[Mozartaudio]

Does anyone know, if T8000 will be presented at the Munich High End Show on May this year?

 

[Earspeakers]

Congratulations to Stax for a new flagship. It does indeed look like my SRM T1W and also the SRM Monitor A/B/C. Basically a wider version of their regular amp, which is a great thing in my opinion. I love Stax factory small form factors - no need to go overboard with a monster amplifier. "Stereo in a box" is how I see them. I love the larger size Stax amps, and their smaller ones.l

The Input 4 options looks exciting too - surely a DAC, and (dare I to hope) a diffuse field equalizer, such as in the ED-1? One that is tailored for the 009 perhaps. From the pictures you can see that there's a 20 pin jack for whatever card they'll release. Interesting it's so many pins - we don't know how many are hooked up, surely there'll be duplicate ground pins, but there's a lot of possibilities with that many pins.

Also see the usual use of a slow switch on relay, a feature I always appreciate.

Well at any rate on the comments about equalized pricing, are we to believe we can buy it here in the US at the same street price as is available in Japan?

 

[behwatch]

Tube is Electro Harmonix 6922 Gold pin me thinks

Looks like non gold at this website. lol.
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1057193.html

Anyway it is super cheap at less than $50 for 2 tubes.

 

[Jones Bob]

Looks like non gold at this website. lol.
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1057193.html

Anyway it is super cheap at less than $50 for 2 tubes.

It would be nice if STAX designed a beefy heater supply, so one could roll 6N1P twin triodes in the amp. Those 1960-70s vintage Soviet 6N1Ps are so much better sounding than any 6922. And far less expensive too.

 

[m_i_c_k_e_y]

Yes you're right its black not gold lettering...

 

[Currawong]

It uses the same tube as the vali 2? isn't that a $169 amp... lol you think for almost 6 grand they would have better tubes...

You can roll a $500 6SN7 into a Vali 2 if you want. Because a high-end amp uses a type of tube that a cheap amp does, doesn't mean anything bad about the amp any more than if a cheap tube amp uses a tube often found in high end amps that the amp will be high end. A tube is a component, just like a transistor.

I like the tubes on the input. I wonder if you can tube roll the 6922? Or is it a Stax warranty / service fitting only. As tube rolling would be useful to fine tune the amp to mate with a particular DAC or just personal taste for example.

I asked. The answer was no. There is no auto-bias and I have no idea how they would treat the warranty if you tried.

Based on this video: youtu.be/vKXg_7vVPtM?t=954
Tube is Electro Harmonix 6922 Gold pin me thinks

I verified with them that it is an EH tube.

 

[simomat]

Does anyone know, if T8000 will be presented at the Munich High End Show on May this year?

I am also interested to know this.

Anyway I will be surprised if it won't be present.

Last year Stax booth was pretty good.

 

[Sleepow]

I also gave it a quick listen at the show but the surrounding noise and the open nature of the SR-009 make it difficult to comment.
One thing that grabbed me though was that the bass sounded heavier than on my KGST; but that could be due to me playing my music out of the headphone jack of the ZX2, and not my neutral and detailed exasound.

 

[JimL11]

In terms of tube rolling, in general the only tubes that can be recommended are the identical tube type but different manufacturers. In other words, rolling in a 6DJ8/ECC88/6922 from Telefunken, Siemens, Amperex, etc. should be fine. In fact there are actually books published which list acceptable tube substitutes, i.e. tubes with identical or similar electrical parameters. Tube circuits are generally designed specifically with the electrical parameters of the specified tube in mind, and should be optimum with that tube type only, so substituting a tube with different electrical parameters, e.g.. 6N1P, is not generally a good idea unless the circuit designer specifically approves the substitution.

 

[Jones Bob]

In terms of tube rolling, in general the only tubes that can be recommended are the identical tube type but different manufacturers. In other words, rolling in a 6DJ8/ECC88/6922 from Telefunken, Siemens, Amperex, etc. should be fine. In fact there are actually books published which list acceptable tube substitutes, i.e. tubes with identical or similar electrical parameters. Tube circuits are generally designed specifically with the electrical parameters of the specified tube in mind, and should be optimum with that tube type only, so substituting a tube with different electrical parameters, e.g.. 6N1P, is not generally a good idea unless the circuit designer specifically approves the substitution.

You're correct of course, Jim.

I generally dislike 6922/6DJ8s and was speculating on an easy workaround. Would need twice the heater current to work. 6N1Ps with lower transconductance run in 6922 designed circuits IME usually sound better. Optimize the circuit for the 6N1P, -no contest IMHO.

But one should not just blindly stick any 9 pin in a 6922 socket.

 

[kevin gilmore]

the t8000 is fully dc coupled and the difference in transconductance between 6922 and 6n1p will likely seriously exceed the range of the servo and result in a fair bit of dc on the outputs. At least 100v, probably causing the output stage to overheat.

 

[behwatch]

the t8000 is fully dc coupled and the difference in transconductance between 6922 and 6n1p will likely seriously exceed the range of the servo and result in a fair bit of dc on the outputs. At least 100v, probably causing the output stage to overheat.

That doesnt sound good at all.

 

[JimL11]

Yeah, this is one case where the 6N1P won't sound better than the 6922.

 

[astrostar59]

I asked. The answer was no. There is no auto-bias and I have no idea how they would treat the warranty if you tried.

I verified with them that it is an EH tube.

Pity Currawong, but thanks for that info. I guess they are nervous about folk poking around in the amp, and then after fitting a new tube set it would need biasing?

BUT I do think it would have been an great asset to do that. For example, the sound signature of the current 007 and 009 is closer than it used to be (in my 2 phones I have here) but still the 009 is a lot more transparent. So for example, a bit of tube rolling could have tweaked the sound a bit to 'balance' it, and suit that persons DAC for example. Small tweaks can make all the difference. And it is also about timbre as well. I guess Stax tried various tubes, and had then to balance that against reliability, availability and cost. Bet there are nicer NOS tubes that could would beat that EH tube. Will never know alas.

Quite possibly some confident buyers will ignore the warranty policy and fit Telefunkens anyway no doubt. I would probably do it, if I bought it.

 

[Whitigir]

EH has good tubes for sure. I love their tubes