[Tachikoma]

I have an SRD-7 MK2 energizer, and I'm planning to use either the Gainclone or the Charlize from diyparadise to power any stax setup I might own sometime in the future (sometime this year, I hope -__-). Could someone tell me which amp would be more suitable for what I have in mind, or perhaps suggest another power amp (at the same price range) for me to consider?

Forget the gainclone. The current contenders are:
1. Charlize from DIYparadise.com
2. Kenwood VRS-7100 digital receiver
3. Panasonic XR-55

My budget is <$300, and of course I'll be trying to get a decent amp for as little as possible... anymore suggestions?

 

[cotdt]

Both of these are power amps. =)

Anyway, the Tripath amp (Charlize) fully burned in and with good capacitors will smash the Gainclone in transparency and detail. All my friends and myself did a blind test with my Tripath amp (not Charlize but should sound the same) and a Gainclone and we all agreed that the Tripath amp killed the Gainclone. There is hardly any comparison. However, this is with speakers. I don't know how they would suit your application. Maybe the Charlize may blow up, I don't know. I've heard about it happening once.

 

[Tachikoma]

Lol, I'm pretty sure that cosmopragma's T-amp didn't blow up when he used it in his setup (I suppose the staxes won't need anything above 5 watts)

Did the gainclone beat the T-amp in any describable way?

 

[cotdt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma Lol, I'm pretty sure that cosmopragma's T-amp didn't blow up when he used it in his setup (I suppose the staxes won't need anything above 5 watts) Did the gainclone beat the T-amp in any describable way?

the gainclone emphasized lower frequencies than the t-amp, maybe due to having less midrange and treble detail.

 

[chadh]

While the tripath amps seem pretty uniform in characteristics (although some are obviously better than others), there seems to be a great deal of variability in the gainclones. Check out Peter Daniel's Patek, or the Chennel Islands VMB1's - these stand up to the tripath challenges.

May be out of your price range, but the First Watt F1 or F2 may work as well.

Chad

 

[Tachikoma]

Lol, my price range is around $100, btw

How much does it cost to build a Firstwatt F1?

 

[cotdt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma Lol, my price range is around $100, btw How much does it cost to build a Firstwatt F1?

ummm... that's quite a restriction. It's doable, but to get it to sound really good you need to use parts that cost more than the rest of the amp itself.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

I suppose the staxes won't need anything above 5 watts

Not my experience at all.I find 'stats through an energizer do well with amps in the 20-30 watt range and anything less lacking.thse are not very efficient cans we are talking about and even direct drive normally do best with a beam tetrode or pentode amp and not with triodes until you get to PP.Single ended just don't cut it for me

They like power and it must be clean power of you will regret it

BTW-I use a DIY Nelson Pass 20W Class-A amp with my Stax cans/energizer

 

[Tachikoma]

0.o even the K1000 doesn't need anything above 5 watts, does it?

Which stax can/energizer combination are you using? The can I plan to use is in my signature

(I think the SR-5 gold was released around the same time as the K1000, 1985 maybe?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickcr42 Single ended just don't cut it for me

...err, with my kind of budget, I'll never see a balanced amp till I graduate

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

0.o even the K1000 doesn't need anything above 5 watts, does it?

around 7-10 watts actually

The old Crown D-75 amp is a perfect match in the used gear market and especially so with upgrades.

Quote:

Which stax can/energizer combination are you using? The can I plan to use is in my signature (I think the SR-5 gold was released around the same time as the K1000, 1985 maybe?)

Mine is a vintage mode Realistic Model HP-100 a re-branded STAX SR-3/5 but a bit cosmetically different.Energizer I'm pretty sure is an SRD-5 but one front panel outlet and in black.Older set that sounds good,uses the original "low" and not "pro" bias but looks way better than the STAX models of the time.

Quote:

The can I plan to use is in my signature (I think the SR-5 gold was released around the same time as the K1000, 1985 maybe?)

You can try the above amps but on two fronts I am not convinced they will work well :

1-stats need either tube amps,hybrid amps or pure class-a amplification or every little bit of "grain" will come through and be tiring to listen to for exteneded periods.the problem with "good" is it always highlights the bad

2-In my case nothing less than the 20 watts I now use through the energizer was enough power.The former 10 Watt amp totally not satisfying so I built this puppy :

http://www.passdiy.com/pdf/classa_amp.pdf

I wanted to build the amp anyway but had to buy the HP-100 to have a good excuse since i really did not need it for anything.Liked but not need

Quote:

...err, with my kind of budget, I'll never see a balanced amp till I graduate

Don't mistake a push-pull amp for a fully balanced amp.The majority of amps (including ALL stax headphone amps) on the planet are not SE but PP with a single ended front end.To give you an idea of power requirements I have tried an EL-84 PP amp to drive the stax cans,an amp that sounds great with some headphones and with high sensitivity loudspeakers and it sucked with the stax set ! But an EL34 PP or KT-88 PP (convertable amp) amp was perfect and had a certain amount of synergy that is hard to beat.The Pass Class-a amp is more literal if maybe a bit dry while the KT88/EL34 more "musical" though not as articulate in the bass and maybe not as razor sharp at the top end.
One flat across the board,one mid range dominant which is where most music lives anyway so a real choice and one I could not make if I had only the STAX set-up for all my headphone listening.

I think possible a killer amp with an energizer though this just on "gut" without having heard the pairing would be an old Dynaco ST-70 with updated parts and a new front end card (several available) such as this :

http://www.quadesl.com/schematics.shtml

 

[Tachikoma]

Someone did say that the SR-5 sounded better through a SRD-6/SB + a modded t-amp than a SRM-313

The Dynaco ST-70 looks interesting though =P

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

The Dynaco ST-70 looks interesting though =P

Easy to find,easy to update,and with any flaws falling on the side of listenable rather than nasty.The chassis and transformers alone are worthy as a platform for an entirely new amplifier and would kick butt with this PP Triode circuit in place of the original Pentodes though like i said pentodes and stats have a certain synergy :

http://www.meta-gizmo.com/Tri/interstage.html


A pretty cool PP pentode design is here :

http://www.tube-amps.net/EA_Hashimot...PP_NNFB_01.htm

All that iron means not cheap but the schemo screams NICE !

http://www.tube-amps.net/images/EL34..._Schematic.jpg

triode connected EL-34,no negative feedback,IT coupled,sweet

 

[Tachikoma]

Alright, I finally have the SR-5 gold after a month ++ of waiting

I'm currently driving it out of a CMT-EX1 which is only capable of 8 watts or something like that, and its more than enough to drive it beyond listenable levels without any distortion. Now, I'm contemplating driving the stax with a digital receiver (panny XR55, kenwood VRS-7100, etc) and bypass my DAC (M-audio SuperDAC) all together. Does anyone have any additional insights to offer?

 

[Carl]

How about the Kenwood N8100? It's basically the 7100 with some cool media-centre stuff built into it.

Both the Kenwood and Panny PWM amps sound pretty similar as they use the same Texas Instruments chip.