The Stax thread (New) - Page 580

If they are working when you get them they should keep on working with minimal care. I have Staxen 30+ years old.

Keep them away from dust and don't get them wet. Stax sells a plastic cover although you could use a gallon freezer bag. I personally have never covered mine. I suspect the main problem you may encounter is that if you use a transformer, rather than an amp, you run more risk of driving them to arcing.

I just got my silver foil XLR cables. I plugged them into my Koala Tube to my 717 and I was pretty impressed. The audience XLR ($300) was a big gap away. Transparency was much improved and the music was more involving. Body was much better as well.

eBay? That's where I got mine.

Stax SRM-717

Good morning Stax peeps hope someone can help looking for a mint SRM-717 with posible U.S. voltage. to drive my SR007-MK2s, Thanks all and have a safe upcoming holiday..

Marc Hessel
Brooklyn, New York..

You can ask Craig from koboTen to source one for you. I think he has one at the moment. You can reach him at -

support@kuboten.com

Voltage should not be a problem as it can be switchable either internally or externally depending on which batch it is. Internally is a little more troublesome but not impossible. If not mistaken, the one that Craig has is in US voltage. If not, you can ask him for the instructions to do it yourself. I gave him the instruction sometime ago.

I didn’t ask ,but I’m sure it will be cheaper than the prices I see in ebay.You can alternatively ask other Stax distributors in central/south Europe for prices and if they are willing to ship to you.For example from Croatia,Italy or Czech Republic
Overseas Distributors for Italy
Overseas Distributors for Czech Republic
Overseas Distributors for Croatia

Protect them against dust and moist, and don't drop them to the floor.
Apart from that they should be mostly maintenance free and long lasting.

It's kind of paradoxical -- the more humid your room is the less dust you will have. Protecting against one puts you at risk of the other.

Don't worry, though, they are really rather maintenance free. Unlike dynamic headphones which are subjected to stress by simply being used, Estats can run for a long time so long as they're minimally cared for.

I have heard this term "arcing" around here a lot. what is it exactly? the only thing I picture is a blue arc of electricity going from one ear to the other, and that would be bad. so what is it, and how do you avoid it. I'll be using an SRD-7sb

Arcing is bad, bad news. When you drive the panels WAAAY too hard they literally arc (though not between your ears ) and cause holes to form on the panels. Once they arc once they begin to arc more easily, leading eventually to a useless, goofy looking set of earmuffs.

Preventing this is easy, however. Just be careful that you know where the volume on your amp is before you turn them on. The lambdas will not arc at listenable volumes, they arc at "holy crap is that blood coming out of my brain?" volumes. You will never purposely drive them this hard, but you might have the volume turned up from your speakers and accidentally switch to headphones, which could cause them to arc. Be careful with them, and you're problem free.

You certainly don't want any arching. Its not physical painful for you, as there will be no electricity going through you from one ear to the other.
What happens are that the diaphragm get in contact with one of the two stators, releasing its 230v charge (a shortcut). Which burn a hole in the diaphragm.

You avoid it by not driving the 'phone louder than they are capable of. Don't turn up the volume unless you have the 'phones on your head, and you should be safe. Your ears will hurt before the 'phones.
Stay safe!

Arcing sounds pretty easy to avoid. thanks for giving me the down low. Its amazing how much crap you guys know.

(he says, no knowing that now he knows all this crap too, and in two months noobs will be asking him for advice)

Damn you Head-Fi!
For making me spend so much time reading and posting around here...

I've did listen to the SR-404 & SRM-1/MK2 combo today and it was quite an experience. The condition is the same as I described before (headphone almost brand new and the amp is in pristine condition) so I think it's a deal that I will not miss. Hope I can join the club very soon