[darinf]

other than the fact that he is using the male amphenol connector which
really isn't the right size and will eventually damage itself and the sockets
you plug it into...

I hope to be making some Teflon connectors with both the right pins and
the right spacing soon. Then send sample to china and have a bunch made
real cheap.

I have not had any problems with any of my amps, but Kevin is the expert. I source the connectors from different places depending on who has them in stock. The latest ones I sourced from Moon Audio. They are Amphenol connectors. They seem to fit perfectly in my amps.

Otherwise I am not aware of any other source of connectors. Even the Amphenol connectors are near impossible to find.

It would be great if Kevin had some custom connectors made. I woukd be really happy to have a source for connectors if Kevin is willing to sell them.

 

[darinf]

This long silence that seems to represent a lack of suitable response is making me uneasy....

Sorry about the delayed response. I am out celebrating Father's Day with my family today.

 

[fzman]

So, are the Moon sourced connectors Ok or was it connectors from other sources that are the 'bad' ones?  I am about to make adapters myself.

 

[darinf]

  So, are the Moon sourced connectors Ok or was it connectors from other sources that are the 'bad' ones?  I am about to make adapters myself.

AFAIK, all the available Stax connectors either from Moon Audio or other suppliers are all the same Amphenol connector part # 86-71-6S which I believe Kevin was referring to.

 

[Beagle]

Sorry about the delayed response. I am out celebrating Father's Day with my family today.

 
As did I. We had BBQ ribs out on the patio under warm sunny skies

 

[anetode]

I have not had any problems with any of my amps, but Kevin is the expert. I source the connectors from different places depending on who has them in stock. The latest ones I sourced from Moon Audio. They are Amphenol connectors. They seem to fit perfectly in my amps.

 
I wonder if Drew would comment about the reported failure rate of those plugs. He has been selling them for years, after all. I have one sitting right here, as a matter of fact, maybe I should run an insertion test to properly quantify the TTF. Any bets? I'll go up to a thousand, my arms will probably give out after that.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

  So, are the Moon sourced connectors Ok or was it connectors from other sources that are the 'bad' ones?  I am about to make adapters myself.

 
The Moon connectors are Amphenol with the middle pin sheared off and in my experience they are ever so slightly thinner pins than an authentic stax plug.
 
They get the job done but you need to get creative with strain relief - maybe that's the failure?
 
What alternatives are there?  None that I have seen short of hacking a Stax extension cable so far.

 

[ambchang]

So I just sold my ESP-950, and the reason was because I found an ESP-950 and Stax SRM-1/MKII combo here and had to give that a try.
 
I was very skeptical of claims of these "night and day" differences claims for the Stax amp before hand, and only dived into the purchase because I figured I can sell the Stax amp with just a little loss after I get to listen to it and make sure I am not missing much with the Koss E90 amp.  That way, I can sleep easier at night, not worrying about missing out.
 
Boy was I wrong, and now I am in trouble.  The Stax map makes an immediate and obvious difference to the sound, and now I am stuck with this purchase because there is no way in hell I am getting rid of it unless I can get my hands on a T2, BHSE or a KGSSHV for cheap.
 
The bass is much better controlled and extended.  The highs are crisp, and the balance of the amp is just so much more than the E90.  Don't get me wrong, the E90, considering that it came with the phones "for free", is a great piece of equipment because it allows us mere mortals to get into electrostats for a comparatively low cost (I know, they still go for around $700 out in the wild, but compared to other stats, they are cheap), but I feel the SRM-1/MKII just brought out all the good qualities of the phones that the E90 wasn't able to bring out.  If you have the skills, go for a normal bias stax amp, and mod one of the plugs to pro bias.  If you are like me, bite and bullet and get a stax amp, it makes such a big difference that even my tin ears can hear them immediately.
 
The other problem is that the Stax amp has both Pro and normal bias, which means that I am in BIGGER trouble because I will be looking for low end pro and normal bias Stax phones now.
 
Damn this hobby, and damn this forum.
 
Disclaimer:  I only manage to find 30 minutes to listen to set up, with a DIYMod as source.  I will look for better sources (I only have another iMod, which does sound better than the DIYMod, and a UD100) and try to really sit down and listen to the set up.  I expect the difference between the SRM-1/MKII and the E90 to be even bigger with a better source.

 

[Beagle]

  Damn this hobby, and damn this forum.

 
Yup...

 

[kevin gilmore]

here is the problem with the wpi connectors
 
this is a block of nylon drilled exactly to stax specifications to better than .0001 inch
 
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxjack10.jpg
 
here is what happens when you use the wpi male connector
 
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxjack11.jpg
 
and here is a real stax plug
 
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxjack12.jpg
 
 
there are at least 2 companies out there selling amplifiers with the wpi female connectors on them.
And those connectors will eventually destroy your expensive stax headphones.
 
But the same thing works (well doesn't work) in reverse too.  The wpi male connector will eventually destroy
a real female stax connector.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

That's scary to see in pics!  I never felt the amphenol male plug (same as wpi?) was too tight or hard to insert into any Stax jacks and like I said it fit looser into my KGSS (with non Stax brand jacks) than any Stax plugs I had around.  Do the Headamp KGSS and BHSE use WPI female sockets?

 

[kevin gilmore]

justin makes his own teflon stax connectors that are the exact correct size.
he also sells the female connectors alone to anyone that wants them.

all the diy-T2 used my teflon connectors, but i buy them from justin now.

everything birgir does uses justin's connectors.

wpi and amphenol are the same item. Those connectors date back
to the late 1940's

now i have to do the same thing with the male connectors because i need
some.

here is what I did 4 years ago
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxjack4.jpg

and how I did them
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxjack5.jpg

 

[Mr.Sneis]

justin makes his own teflon stax connectors that are the exact correct size.
he also sells the female connectors alone to anyone that wants them.

all the diy-T2 used my teflon connectors, but i buy them from justin now.

everything birgir does uses justin's connectors.

wpi and amphenol are the same item. Those connectors date back
to the late 1940's

now i have to do the same thing with the male connectors because i need
some.

here is what I did 4 years ago
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxjack4.jpg

and how I did them
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxjack5.jpg

 
Thx for the info.  AFAIK the BHSE and the nla KGSS do not use the white teflon jacks despite having been made available for some years now... So what does Justin use for the amps then?
 
 

 

[anetode]

So they're a kludge, that's disappointing. Luckily the jack on my stax amp still seems fine after using one of those connectors.

 

[s1rrah]

I bet that advice has even saved a marriage or two  

LMAO!!!