[grokit]

 
Quote:

Count me among those looking forward to the 009/LCD-2 shootout results. Here's a silly question (my favorite kind) - must Stax phones be driven by a Stax amp? (I know, veering off topic, forgive me...) In other words, is there an amp that would work for both the Audezes and the Stax (Staxes?)

A Woo WA5 with their WEE would drive any headphone made, including the electrostatics.

 

[deadlylover]

Quote:

Count me among those looking forward to the 009/LCD-2 shootout results. Here's a silly question (my favorite kind) - must Stax phones be driven by a Stax amp? (I know, veering off topic, forgive me...) In other words, is there an amp that would work for both the Audezes and the Stax (Staxes?)

Nah you'll need a dedicated electrostatic amp to drive them, but there are these fancy adapter boxes(like the WEE) that let you use a speaker amp to drive Stax headphones, but not other electrostats without some tweaking ^^.
 
The shootout results will be interesting because the 2 phones kinda aim for different sound signatures altogether.
I had the LCD-2 over for a while doing a comparison with the O2, both headphones have that lovely relaxed aura to them, but I feel the O2 had the significant edge when it came to vocal reproduction and separation, especially on very 'busy' or poor quality recordings.

 

[brasewel]

Quote:

Count me among those looking forward to the 009/LCD-2 shootout results. Here's a silly question (my favorite kind) - must Stax phones be driven by a Stax amp? (I know, veering off topic, forgive me...) In other words, is there an amp that would work for both the Audezes and the Stax (Staxes?)

The WA5 can drive the electrostats, K1000 and regular headphones.
 

 

[jude]

Quote:

The WA5 can drive the electrostats...

The WA5 cannot drive electrostats--certainly not alone.  I'm not sure if it has the juice to power the Woo Audio WEE enough to do so--if so, then in conjunction with something like the WEE, the WA5 might be able to.  (Again, whether or not the WA5 has sufficient juice to drive the WEE is something someone else will have to verify, as I don't know myself.)

 

[K3cT]

I would be surprised if the 009 is not better than the LCD2 all across the boards but then I also bought the LCD2 with the full knowledge that it's some sort of a compromise to the 007 having listened to both systems beforehand. Audez'e still deserves full credit though for coming up with a product that has gotten close enough to the 007 that requires a significantly less investment and offering more flexibility since it works with dynamic amplifiers.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

goofyvic,
 
While I am not familiar with your Sun Audio SV-2A2, I periodically listen to my LCD-2s via a straight forward adapter cable I made which connects to the speaker outputs of my 100 watt per channel Classe CAP-2100 integrated amp. I have no problems and it sounds just fine. I refer you to my answer to another forum member on how this is accomplished:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/527408/hd600-speaker-amp-is-it-possible#post_7117359
 
I hope it help you.

Though I applaud your willingness to assist your fellow headfiers, using 100 ohm resistors in series with the headphone is not the best way to go about making an adaptor.  We have discussed this previously in this thread, I believe so I will be brief;
 
The best method to use for a speaker output adaptor for your LCD-2 is to use a high quality shunt resistor (in parallel with the headphones, rather than in series with them.)
 
For a 16 ohm speaker tap, use a 20 ohm resistor with a 10W or better rating.  Recommended parts:
Either Mills 12W rated resistors, or Dayton Audio 10W.
 
http://www.parts-express.com/mills-crossover-resistors.cfm 
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-non-inductive-resistors.cfm
 
Let me know if you have questions.
 
Thanks
 
 
 

 

[kwkarth]

Specs on the WEE say it wants at least 3W per channel to drive it, and the WA-5 is capable of 8W per channel outout, so it should work, but as with all things audio, as Jude said, one should audition/verify first to make sure it is a synergistic combo.

 

[Wedge]

Jack actually used this combo, WA-5 to WEE at the NY meet.

 

[Wedge]

Quote:

Though I applaud your willingness to assist your fellow headfiers, using 100 ohm resistors in series with the headphone is not the best way to go about making an adaptor.  We have discussed this previously in this thread, I believe so I will be brief;
 
 

 
Actually if your concern about impedance loads on the transformer, than I would say your going to easy, as this would make the loading on the transformer worse, and depending on the parts used, could hurt the amp more than the headphones.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Actually if your concern about impedance loads on the transformer, than I would say your going to easy, as this would make the loading on the transformer worse, and depending on the parts used, could hurt the amp more than the headphones.

Can you clarify please?  There are multiple factors to consider when using an adaptor for speaker terminals.  
 
Amplifier loading
Headphone Damping
Optimizing the impedance match for both source and sink simultaneously.
 

1. In a tube based, transformer coupled amp, too little of a load on the transformer is not good for the transformer.
2. Any reactive components in a circuit, tube or solid state, have their values optimized provide optimum frequency response with a particular load in mind.  Too little or too much of a load will potentially alter optimum response characteristics of frequency and distortion.  Therefore, as stated earlier, proper values must be used to present the optimum load to the amp, and optimum damping to the driver simultaneously.  That is why nominally 20 ohm shunts were recommended for the 50 ohm LCD-2 when being connected to a 16 ohm tap on an amplifier output.

 
Nominally, a 10 ohm resistor shunt should be used for loading an 8 ohm tap for the amp when used to drive the 50 ohm LCD-2.
 
 

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Jack actually used this combo, WA-5 to WEE at the NY meet.

Well, there's our answer!  Excellent!
 
 

 

[Wedge]

I was just saying your comment as using a 100 Ohm resistor in series is not the best way to make an adaptor was a little soft.  Since that would make a 150 Ohm load on a 16 Ohm output which, at speaker level power would put a larger strain on the output transformers (translation more heat).  If they weren't designed to handle the heat than you would ultimately hurt the transformer, which would lead me to say BAD IDEA as opposed to your saying not the best idea, hence too soft.  

  In one of my previous post I had also recommended that the person should use a 20 Ohm Resistor in Parallel (or Shunt as you have said), ideally to get a better match to the tap, the result would be that most of the power would dissipate through the resistor.
 
Quote:

Can you clarify please?  There are multiple factors to consider when using an adaptor for speaker terminals.  
 
Amplifier loading
Headphone Damping
Optimizing the impedance match for both source and sink simultaneously.
 

1. In a tube based, transformer coupled amp, too little of a load on the transformer is not good for the transformer.
2. Any reactive components in a circuit, tube or solid state, have their values optimized provide optimum frequency response with a particular load in mind.  Too little or too much of a load will potentially alter optimum response characteristics of frequency and distortion.  Therefore, as stated earlier, proper values must be used to present the optimum load to the amp, and optimum damping to the driver simultaneously.  That is why nominally 20 ohm shunts were recommended for the 50 ohm LCD-2 when being connected to a 16 ohm tap on an amplifier output.

 
Nominally, a 10 ohm resistor shunt should be used for loading an 8 ohm tap for the amp when used to drive the 50 ohm LCD-2.
 
 

 

 

[grokit]

Quote:

The best method to use for a speaker output adaptor for your LCD-2 is to use a high quality shunt resistor (in parallel with the headphones, rather than in series with them.)

Just to be clear, is this what you mean?
 

 
 

 

[Zinterax]

Just got my replacement set from Audeze after losing the right driver to the bad materials batch. Customer service was great, I had responses to my emails usually within 30 minutes. They even shipped me a pair and provided a return shipping label before I had shipped mine back to them.

Here's hoping lightning wont strike twice. I don't know if my replacement pair went through the new testing methods outlined in their blog post as the replacement set was shipped before that was posted.

 

[dagothur]

 Stax SR-009: 390, 000 yen
 Audeze LCD-2: 73, 162 yen
 I hope the SR-009 do better for more than quadruple the price.
Quote:

The final showdown.
 
On the left - Stax SR009. Top right - LCD2. Bottom right - ED10 They aren't normally placed this way, of course.
 
Ok let's forget the ED10. It is so terribly colored to many of you guys. Let's leave the controversy to the Ultrasone thread and stick to these two. Again, I normally won't place anything on top of my Leben for obvious reasons.
 

 
Critical listening / comparison will have to wait until weekend. Initial impression is that the comparison is in itself not a fair one at all.