The Stax thread - Page 134  

I'm currently using a Russ Andrews Reference cord and it is ok but the Ridge Street Audio Poiema 3 Signature I have too is so much better but I'm using it on the CDP while I'm waiting on another cord. The 7 gauge silver with natural insulation sure sounds great, so effortless and flowing and they aren't that expensive.

Ouch! That is a rip-off in the same league as $300 for the SR-5/SRD-6 combo.
Hope the buyers feel that they have done a great deal...

Not hard at all! he he
Luckily there are many of us to blame for the rising prices, and not a single person.

Darn, I really wanted this for my old Lambdas:

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAX-Model-ED-1-...QQcmdZViewItem

My bid wasn't really that close to that price! Do these things usually pull down that kind of money? Yikes!

Thats less money than the last 2 ED units ive seen sell for.

Oh look, there goes 3000 posts.

whoah, thats the highest I've seen an ED-1 sell for so far. ($400-500 is the usual price range, from what I've seen)

Those are like $650 right? damned only someone with a meridian would call that not expensive

Good point. I actually use an automated bidding program because I know I am very capable of last-minute emotional over-bidding. I'll keep looking. I've heard mixed reports on the EQ's with the Lambdas, but I'd like to hear for myself.

Well expensive is always relative... The balanced IC's in the same line utterly destroy the Kimber KS-1130 and they are quite a bit cheaper then the Kimber. When you are buying straight from the builder you get so much more for the money, better wire, more attention to details, much better connectors and in Ridge Street's case the best customer service ever.

Sigma's once ruled the world

I saw ferrstein's Sigma's and thought I would comment on where headphones stand in relation to the rest of audio.

I bought my Sigma's in 1979 along with the SRA-12 amp that I could plug my turntable directly into because it had it's own phono stage. Not only were they vastly superior to my NAD amp/Clestion UL-6 speaker set-up but they blew away every amp/speaker combo I heard at every high-end dealer I visited in the Orange/LA County area at the time. Nothing even came close.

So a couple of years ago I got to thinking about those old cans and decided to try the modern version and bought the 3030 system from Audiocubes. I compared them to my current rig comprised of DIY sub with current Parts Express 8" speaker/250w amp, Maggie 1.6's from 40hz to 500hz, Altec-Lancing 902's on 500 horns from 500hz to 12,000hz and 6" Aurum Cantus Ribbons from 12,000hz up. Innersound Electrostatic amp on the Maggies. Yamamoto A-08S amp with EML solid plate 45's on the Altec's. DIY Paridise Gain Clone amp on ribbons. Marchand XM44 crossover. Tweaked Wright WPL-20 pre with Tungsram E80CC's , RCA 12SX7's and law-faked PEC carbon volume control.

While the 3030's cost a lot less than my current system the Sigma's cost a lot less than the rigs I was comparing them to 25 years ago.

Well, times change. Audio has advanced. Today's stereos sound amazing. I guess the jist is you can no longer buy a set of headphones off the shelf that sound better than any speaker system out there.

It's true, there is a lot of really good stuff out there and has been for a good while now. Value for Sound quality, I think many phones win easily. On the ultimate scale, speaker rigs rule supreme unless you have a special thing for phones as even the best can't manage anywhere near the scale, majesty and power of great speakers. Still, the old Staxes do a pretty good job even today.

You are right on the value for sound quality. I just bought a couple of closed headphones for work. ATH-900's and DT770/80's. Both sound great. Plug them into a iPod and you have excellent sound for the amount spent. I got the Porta Corda also but it's not really needed. I am trying to decide if I should wait for the Shure se530 or get the e500 now.

e500?! don't you mean Stax 001

I just looked into the Stax 001. I think the Shure e500 would be a better choice for my situation. I am a machinist around loud machines.