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Stax help

post #1 of 27
1/17/10 at 5:28pm
Thread Starter 
Well guys, the auction action hit me and I ended up purchasing Stax SR-5 and SRD-6 adaptor. I honestly don't know anything much about them except that they're electrostats and Stax seem to have a good reputation around here.

I purchased them for £87.50 (around $143).

These were the images in the auction:







Oh and the seller has said they are working, so will verify that when they actually arrive.
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post #2 of 27
1/17/10 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
so guys would I have to buy something like this:

As I currently don't have much more funds as I bought ie8's, hd600's, s:flo2 and a bravo amp.....I can probably spen upto £60 more or if these sound better than the Sen HD600's, I could sell them and put extra cash and spen around £150-200.....I could buy a DVD player, not sure about the sound quality though....I'd rather not connect to my pc, bus as I said I hardly know anything about Stax.
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post #3 of 27
1/17/10 at 6:37pm
You need to connect the Stax energiser to a speaker amplifier. A headphone amp will not be sufficient. For £60 youll need to look for an old NAD or similar on ebay. Double that would buy you a new small Pioneer or similar.

What do you normally listen to as your main music source? A CD Player or your PC? Because thats what you should be connecting the headphones to.
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post #4 of 27
1/17/10 at 6:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggeh View Post
You need to connect the Stax energiser to a speaker amplifier. A headphone amp will not be sufficient. For £60 youll need to look for an old NAD or similar on ebay. Double that would buy you a new small Pioneer or similar.

What do you normally listen to as your main music source? A CD Player or your PC? Because thats what you should be connecting the headphones to.
Normally I use a Zune hd connected to the Bravo amp

Well I found this, seems not that great but it does have the speaker outputs for the headphones:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mini-Radio-MP3...item3358ee7302

Oh and if not that would a Rotel RA-930AX integrated amp or a Pioneer a-204R be better?
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post #5 of 27
1/17/10 at 7:09pm
You could go on ebay or parts express and pick up what is commonly called a "T-amp". It uses a tripath chip to amplify decently for the price. Search for Muse T-amp on ebay or Dynaudio T-amp on parts express to find options around $50 (make sure it includes a power supply with it). You could also buy the Trends T-amp from ALO or somewhere which seems like it may be a little nicer for a bit more $.
The T-amp worked well with my SR-Lambda and SRD-7SB.
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post #6 of 27
1/17/10 at 7:14pm
Thread Starter 
Well the T-Amp sounds quite interesting I'll have to look into that. Also, while you're here do you think that the T-Amp would be worth buying over a Rotel RA-930AX:



(The one on top not the one with the cassette deck.)
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post #7 of 27
1/17/10 at 8:10pm
Given how much a T-amp costs in the UK you're better with a old proper amp. The T-amp is only worth it if its really cheap. That Rotel would do nicely.

Don't try using a car amplifier. They're not designed for the same kind of application. Their power ratings tend to be peak level PMPO into 4 ohms as well which is what lets them look so powerful from the numbers.
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post #8 of 27
1/17/10 at 8:33pm
Thread Starter 
okay sounds good, I'll try to get my hands on the rotel and if I can't, I'll probably get a T Amp. Thanks for the help guys.
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post #9 of 27
1/17/10 at 9:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortuus View Post
okay sounds good, I'll try to get my hands on the rotel and if I can't, I'll probably get a T Amp. Thanks for the help guys.
Everyone's advice was spot on. The Muse T-amp is nice sounding, and a good deal in performance for the price. My 12 yr old son uses one with his Stax SRD-6/Lambdas. However, I agree that the Rotel is likely a much better choice, just remember to not turn up the amp past about 8-12 watts of power for the Stax transformer. You can get by with 5 watts.

On your budget the Behringer uControl 202 you pictured could be used as a USB DAC and music source to feed USB audio into the speaker amp, but it's not super resolving/detailed. A $40 Headstage USB DAC cable would be a little better (I did compare them a long time ago). But a $99 Nuforce uDAC to feed the speaker amp from the RCA outputs would better allow you to experience the extra detail of the Stax headphones than those others. It performs well above it's pay grade, and I bet it would sound good with the IE8 if you use the uDAC built-in headphone amp. The uDAC can even drive the HD600 if needed if you have to take it portable with a laptop. And, as a DAC it's not out of place feeding a $500-$1000 amp either.
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post #10 of 27
1/17/10 at 10:00pm
the rotel would be a nicer option than a t-amp but if you have to cheap it, you can get a lepai t-amp for ~30 usd off ebay.
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post #11 of 27
1/18/10 at 3:08am
thanks for the info in this thread... i need something like this for my lambda pros and srd7sbII
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post #12 of 27
1/18/10 at 8:03pm
Well done. I found a similar buy on eBay inGermany a few months ago and have been so pleased with the purchase. I used to use a friends expensive STAX headphones about 25 years a go and never hadthe dosh to buy somemyeself , but at under 100 quid! its a no brainer. Hope you like them!

Frank


Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortuus View Post
Well guys, the auction action hit me and I ended up purchasing Stax SR-5 and SRD-6 adaptor. I honestly don't know anything much about them except that they're electrostats and Stax seem to have a good reputation around here.

I purchased them for £87.50 (around $143).

These were the images in the auction:







Oh and the seller has said they are working, so will verify that when they actually arrive.
Reply
post #13 of 27
1/18/10 at 8:30pm
Was tempted by these myself, my stepfather used to have a pair of electrostatics Micro Seiki I think they were a really open and detailed sound.
I was put off as my amp is 2 X 150W and I think to powerful for the SRd 6 adaptor,
hope you enjoy though and let us all know your verdict once you have them up and running

John
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post #14 of 27
1/18/10 at 10:13pm
real men use these

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post #15 of 27
1/19/10 at 12:31pm
Maybe an experts here could help me with an opinion on how much this set should cost? =) Not much info, except that it's Sigmas and an SRD-7/SB driver.
Would be much appreciated.

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