[evilcthul]

ASL building a tube amp for Electrostatics? This could get interesting.

 

[Vertigo-1]

This could get VERY interesting...

 

[Joe Lau]

I had a Stax headphone on hand and found it transformers adaptor SRD7 is not my taste. So I consider to build it for own use. It may be in production if it sound good.

I only have a problem ? Where to get the special Headphone Jack ?

 

[elrod-tom]

OOOH!! Joe Lau makes news!!! Can't wait to hear more about this.

Oh poop...I can't afford all the DYNAMIC headphone gear that I want. Now I'm going to expand that to electrostatic too?? I need help!!

 

[bozebuttons]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Lau I had a Stax headphone on hand and found it transformers adaptor SRD7 is not my taste. So I consider to build it for own use. It may be in production if it sound good. I only have a problem ? Where to get the special Headphone Jack ?

JOE
You should be able to get them right from Stax. I had got them from EIFL.
info@eifl.co.jp Phone #+81-(0)42-950-1667

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by bozebuttons JOE You should be able to get them right from Stax. I had got them from EIFL. info@eifl.co.jp Phone #+81-(0)42-950-1667

Thanks !

 

[Joe Lau]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Lau Thanks !

Thanks ! I just send a email to EIFL. I'm just wait for reply now. I had study some circuit and found it seem to be not difficult and will be not expensive. May be just like an OTL32 cost.

 

[bozebuttons]

Joe
Keep us updated,I am interested as I own an omega II. There are a lot of stax owners on this site who will also be interested..

 

[Don Quichotte]

"I have built both, and hybrid is indeed pretty amazing."

How do they sound, man? Come on, ZZZ, give us some details! I guess the solid state amp is more interesting for most of us because it is more affordable, so can you compare it with the Stax amps (or with anything else, just to give us an appropriate point of refference)?

 

[Joe Lau]

I think it still affordable if made by us

, even it is a full tube amps. I think it is not expensive I have an idea on it. It may be use 6DJ8 or 12AX7 or ECC88 x 2 , 12AU7 x 2 is good enough for it ! I try to build Zero nfb type.




Quote:

Originally posted by Don Quichotte "I have built both, and hybrid is indeed pretty amazing." How do they sound, man? Come on, ZZZ, give us some details! I guess the solid state amp is more interesting for most of us because it is more affordable, so can you compare it with the Stax amps (or with anything else, just to give us an appropriate point of refference)?

 

[zzz]

I posted my (preliminary as always) impressions about these amps at the time of building them many moons ago here and here. Since then KGSS got harris diodes everywhere and traded some no-name small electrolytics for auricaps in the low-voltage power supply. Weebl on the other hand still doesn't have a transformer; however, Victoria Magnetics said they're going to rectify this with a big-ass toroid pretty soon.

Anyhow. KGSS and the Omegas have been in my home system for over four months now and as far as I'm concerned, they deliver the best sound I've ever heard save for the Omegas paired with the hybrid. No dynamic system I've owned or heard (though this list might be laughable to some) comes even close. I'm yet to try my HP-2 with a good amp but I seriously doubt it would debase staxes either.

I'm not at all eloquent when it comes to describing audio, and I don't want for this to turn into a bad Omega2 review, so I'm not going to talk about the sound in more detail. Maybe some people who will get to listen to this amp in the future will describe it for me

. But basically, the amp and the phones handle all types of music perfectly and never distract me with their flaws no matter what music I throw at it. Those who say that the electrostats are only good for classical clearly are poopoo-heads.

I don't have anything new to say about the hybrid amp, because as I mentioned before, I couldn't use it much yet. I hope though that in about a month it will become my primary amplifier, and I will sure post something about it then

.

The only time I have heard any official Stax amps was WOHT over half a year ago. As such I cannot directly compare them to Gilmore designs. Moreover, I feel the Stax systems used there were damaged in one way or another and did not perform nearly as well as they could. In other words, they sucked which I don't find to be at all representative of the staxes

. I have heard though that someone in Japan has built the hybrid, compared it to the legendary SRM-T2, and preferred the Gilmore's design.

Well, enough of my rambling.

Quote:

Originally posted by Don Quichotte "I have built both, and hybrid is indeed pretty amazing." How do they sound, man? Come on, ZZZ, give us some details! I guess the solid state amp is more interesting for most of us because it is more affordable, so can you compare it with the Stax amps (or with anything else, just to give us an appropriate point of refference)?

 

[zzz]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Lau I think it still affordable if made by us , even it is a full tube amps. I think it is not expensive I have an idea on it. It may be use 6DJ8 or 12AX7 or ECC88 x 2 , 12AU7 x 2 is good enough for it ! I try to build Zero nfb type.

None of these tubes are suitable for the output stage of an electrostatic amplifier because the highest anode voltage rating among them is only 300v. at least 800v is necessary if you want any sort of headroom (unless of course you want to use a transformer, but it kinda defeats the purpose).

the best amp designs for electrostatic phones so far has been hybrid. my experience is that there are things all-tube designs are just not capable of (unless one throws boatloads of money and rare or special tubes at them).

 

[eric343]

Quote:

Originally posted by zzz I'm not at all eloquent when it comes to describing audio, and I don't want for this to turn into a bad Omega2 review, so I'm not going to talk about the sound in more detail. Maybe some people who will get to listen to this amp in the future will describe it for me .

Hey, come back to Seattle and we'll hold another meet... and we'll finally be able to see whether the Sennheiser HE90 really are better than the Omega 2.

Quote:

But basically, the amp and the phones handle all types of music perfectly and never distract me with their flaws no matter what music I throw at it. Those who say that the electrostats are only good for classical clearly are poopoo-heads.

Agreed. And I don't even have my KGSS finished yet.
Quote:

I have heard though that someone in Japan has built the hybrid, compared it to the legendary SRM-T2, and preferred the Gilmore's design.

Any linkage?

 

[evilcthul]

Joe,

You should get in contact with Ze-Ant in Hong Kong (he's built a few stat amps.) I think mcgino knows him. He can probably give you some help or ideas.

 

[Joe Lau]

I had calculated it and found ECC99 is good for this job. I think it need 220V to 250V Swing is good enough for it. I consider connect it in SRPP. So Each tube will be at around 300V to 350V DC across it. Plate Voltage : May be 660V DC to 700V DC is OK !