electrostatics (Micro Seiki MX-5, Jecklin Floats, Koss ESP/7, Stax SR-Alpha, whatever that Philips electrostatic was called, etc), rig them up to run on good amp like a KGSS, and compare them to the more recent, popular models of electrostats to see how much inferior they actually are.

How much does the guy want for them?

Around $350, but I can't afford them at the moment... :-\

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I have no idea if that's cheap or expensive, I'm afraid.

If they were NOS I might have considered it worth it, but used I'm not sure.

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Me too. Maybe they'll lower the price later. I have the feeling those cans will stay in the shop for some time.

Thanks for you notes anyway.

The Audio Circuit has a page on the Micro Seiki's...

http://www.audiocircuit.com/index.ph...MIK&Model=MX-5

Oh, so those are in fact electret headphones? Good to know. I think I've read somewhere that electret elements should be replaced every 10 years or so. Seems like unnecessary hassle to me...

Thanks for the info!