The Stax thread (New) - Page 33

Oops... sorry, that was my bad. I was thinking these pro-bias units were going for just a bit more than that these days. Was this price high? Man, my impatience sure does cost me a bunch of money!

Edit Here's the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280087899461

I'm not really even sure why I bought this thing. I wanted to hear it in comparison to my SRM1 MkII, but I really don't have a very good conventional amp to compare it with. I have a Moscode 300 which is good on my loudspeakers but I betcha it is a bit noisy for headphones. We'll see... it may be up for sale soon!

I didn't think the price was all that high, but don't have any reference points for the pro energizers. Anyone know what the average is? I want one, and you outbid me for it, lol! I also saw at least one other Head-Fi'er in the auction early on, but I think it got too rich.

After losing that auction, I decided I'd take a chance on finding one of these at a used shoppe somewhere, as all this old Stax junk has just gotten bid up way too high, probably due mostly to this website, in all honesty.

The ending price on it wasn't bad at all IMO. And cheaper than what the last couple went for here.I really thought it would go for a bit more.

Whoops on me-- didn't mean to imply any bads on the part of anyone here, including the "talking it up" part. $131 might indeed be a little lower than the going rate, but it's discouraging for a newbie who got his SRD-7 + SR-X Mk3 for less than a hundred and now wants to step up to high bias (which is 5-pin on the Stax Planet, MaloS-- you are correct). Speaking generally, it's probably close to the going rate... today. Was it close to this amount a year or two ago? I doubt it. But that's life in the big city, and I feel as responsible for the rise in prices for the transformer boxes as much as anyone here. As you were, carry on.

Well it may not cooperate with my Moscode amp... and since I don't listen to conventional amplifiers (I use Acoustat HV amps - something we don't want to hook to a Stax transformer!), I may end up selling this thing. I'll look you up if I do. It looks like it has a few dings on the top of the face, so I'll surely be selling it at a discount.

BTW, sorry for the snipe. I've been using an automated bidder for quite some time now, since I know I'm fully capable of making silly last-minute bidding decisions.

I don't think the price was all that high. Afaik I bought the last one that was put up for sale, and I paid a little bit more. The one before that one went for more than $200.
I got a pretty good deal on my SRD-7 MK2 though...

Not at all. I had to go to bed, so I set it at what I thought I was willing to pay, and you just wanted it a little bit more!

I guess if you look at the cost to build something like that, the price really isn't too bad. Let me know if you decide not to keep it, and I'll gladly take it off your hands. I have a couple of amps here I'd love to try with the OmegaIIs.

Email sent!
Hopefully Justin will answer me promptly, with some more information about his upcoming limited edition electrostatic amplifier.

Can't wait...

Yeah I also bid on that SRD-7 Pro but it seems my maximum wasn't high enough!

Perhaps this will force me away from my Lambda Pro/HE60 lusting and my K1000 will remain a monogamous choice...

I am looking at my Lambda Nova and the stator is some form of wire mesh.

However, the Sigma pro (which was modified from the low bias model by Stax Japan about 1998) has what appears to be a perforated copper plate. The Sigma is not a Lambda but was the precursor and has many construction features the same.

I wonder which other Sigma/Lambda models are mesh or perforated plate and are there other stator designs for these phones?

The mesh would appear to be more transparent but the plate might be stronger.

All Lambdas until the Nova series used perforated copper stators and the Nova and the Omega 1 used mesh stators. I think the move to mesh has a lot to do with controlling resonances. While the mesh will ring it wont behave like a single plate. This is a huge problem with all stators and there have been some ingenious solutions. The use of PCB stators in the SR-007 does solve this problem but it brings another one to the table. The PCB is only conductive on the side that faces away from the diaphragm and this increases the D/S (diaphragm/stator) spacing. You could always use a thinner spacer but then you could limit excursion and cause other huge problems. I believe that Stax chose to keep the spacers at 0.5mm or slightly less and thats why the Omegas are such a beast to drive. Even though electrostats may appear to be simple beasts they aren't easy to get right and I know there is a lot more that can be gotten from the right design.

Anyone around here who just von the SRD-X pro auction on eBay?
STAX SRD-X Professional Portable Adaptor Pro Headphones

Seems like a pretty good deal to me...

Not if it doesn't work.

I looked at it but would only go to $50.00 for an untested amp. I already have a similar pro only amp and it's pretty good with a Lambda or SR001. It's a bit underpowered for Sigma's and probably Omega's too.

However they hold 8 C cells and are an alternative to those who don't want the main Stax portable, the SRM001MkII.

Didn't Koss also go through a similar progression with it's electrostatics, starting out with perforated copper and ending up with plastic on the ESP950?

I haven't seen an ESP-950 but both the ESP 6 and 9 have perforated copper stators along with many other stats from the same era. Metalized plastic is so very Quad ESL