Kaldas Research RR 1 Conquest ($500 Electrostatic)
Feb 10, 2020 at 3:52 PM Post #436 of 728
I have had mine for about 6 months and have never noticed any imbalance. Cold it be an issue with your amp? If it goes away after warming up this sounds more like a hardware issue. Not uncommon for electronics to change characteristics after warming up. But have not heard of it with transducers.
 
Feb 10, 2020 at 3:58 PM Post #437 of 728
Curious as to people's thoughts on how long these take to warm up at each listening session. What's bugging me is the right channel takes a considerable amount of time to reach the same output level as the left channel. So I have to turn my system on and play music for a good half hour before I can put the headphones on. Otherwise one channel is noticeably quieter than the other, they seem to be playing at similar levels after this warm up period though.

Shouldn't be taking that long to warm up. I had to replace the drivers on mine because mine had an issue where it had a notable bass imbalance with the left side lacking bass presence and no amount of charge up would fix it and sometimes it took a while to charge up on the left and would be quite quiet for a few minutes. The replacement drivers are balanced the instant I turn on the energizer.
 
Feb 10, 2020 at 4:02 PM Post #438 of 728
I have had mine for about 6 months and have never noticed any imbalance. Cold it be an issue with your amp? If it goes away after warming up this sounds more like a hardware issue. Not uncommon for electronics to change characteristics after warming up. But have not heard of it with transducers.

Tried it on two amps, same behavior.

Shouldn't be taking that long to warm up. I had to replace the drivers on mine because mine had an issue where it had a notable bass imbalance with the left side lacking bass presence and no amount of charge up would fix it and sometimes it took a while to charge up on the left and would be quite quiet for a few minutes. The replacement drivers are balanced the instant I turn on the energizer.

Yeah, it doesn't feel right as is. I reached out to Kaldas support email, they said it's normal. Going to reach out to Aumkar, see if he can do anything.
 
Feb 10, 2020 at 4:14 PM Post #439 of 728
Curious as to people's thoughts on how long these take to warm up at each listening session. What's bugging me is the right channel takes a considerable amount of time to reach the same output level as the left channel. So I have to turn my system on and play music for a good half hour before I can put the headphones on. Otherwise one channel is noticeably quieter than the other, they seem to be playing at similar levels after this warm up period though.

Get one of these to precisely determine channel balance or phase issues. Then it’s easy through elimination to sort through and find the problem.
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Feb 10, 2020 at 4:43 PM Post #440 of 728
Get one of these to precisely determine channel balance or phase issues. Then it’s easy through elimination to sort through and find the problem.

I've tested with various testing clips from the web, youtube. Honestly I don't think any of it is essential in my case. In the end here's what it came down to, turn on system, play music, put on headphones. Left is much louder than right, which is almost inaudible. Flip them so right is now on left ear and left is on right ear, problem follows the right driver to left ear. Let music play for 5 minutes and return to it, same behavior as above is observed, then again in 10, 15, 25, and 30 minutes. The other thing I've done is swap L/R connections coming from the DAC, to see if the issue is with a quiet signal. If it was, the issue would have now be in the left driver, that was not the case. Also, again, two different amps, one had a balance control, the other did not. The one with balance control, turning balance makes little difference when turned right, a major difference when turned left.
 
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Feb 10, 2020 at 4:59 PM Post #441 of 728
I assume you swapped cables between headphone connection. As in put left headphone cable on right earcup and vice versa
 
Feb 10, 2020 at 9:42 PM Post #443 of 728
Definitely sounds like the driver. Bummer. I’m sure he will take care of it but still an inconvenience.
 
Feb 11, 2020 at 8:43 AM Post #444 of 728
I tested using two separate cables. I found the original cable to be too short, ordered the longer cable from Aumkar. No change between the two cables.
Did you crosscheck left and right? Sorry, i could not read therefore, you put the right cable on the left side and ...
 
Feb 11, 2020 at 10:52 AM Post #445 of 728
Did you crosscheck left and right? Sorry, i could not read therefore, you put the right cable on the left side and ...

I tested using two different cables, if the problem was in the cable, it would not have followed into the second set of cables. Doing L&R swap would also test to see if the issue may be with the amplifier. If the issue was with amp, the issue would follow the cable to the opposite channel. However, as said before, I've tested using two amps. It would be really strange if both amps exhibited the same issue with the same channel. All that said, Kaldas support in their emails said the issue was likely due to parasitic charge, no way of telling if and when the issue might correct itself.

Aumkar is working on getting me a replacement, which is very much appreciated.
 
Feb 11, 2020 at 3:30 PM Post #446 of 728
I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but I always discharge the pins after every use. As in individually touch each pin with my finger tip until slight ticking noise goes away. You have to keep the headphones on to hear it. I unplug from amp and then discharge the pins. Sometimes it takes three or four times around to completely eliminate the ticking sound. But this has always cleared up any squealing or other unwanted sounds from the drivers. May not apply to the problem being discussed but a good habit to get into.
 
Feb 11, 2020 at 3:38 PM Post #447 of 728
I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but I always discharge the pins after every use. As in individually touch each pin with my finger tip until slight ticking noise goes away. You have to keep the headphones on to hear it. I unplug from amp and then discharge the pins. Sometimes it takes three or four times around to completely eliminate the ticking sound. But this has always cleared up any squealing or other unwanted sounds from the drivers. May not apply to the problem being discussed but a good habit to get into.

Yeah I've noticed this too, sometimes it taking several attempts. Have been doing the discharge procedure per the manual since I got them first out of the box. Storing them in the bag they came in, etc. Parasitic charge is something I would have expected (but hoped wouldn't) develop after some time of continual use. Not fresh out of the box.
 
Feb 12, 2020 at 12:49 PM Post #448 of 728
Sounds like it could be a stuck diaphragm to stator (imbalance issue - had this before on STAX 404 Limited and a new Nectar Sound). Unplug them and discharge by touching all pins. Once fully discharged, disconnect the cable and take the offending driver side and firmly SMACK the cup housing in-line with the plane of the driver - so smack the SIDE not the cloth opening/earpad ends. That's about all you can do other than sending them in to get looked at.
 
Feb 12, 2020 at 1:08 PM Post #449 of 728
Sounds like it could be a stuck diaphragm to stator (imbalance issue - had this before on STAX 404 Limited and a new Nectar Sound). Unplug them and discharge by touching all pins. Once fully discharged, disconnect the cable and take the offending driver side and firmly SMACK the cup housing in-line with the plane of the driver - so smack the SIDE not the cloth opening/earpad ends. That's about all you can do other than sending them in to get looked at.

That's an interesting thought. I'm not sure, but I think there were some instances I've heard the problem channel produce low frequency thumps (almost like a very low muted kickdrum) when no music is playing and amp is on. The thought that came to mind is something being stuck. But didn't feel qualified/comfortable to troubleshoot that.
 
Feb 21, 2020 at 8:07 PM Post #450 of 728
Got a second set of drivers from Kaldas, thanks very much to @MrTechAgent for the top notch customer service. I had them in for a day, they sounded fine. The day after the right driver was dead silent. There is something else going on, going to examine my system as best I can and see where I end up. I'm not sure the issue was ever with any of the drivers from Kaldas. I did reach out to Aumkar to let him know of this, and as he always has been, he was very supportive and offered some advice on how to proceed with this.
 

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