[diodiel]

how much does the service usually cost, if i may ask.

 

[shipsupt]

I can't really offer what this service cost as it came as part of purchase of the unit.  I paid $320 for the 950, which included the service.  A lot more than what I paid for my SX-650, but I look at it as an upgrade and a piece of equipment that I plan to keep for a long time.  I figure I should get another 30 years, right?

 
Quote:

how much does the service usually cost, if i may ask.

 
 

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

You'll see the little boxes that accompany old electrostats called amps, but they're just step-up transformers, some protection circuitry and some other minor stuff. But that makes 'em perfect for this thread, because you hook 'em up to your newly-got vintage receiver or amp and hear every little thing that amp's doing. Old 'stats rely on the robustness and quality of these old amps to drive the difficult loads these 'phones present. And man, speaking of difficult:

I know, its like a speaker amp for headphones! What other vintage headphones come accompanied with a transformer besides Stax?
 

 

[diodiel]

yeah congrats btw! i gotta find myself those monsters like yours
Quote:

I can't really offer what this service cost as it came as part of purchase of the unit.  I paid $320 for the 950, which included the service.  A lot more than what I paid for my SX-650, but I look at it as an upgrade and a piece of equipment that I plan to keep for a long time.  I figure I should get another 30 years, right?

 


 
 

 

 

[susannahyork]

Is it possible to connect powered 2.0 speakers to the pre out on my Marantz 2252b?  And if so is there a setting ala speaker a/b for selecting the preamp section?  Or would the tape out be an option?  
 
I am running the Marantz from my computer and mainly use it with headphones, but it would be convenient to be able to run my 2.0 speakers through it as well if possible.
 
Thanks for any advice, I am new to all of this.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Interesting! What do those Sonys usually go for?

I have a pair of vintage dynamic driver Pioneers, the SE-50. They are 8 ohm! And they are very dark sounding. So if the SE-100 are bright it would be a surprise. But it's quite possible I suppose. We shall see!

I found the ECR-500 to sound quite warm and a little dark, but fast.  ericj brought a pair to the 2008 Colorado Meet.

 

[wualta]

Quote:

I know, its like a speaker amp for headphones! What other vintage headphones come accompanied with a transformer besides Stax?
 

All electrostats and most electrets used transformer stepups hooked up to regular speaker amps until oh, around the mid-'80s, early '90s or so: Koss introduced the ESP.950 with a dedicated amp and Stax stopped making the SRD-7 Mk2  transformer box. Stax was making dedicated 'stat amps in the '70s but not that many people bought 'em. Get a Stax SRD-7 Mk2 box and you can adapt just about any 'stat, except the hyperspendy ones, to it. The ECR-500 might be an exception, because it needs more step-up than 'stats of its era, because of the wide stator spacing.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Here is some Sansui ****.
My AU 717, which just came back from a tune up. Recapped and cleaned for $90 at a local repair shop. It needs a good front face cleaning but I couldn't wait to hook it up and remind myself how awesome it sounds with the HE5-LE's and Steve's Q cable.
 

 
Sweet!
 
Had me scratching my head there for a bit. I couldn't believe that something as old as that 717 would have an 1/8" headphone jack. Did a Google image search and they all looked like 1/4" jacks. Then I pulled up the full size version of your photo and finally noticed you've got an adapter in there.
 
se

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

All electrostats and most electrets used transformer stepups hooked up to regular speaker amps until oh, around the mid-'80s, early '90s or so: Koss introduced the ESP.950 with a dedicated amp and Stax stopped making the SRD-7 Mk2  transformer box. Stax was making dedicated 'stat amps in the '70s but not that many people bought 'em. Get a Stax SRD-7 Mk2 box and you can adapt just about any 'stat, except the hyperspendy ones, to it. The ECR-500 might be an exception, because it needs more step-up than 'stats of its era, because of the wide stator spacing.

So mainly Sony, Koss and Stax was in the electrostac race?
 

 

[wualta]

 
Quote:

So mainly Sony, Koss and Stax was in the electrostac race?
 

The big players in the North American market were Stax and Koss. Stax OEM'd a lot of cheap 'stats for Radio Shack, Magnavox, Marantz and probably Superex. But Beyer made a 'stat, and so did Sennheiser. Do a search on HF and you'll find a bunch of 'em.
 

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

The big players in the North American market were Stax and Koss. Stax OEM'd a lot of cheap 'stats for Radio Shack, Magnavox, Marantz and probably Superex. But Beyer made a 'stat, and so did Sennheiser. Do a search on HF and you'll find a bunch of 'em.

Well i already know i cant afford them Sennheisers

So that beautiful tube amp for the Orpheus is pretty much a transformer?
 

 

[wualta]

Quote:

So that beautiful tube amp for the Orpheus is pretty much a transformer?

I've never thought so.. But now that you mention it, it's too pretty to be much of a transformer.
 
 

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

I bought these Pioneer orthos on eBay yesterday, mostly as they are such a nice match for the rest of my Pioneer gear:
 
Got em for $40!  Anyone ever heard a pair of these? (SE-100)

Nice find and excellent price - I hope they work well for you. I've got a pair of Audio-Technica electrets (ATH-7), and am in love with the detail, and airy spaciousness; I might prefer them for acoustic music over the HE-6. I'm less in love with the comfort (the cups are at fixed angles and the pads are on-ear), but given their current condition (loose wires, decaying pads and headband), I intend to treat the unit as a project resource rather than something to restore to original condition, and maybe see if I can get some of the bass back while using larger pads.
 
Despite electrets' notorious thirst for power, I found the ATH-7 to deal with low-wattage amps gracefully. It really is a nice little package.
 

Quote:

Well i already know i cant afford them Sennheisers 

So that beautiful tube amp for the Orpheus is pretty much a transformer?

In the sense that it transforms low gain to high, I suppose.

 

[ardgedee]

Haven't seen anybody mention this yet: Somebody on Hackaday made an iPhone-controllable Marantz 4240...
 
 
Quote:

Adding wireless controls to vintage stereo equipment
[Jean] was shopping around for a vintage stereo receiver, and happened upon a broken, but repairable Marantz 4240. After getting things back to working order, he thought it would be great if he could use his iPhone to remotely control the unit.
 
He scrounged around for parts, and after locating a PIC and a handful of parts from old copiers and printers, he got down to business. He etched some custom boards to house electronic bits, then strapped motors to the volume and source selection knobs. He also rigged up the push button power switch on the receiver, using a small servo and a bit of string....

 
 

 

[diodiel]

found a deal 20$ for a pioneer sx-626 ^_^ ill just give my yamaha r-500 to my dad, he can just put two speakers on L side on speaker 1 and 2 cuz the r side has distortion.
still liking my akai aa-1125 tho iono what to do with it...
 
any suggestions whats speakers would match the sx-626?
 
 
oh man i just found an hpm100 for 180$ but thats too big for the sx626 >.< lol confused
 
http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/ele/2562317497.html