zzz
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2002
- Posts
- 757
- Likes
- 65
Hello kids,
The idea of building a Gilmore solid state electrostatic amp came to me out of nowhere about 3 months ago. I didn't have any electrostatic headphones, haven't ever heard them, and had no experience building an amp yet alone a high voltage one. I guess I was just really bored on the day I started ordering parts. Anyhow, here is a poor photo of the result:
I wouldn't call it `done` yet as I don't very much like the volume control knob I got today at radioshack. But it was cheap and it's better than just having the DACT sticking out all by itself. And I'm yet to start working on its looks, as this hunk of metal is just too plain and boring right now.
The amp and its power supplies really occupy the whole enclosure, everything fits but rather tightly. The whole thing dissipates around 30W so the case gets `mildly warm`.
I find it hard to talk about the sonic characteristics of the KGSS/SR-404 combo because I lack any basis for comparison with other electrostatics (WOHT really doesn't count). But since I'm probably expected to say something about it, I will
.
First, the staxes has nearly the best bass I've ever heard from a headphone. It is extremely well controlled, extends pretty damn well to somewhere down there, and is never resonating or boomy. The system has an uncanny ability to separate instruments within even the most complicated mixes while still keeping the result cohesive. I could hear a few overdubs that passed unnoticed through hundreds of listenings before. It was also the first time I could actually hear the environment of the recording studio which was a bit of an eye-opener.
Now onto less exciting things. The soundstage has depth but is not really wide (it started as something of a size of my head and now expands slowly). Also, compared to W2002 midrange seems to be a bit recessed but to a degree much-much smaller than HD600 (if that were the case, I would be simply horrified). Since W2002 is not the last word in the neutrality, I'm not sure what this means in the global scheme of things. I may get readjusted to like it just like I learned to like HD600 long time ago and then learned to like a very different sounding W2002.
Will see where it goes from here. I'm planning to start working on another Stax amp soon, so I hope to have something to compare it with within a month or so.
And of course kudos to Kevin for designing this amplifier in the first place and to my dad, an electrical engineer on hiatus, for helping me immensely with bringing it up.
The idea of building a Gilmore solid state electrostatic amp came to me out of nowhere about 3 months ago. I didn't have any electrostatic headphones, haven't ever heard them, and had no experience building an amp yet alone a high voltage one. I guess I was just really bored on the day I started ordering parts. Anyhow, here is a poor photo of the result:
I wouldn't call it `done` yet as I don't very much like the volume control knob I got today at radioshack. But it was cheap and it's better than just having the DACT sticking out all by itself. And I'm yet to start working on its looks, as this hunk of metal is just too plain and boring right now.
The amp and its power supplies really occupy the whole enclosure, everything fits but rather tightly. The whole thing dissipates around 30W so the case gets `mildly warm`.
I find it hard to talk about the sonic characteristics of the KGSS/SR-404 combo because I lack any basis for comparison with other electrostatics (WOHT really doesn't count). But since I'm probably expected to say something about it, I will
First, the staxes has nearly the best bass I've ever heard from a headphone. It is extremely well controlled, extends pretty damn well to somewhere down there, and is never resonating or boomy. The system has an uncanny ability to separate instruments within even the most complicated mixes while still keeping the result cohesive. I could hear a few overdubs that passed unnoticed through hundreds of listenings before. It was also the first time I could actually hear the environment of the recording studio which was a bit of an eye-opener.
Now onto less exciting things. The soundstage has depth but is not really wide (it started as something of a size of my head and now expands slowly). Also, compared to W2002 midrange seems to be a bit recessed but to a degree much-much smaller than HD600 (if that were the case, I would be simply horrified). Since W2002 is not the last word in the neutrality, I'm not sure what this means in the global scheme of things. I may get readjusted to like it just like I learned to like HD600 long time ago and then learned to like a very different sounding W2002.
Will see where it goes from here. I'm planning to start working on another Stax amp soon, so I hope to have something to compare it with within a month or so.
And of course kudos to Kevin for designing this amplifier in the first place and to my dad, an electrical engineer on hiatus, for helping me immensely with bringing it up.
