The Stax thread (New) - Page 41

Congrats on the new acquisition! I would be most interested to hear your impressions of the 202s vs. the 404s, any differences, etc. I expect there won't be much, but you never know.

I did a thorough search for it just now but I can't find it.

Downrange,
I read somewhere that the elements in the 404 and 303 are the same, but the 202 is different (maybe a thicker diaphragm). I've only listened to the 202’s for a few hours. They don't appear to have the upper midrange glare of the 404's but I do not have the 404's on hand for direct comparison. Some of the glare I think came from the SRM-006t when I owned a 4040 system. I clearly like the SRM-1mkII over the 006t. By the way, how do you like your SR-001’s?

AudioD

I got really interested in this two-box Blue Hawaii, and emailed Justin (HeadAmp) for some information.

After reading his answers I have decided to put an order on hold, at least until I have seen some initial picture. Cause it sounds like it will not have such a beautiful designed and exclusive looking chassis' as the Aristaeus.

Where are Ray Samuels when we (I) need him?!

Wow, really? What are they going for? Do you mean just the headsets without amp/energizer?

A few weeks ago there was a guy on Audiogon asking $600 for Lambda Pro's (phones only). I think they sold (for what price I don't know).

Sure, everything is possible.
But it would be damn expensive to design and build just one (1) set of chassis', with laser engraving, volume knobs, etc. Sharing the cost on those 10 amplifiers would be a different matter though.

I just expected the Blue Hawaii Special Edition to follow close to the design path Justin laid out with the Aristaeus. That said, I am sure it will be a nice looking (and beautiful sounding) amplifier.

Holy crow! But that's Audiogon. They'll ask $200 for preamp jumpers over there and not even blink.

Interesting... I'd read or heard somewhere that the diaphragms were the same, only real difference is supposed to be the cable capacitance, but I'm not sure about that. The SR-001s are a nice little system; I don't see them as competing with Lambda (2020), but they do some things better (vocals, less upper midrange peak). Good for travel!

Thanks for the responses to my posts earlier today!

I checked my SR-X and the pads don't look as ugly as I inferred, it's mainly that they're kinda squished in from use, I guess I could fix that with a backing layer of foam to compensate. I'm wondering if the pads sold by Audiocube are real Stax pads, or some aftermarket ones made to fit. Guess it doesn't matter much. Just that when I last spoke to H. Mori****a maybe 5? years ago the Stax ones were $40...I'm always wary when something seems to be bargain-priced! At the time that's why I passed when I could get leather ones (copied from originals) for the same $$, but $20 seems not too bad especially if they're Stax.

Are there any good mods for the SRD-7/SR-X that aren't too difficult that significantly *improve* them? It's a bit fuzzy what I have done over the years, but I sure don't use the built-in speaker/phones switch and terminals (it is always set to Earspeaker/On). For one thing the input cable was cheesy and too short, so I replaced with much thicker wire and bypassed the switch. Use an external Shallco monster switch that's right at the amp output terminals...not sure if it's sonically better, but sure looks a lot better electrically, and with half-decent GP binding posts etc. that suit modern speaker cables better. I replaced the caps etc. in the SRD-7, minor wiring upgrades, kept all the original bits JIC. I did not think quality components in the bias supply would affect the sound much, but who knows, I just did little things since I had it open and the iron was hot.

One thing I remember is the level I used to listen to the Stax at would clip my 125wpc amp...not so the 350wpc amp they're on now. I have never got a good answer as to why these little phones would do that. I figure this is the place... I mean the Stax amps are fairly low power in comparison, at least the tube ones and they must work OK. Of course tube amps distort differently and more pleasantly. Wish I could hook the Stax up to my SET amps (3W I think)...that would probably sound sweet if it worked but I'm kinda afraid to try it based on my SS amp experience. Thanks for any insights.