Question from one Stax owner to other Stax owners...

[Czilla9000]

I own a Stax Classic System II, connected to a Philips DVD763SA SACD player.

I have some questions about maintaining my Stax system:


Volume - I typically listen to my Stax System with the volume on the "3" (30% power I am guessing) position on my SRM-313 amp. Is this too loud? (Keep in mind I usually listen to classical music recordings.)

Toughness - I tend to take quite a few showers, and since my shower is located in my bedroom, I worry that my Stax system could be affected by humidity. Also, there were some tilers (tearing up lenolium and putting down tile) working on my bedroom's bathroom recently, and I worry that some dust or what not could have hurt the system.


Also, is it safe to use the system when my hair/sideburns are wet after taking a shower?

Another thing is my RadioShack Fusion ICs put some torque on the RCA jacks of the amp, is this a problem? (The EMI-reducing ferrite units on the ICs are up against the wall, causing torque on the wire enterance of the RCA's male connector. Also, the RCA jacks are not spaced that apart on the amp, causing the ferrite units to touch and slightly tug the jacks. Stax should have placed the jacks farther apart.)

Basically, how tough are these things.

Thank you.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Chris,

I read that dust is the biggest killer of these things, but have yet to hear of anyone losing a pair except one person who just sent his back to Japan. One member here even had a dust storm blow thru an open window, leaving dust everywhere, including all over their Stax cans, and never had a problem.

When in doubt, cover the cans with a ziplok, small trashbag, or even a pillow case or something. It's not taking a chance, so discretion is the better part of valor in this case.

 

[Gallaine]

I typically listen to my Stax 006t at about 2, very rarely 2.5 on the volume dial for pretty much all types of music - I listen to classical as well. With a quiet environment I have found that I can listen at 1.5 quite happily.

I covered my Stax headphones with a towel. They make a stand and a cover that I am thinking about buying. But, that'll have to wait until they return from Japan, hopefully repaired. As an aside I've never put the headphones on when my hair was wet, or damp. Not because I really think any damage would occur but more from the belief better safe than sorry; though I suppose getting them too damp and not allowing them to dry thoroughly could cause mold to grow in the pads.

My Synergistic Research Looking Glass Phase II Active interconnects are fairly stiff but the RCA jacks on the 006t don't seem to be affected by any undue strain. I have more problems with the spacing of the jacks on my source than on the amp.

 

[Sovkiller]

IIRC they used to sell some plastic covers for that purpose, also...

My suggestion don't take too many showers, unless you want to shrink a little bit, and if wet use a blower and after drying the hair and sideburns, then use them...

 

[Snake]

I've had to have my amp repaired, along with 1 driver plate set (left side, IIRC) replaced. It really wasn't *too* expensive considering. Why the repair? Well, for the amp, leaving it on to keep it warmed up turned out to be decidely NOT to the amp's liking. The plates? I wish I knew. Could have been dust, or overdriving (mia culpa

), or the amp taking out the plates when the bias drifted, or physical damage from me...I wish I knew, exactly.

I've kept my Pros out, uncovered for, maybe, a few years short of 10 years. I did think it possible that dust can affect the sound, but it seemed easy to correct by just gentle blowing. Or maybe I was dreaming that, but I would clean them off occassionally anyway. Which, BTW, is how I discovered the blown driver - blowing changed the sound dramatically on one side for a few moments, then the change disappeared. Note that pattern.

I kept the phones resting on a surfacw on one side. When I got them back from service I changed that, resting them so both sides rested flat (in other words, used to be on its side, then flat storage). This seemed to help. I now have them on a glass head, and I think this is better overall. Maybe I'll look for a dust cover for them, but I try to keep a clean house and dust isn't a (great) excessive problem.

The inside the casing has a very light open cell foam sheet wrap, both on the outside surface and the inside ear opening. This, should, keep a majority of the dust at bay and why, I think, the dust 'issue' isn't a big one, it seems. Of course, on mine, the foam in the ear opening area is slowly disappearing from the age.

No biggie, I assure you.

FWIW, there's my story. This person will self destruct in 10 seconds. Good luck Jim...er, Czilla.

Oh, thanks for the insight into the Fusions. I have a HUGE EMI problem and maybe I'll give them a shot for a particular connection I'm looking to cable upgrade. Thanks.

One more thing - the humidity. I've used the Pros when I'm humidifying the house, to the level of water forming on nearby windows, with no problem. A bit of moisture doesn't seem to bother them. I wouldn't get them wet, though - 580V of static charge I'm sure wouldn't be comfortable!

 

[Wmcmanus]

I must be going deaf! I listen to my Omega II's at about 4 to 5 on the dial of the 007t. I'll have to get a dust cover for them if what SIE says is correct in terms of damaging the drivers. Wet hair should not be a major problem if you towel off carefully near to your ears and at the top of your head where the cans come in contact with you.

 

[bootman]

Quote:

Originally posted by Czilla9000 Also, is it safe to use the system when my hair/sideburns are wet after taking a shower?

Just the thought of a 580 volt charge on the diaphragms and wet hair makes me wince.

 

[mcgino]

I vary between 3.5 and 5. I heard that humidity is a killer for Stax. A friend of mine had his ruined by the humidity here in Hong Kong.

Any of you try the balanced inputs? Have a 963SA driving right now, but thinking of upgrading to either a DV-50 or Marantz SA-14 ver. 2 which both have balanced outputs.

 

[darth nut]

In humid climates, wet hair and wet hands are headphone-killers.

The diaphragm readily absorbs air-borne water molecules, and consequently become very heavy. The efficiency of the headphone suddenly drops--you'd have to turn the volume control all the way to max to get a less-than-reasonably loud sound. But when the music hits a loud note, the sound will then clip. A drum whack sounds halfway between a whack and a splatter.

My headphones do not get within three feet of wet hair and wet hands. I actually blow-dry my hands with a hair-blower each time I return from the toilet to resume headphone-listening.

 

[spritzer]

Well Stax says that you should never use the headphones with wet hair or skin. Neither should it be used in high temperature/humidity and I'll take their word for it.

I use a dustcover with my Omegas because dust can burn holes in the diaphragm when is is charged and my system is always turned on.

Well I must be completly deaf because I always listen with my SRM-313 at 5.5....

but I listen to rock and metal so that might factor in.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

spritzer & wmcmanus,

In switching back and forth with the SR404 and SR007 I have found that the Omegas are a little more inefficient. That could account for the higher volume setting on spritzer's SRM313 and CZilla9000's.

 

[grinch]

whenever i take a shower and plan on listening to music afterward, i am very careful to be sure to dry the hair around my ears especially well. i bought the stax dust cover but never use it, even though i generally leave them plugged in and my amp on all the time. hmm, they seem okay so far.

anybody dust their stax amp? i'm thinking of trying to get into the habit of that. i was thinking can of compressed air and a vacuum. i'm told high-voltage attracts dust, or something.

 

[Snake]

Yeah, I dust my amp constantly. Dust is indeed attracted to high voltage charges as the dust particles have a static charge of their own - that's why TV screens commonly get more dusty than other areas. But the amp doesn't seem to get any more dusty than the other components.

I've never dusted inside though; I never taken the amp cover off to dust the internals. Way too much trouble in my old rack, the amp was squeezed in like a grapefruit in a juicer. It could be, also, the construction of the 14S not giving me a problem that way - it has an all aluminum chassis and large external power supply, so unless the unit is turned on and fully energized the main chassis gets no power at all (except the monitoring signal for the power switch). So YMMV.

 

[HanssoN]

Spritzer, does the SRM 313 drive the Omega IIs well? (I might consider that combo if it does.) Thanks!

 

[Snake]

I just wanted to take a timeout to thank you, Czilla, for pushing me over the edge to try the Fusions in my most difficult, hum inducing connection. They worked!! I can't believe it. Thank you very much.

Snake