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The Stax thread - Page 114  

post #1696 of 2675
1/16/07 at 1:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure View Post
Selling the SR-404s was the worst decision in my entire Head-Fi life

So, I'm desperate to get some electrostat action back in my life. Finding SR-404s for sale on these forums or on places like eBay and Audiogon seems to be rare (At least finding them alone and not in the 4040 system), but Lambda Pros seem to be more abundant.

What do you guys think of Lambda Pro vs. SR-404? To those that prefer the Lambdas, for which specific reasons do you prefer them over the SR-404s?

I'm so desperate
So, I take it that Stax have ruined you for life too? It's true what they say, once you go Stax you can't go back...

After living with the 404 for a rather long time now, about the only non-electrostatic headphone that I can still listen to and thoroughly enjoy is the ES2. Everything else just sounds kind of "meh..."

The new 323 is said to have an upgraded power supply over the 313. Plugging the 313 into the wall as opposed to a power strip was more beneficial for me than I would have expected; I believe the power section of the 313 is in need of serious improvement. If this is the case, then the 323 could be quite a bit better - and it's not much outside of the budget.

The McAlister amps sound terrific, but their build quality is very iffy. I've had bad luck with mine, and there have been other issues. Also, Peter takes a very long time to build his amps, so it's not an immediate solution, more like a long-term scenario. On top of that, the amps seem to be voiced more for the O2, since they're a bit on the bright side.

As for me, there's an O2 in the very near future.

Gear mentioned in this thread:

Koss ESP-950 Electrostatic Stereophone
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post #1697 of 2675
1/16/07 at 2:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by catscratch View Post
The McAlister amps sound terrific, but their build quality is very iffy. I've had bad luck with mine, and there have been other issues. Also, Peter takes a very long time to build his amps, so it's not an immediate solution, more like a long-term scenario. On top of that, the amps seem to be voiced more for the O2, since they're a bit on the bright side.

As for me, there's an O2 in the very near future.
I also have been trying to get into contact with Peter over the past few weeks about amp possibilities and have never gotten a response back. What bad luck have you had with yours and how has the customer service been? What configuration is your EA-2 compared to the EA-1 and EA-4? Can you just place some darker tubes to fix the brightmess? How does the EA-2 compare to the 313?

I remember reading about the wait times being incredibly long (up to 6 months, IIRC). So, I guess a McAlister amp is out of the question, which sucks since I thought it'd be the best bang for your buck amp (Compared to what else is available at that price range...the 006T/T1 and 717).
post #1698 of 2675
1/16/07 at 2:04am
Azure, here's hoping for both of us that nikongod breaks up his system... I need those Lambda Sigs, you need that SRM-T1!

Not to say that I'm not enjoying your ex-404s... they just have to be underbiased and overdriven God, this soundstage... I'm listening to Phoenix's latest album now, which is not exactly a good sounding CD, but it's extremely enjoyable on this setup and a lot more entertaining than I've heard previously.

edit: okay, now some Strokes action... awful sounding CD, pretty entertaining on the 404s. These are weird cans... it's like they do something to make bad source material sound more interesting than it is.
edit2: WOW - Rush is KILLER on here! Geddy's distorted Jazz bass on "Vital Signs" has NEVER sounded this badass! Oh, and the Rickenbacker on "Subdivisions!" GROWL CLANK GROWL! YESSSSSS, this is what it's supposed to sound like! I'm gonna have to dig out some Chris Squire action.
post #1699 of 2675
1/16/07 at 2:14am
Damn, I could well have the cash for an O2 in the not too distant future, I just don't know if I'd like it or not given my prefs for the kind of forward sound I love from the SR-X. Everything I've gleaned says the O2 is a bass-full, darkish phone with nice, polite highs. I don't know if this is what I'd like. On the other hand, the K-1000 seems like it would have a similar type of signature to the SR-X and so I'm torn.

I can't have both so I'm stuck in a dilemma. But really, it's not like I need or want to upgrade (not even sure they would be an upgrade) however I would sorely love to listen to both. It's highly doubtful I'll get the chance so I'd have to take a chance and get one in the hope I won't be wasting my cash.

Now, If I could find an SR-X Pro....
post #1700 of 2675
1/16/07 at 2:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by smeggy View Post
Now, If I could find an SR-X Pro....
The next SR-X Pro auction is going to be brutal...
post #1701 of 2675
1/16/07 at 2:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by feckn_eejit View Post
I am very much looking forward to krmathis' review of the SRD-7 Pro driving the SR-007s....

So, I've been listening to Joe Jackson's 1984 album _Body and Soul_ with the SRD-7 Pro driving the SR-404s. It's been fine... kinda milquetoast. I got about 2 mintues into the 6th track, "Loisaida", and could take it no longer... There's this part where it goes all quiet, and there's just piano, and Graham Maby's Fender precision bass. With the Pro box, I heard a piano and a pretty anonymous-sounding bass guitar, being played quietly... struggled to hear details I know are there... as soon as that part was over, I backed up the CD, switched to the normal-bias SRD-7, and BAM, I can tell easily what kind of bass guitar it is, hear the fret noises... then the horns come in and track builds up to a dynamic crescendo, with some great sounding drum fills. I FEEL the impact! There is NO problem with dymanics here! The X250.5 is actually working a bit, popping out of class A into A/B, pumping WAY more than Stax's reccomended 30WPC (instantaneous!) into the SRD-7. I worry about pushing the SRD-7 so hard... but now it's easy to tell that Maby is digging in hard on the strings of the P-bass during this part, rather than the anonymous-sounding boomy bass tone I get with the Pro-bias unit, which sounds like I've strapped a pair of 18" subwoofers to my ears.

I'm back wildly air-drumming, flailing my limbs around like a madman like I was with the SR-X/MK3, only there's BASS. With the Pro-bias adapter, the music just loses the magic...

The only thing I can really fault the SRD-7 normal bias adapter for is bringing out further the frequency response irregularities in the SR-404. Piano in the upper registers can be pretty painful. It's better reigned in with the pro-bias unit, but at quite a cost.

I should drag out my Sonic Frontiers transport, and use the AT&T ST optical cable. With my speaker setups and SR-X/MK3, this thing is deficient in bass and brutally harsh and detailed up top... might go well with the SRD-7 Pro/SR-404s. I've been on the fence regarding keeping this thing around as I don't really enjoy listening to it with any of my other system configurations... but now I have a feeling it might work here, and might be even better with the eventual SR-007s...

I really want to get ahold of a pair of SR-Lambda Signatures... someone convince nikongod to split up his FS system and sell the earspeakers to me!

edit: I was inspired to put on one of my many bass guitar reference tracks, Luther Vandross' "I've Been Working". Macrus Miller beats the s*** out of his Jazz bass on this track. The SR-X/MK3s was the most vivid I had heard it... before now! It sounds pretty awesome with the Pro box... but with the low bias box, it is freaking MAGICAL!
Well you got me curious about this. I don't have a perfect low/high bias comparison but I do have a low bias pre-amp (SRA12s) and high bias amp (SRM-3) plugged into the same cd player. Now the pre-amp gets first dibs on the signal and the SRM-3 is fed from the tape out of the pre-amp.

At any rate I plugged in a 404 into the amp first. Well, surpisingly, it sounds ok and a fair bit of bass but a somewhat flatulent bass like it's distorting. I then put it into the correct high bias SRM-3 and the 404 is cleaner sounding and the bass is now not so obviously distorted. Back into the low bias pre-amp and now the sound level is higher, probably the 404 is fully charged by the SRM-3. The 404 seems to hold its bias for some time thereafter as the signal level doesn't obviously drop.

So after a number of switches back and forth I think what I hear is more dynamics with high bias, but also some harshness. Low bias give you more ambience and somewhat more bass, but not the ultimate in bass punch. And I am not sure that a high bias phone will ever properly charge up on a low bias amp.

I have noticed something like this before, when comparing low and high bias Sigmas

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=174028

One of the unanticipated aspects of increased dynamics is a loss of ambience. This I have heard when using the old dBx companders. In fact the dBx manuals alert you to this.

If you can run high bias on a low bias output, you will hear some things you will like, i.e. a slightly sweeter sound, and more ambience, possibly with some failure to handle bass impulse-type signals.

Of course if you use a low bias transformer, with a big power amp, you may change the dynamics yet again.

Possibly the Stax amps need a variable bias, to be set to individual taste. I thought that some of the old tube amps did this?
post #1702 of 2675
1/16/07 at 2:37am
I think the honking big balanced power amp is the key... I am more than willing to bet that your low-bias preamp doesn't have balls to provide enough voltage swing to the stators to make up for the low bias of the diaphraghm. OTOH, my 250wpc power amp can dump stupid current into the SRD-7, which it steps up to stupid voltage, and sends that to the stators. The bass in my underbiased SR-404 setup is not distorted in any way whatsofreakingever with the normal-bias adapter, and there is no problem with dynamic compression... up to a very high listening volume. Zero distortion. I would call the bass tighter, perhaps not deeper, certainly less boomy than the pro bias adapter. I sort of get the impression that I am listening more to the sonic character of my electronics than the earspeakers when running low-bias. The stators definitely see way more voltage to get the same listening level than they would with the diaphragm biased at 580V, so everything is "working harder".

I think coils in the transformers in the normal-bias SRD-7 would be the first to give if I push it further, every time I see the needle on the X250.5 move indicating it has popped into Class A/B mode at ~40wpc@8 ohms, I can imagine the SRD-7 clinging on for dear life... and on really dynamic tracks, it moves quite a bit...

Also, on Spritzer's suggestion, I have been touching the pins on the earspeaker plug before swapping from one adapter to the other, which supposedly discharges bias current sitting in the diaphragm. I have not noticed variations in volume right after swapping down to the normal-bias box.

Check this out - the very first earspeaker adapter, SRD-1 - lo and behold, variable bias! Looks like up to 450V or so...
post #1703 of 2675
1/16/07 at 8:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by feckn_eejit View Post
I am very much looking forward to krmathis' review of the SRD-7 Pro driving the SR-007s....
So do I!
Especially if the SRD-7 Pro/Doxa combination will be an improvement, or not, compared to my current SRM-007t.
post #1704 of 2675
1/16/07 at 10:07am
I've been listening to the SR-007 with the SRD-7 Mk2 through a Kenwood KA-8100, an oldie but a goodie. The signal is looped through the T1 then to the SRM-313 until it reaches the Kenwood. Cables include the cotton covered silver IC's I've made and vdH The First. The signal is far from pure so these impressions should be taken with a grain of salt...

First there is the sibilance, weird tonality, bloated bass and tiny sound stage. The sound is very artificial with sculptured highs that are very bright on occasions and very thin. The midrange has a layer of wool over it like cabinet resonances in speakers changing the tonality making voices sound shut in slightly nasal. The upper bass is very bloated and there is limited extension, almost like comparing a Lambda to the Omegas on the same amp. The Omegas are effectively turned into Lambdas with tubby bass and no depth or texture. The sound stage is not as wide as it can be and there is no depth at all making the presentation sound very forward and in your face.

On the whole it isn't bad (much better then the SRM-313 in controlling the O2's) and some of these issues are most probably down to the amp and cables but give my the Blue Hawaii any day.
post #1705 of 2675
1/16/07 at 4:38pm
I suspect the Doxa will prove a better power source than the Kenwood... and suspect my Pass will be even better. Makes me wish I had a pair of XA100 monoblocks... possibly the ultimate SR-007 power source, through an ultimate custom-built transformer box... I'll be curious to see how much power they suck up.

Spritzer, I think it was you I recall you mentioning in another thread a while ago you specced out the "Ultimate Transformer Box" to be about $1.2k? Pending a SR-007 audition with my X250.5, I can probably see doing this in the not-too-distant future if I can find someone to build it for me... Justin has said no go.
post #1706 of 2675
1/16/07 at 4:46pm
Hi,

I just bought my first stax set up on ebay and received it today. It's this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...0230&rd=1&rd=1

Lambda Pro + SRD-7SB and a pair of SR-80s.

Anyway, this is my first electrostatic set up and I have no clue about setting this up. I think I know that I have to hook the SRD-7 up to a power amp but was wondering if I can connect it to my MPX-3 SLAM. If this is possible, I have no idea how to do it since my amp only has the two standard L and R RCA jacks and the SRD-7 has a cable with 4 ends (an L+/- and R+/-).

I'm sure this is probably a very stupid question but please take it easy on me as I have no clue what I am doing. I have a stax 313 on the way but I would like to get this hooked up now to make sure that everything works properly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken
post #1707 of 2675
1/16/07 at 4:47pm
I've got the Walter Becker-produced _Flaunt the Imperfection_ by China Crisis spinning right now, using the normal-bias box and the SR-404s. Drum hits pummel my head, the bass pulsates with energy, I can feel the dynamics... and the air and detail is spectacular. Pop over to the pro box, and the upper midrange colouration goes away a bit, the treble extension seems to improve, but the air and detail is gone, and the bass is fat and flabby...
post #1708 of 2675
1/16/07 at 4:48pm
Ken, that's an interesting setup you scored.

The SRD-7/SB is a normal, low-bias energiser, and the Lambda Pro earspeakers you scored are pro, high-bias. You may find it a sub-optimal combination unless you have a beast of a power amplifier behind the SRD-7, and then you have to be careful not to kill the thing... they're rated for 30wpc instantaneous input. The SRM-313 will have a pro-bias output appropriate for the Lambda Pro earspeakers.

You will need a real power amp to make the SRD-7/SB work. Anything will work - crappy old receiver, home theatre receiver, whatever you've got kicking around with speaker-level outputs.

Cheers,
--jeff
post #1709 of 2675
1/16/07 at 4:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toonie View Post
Hi,

I just bought my first stax set up on ebay and received it today. It's this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...0230&rd=1&rd=1

Lambda Pro + SRD-7SB and a pair of SR-80s.

Anyway, this is my first electrostatic set up and I have no clue about setting this up. I think I know that I have to hook the SRD-7 up to a power amp but was wondering if I can connect it to my MPX-3 SLAM. If this is possible, I have no idea how to do it since my amp only has the two standard L and R RCA jacks and the SRD-7 has a cable with 4 ends (an L+/- and R+/-).

I'm sure this is probably a very stupid question but please take it easy on me as I have no clue what I am doing. I have a stax 313 on the way but I would like to get this hooked up now to make sure that everything works properly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken
I wouldn't hook the SRD-7 up to an MPX-3 Slam. It's not really designed for that kind of amp. You really should use it only on the power amp. If the MPX had some sort of speaker binding post output on it then you could hook it up, otherwise you would need to solder some sort of 1/4" connector to it and I don't think mixing the two ground wires is a good idea in this case.

Hope that helps.
post #1710 of 2675
1/16/07 at 4:55pm
Thanks for the help. I don't think I'll try hooking it to the MPX then. The only reason I thought it might be possible is that I thought I saw someone who had it connected to their Gilmore Lite. Anyway, I'll do some searching to see what I can find out about a good power amp to go with the SRD-7.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Koss ESP-950 Electrostatic Stereophone
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