[Mr Head P Hones]

hello I was at a garage sale today and picked up a pair of koss esp6 headphones.
Do I need to pick up at electrostatic headphone amp for these to work properly. If so is there a one and it's not horribly expensive.

 

[turbomustang84]

if i am correct unlike my ESP-7 which have a 5 pin din coming out of the headphone yours is a standard 1/4" plug so either buy a decent headphone amp from fiio such as the E17 or the home amp the E9 which can be had cheaply on the bay.
or a decent preamp should do the trick i have an Adcom pre/tuner that is fantastic at driving headphones and if you don't use a turntable the 350 is a fine choice because it has a great headphone amp that rivals many high end headphone amps imho

 

[Bob A (SD)]

hello I was at a garage sale today and picked up a pair of koss esp6 headphones.
Do I need to pick up at electrostatic headphone amp for these to work properly. If so is there a one and it's not horribly expensive.

I still have a pair of functional ESP-6A headphones I bought new back in 1973.  It was bundled in a foam lined hard case with a little box Koss called a "T3" which connected between an amplifier speaker outputs and speakers, and switched between speakers and ESP-6As.  It also provided a 1/4" stereo phono jack.  Bottom line is that these heavy liquid earcup filled electrostatic cans need a lot of "juice" to energize and drive.  Hence the use of receiver or stereo amplifier speaker connections.   Trust this helps.
 
Here's a picture (not mine):

 

[obobskivich]

They have built-in "energizers" in the cups, which is why they're so heavy. They do need, as others have pointed out, a decently strong amplifier to make them "go" however. It isn't like the ESP/10 or ESP/950 that need a dedicated ES headphone amp though. More information about them: http://www.head-fi.org/t/234504/koss-esp6-refurbished-vintage-electrostatics