[tabness]

most of my phones are "vintage" (90s or earlier) but this one is of a real vintage: the STAX SR 1



Not just any SR 1 but an early revision pre 1964 one which has a bias voltage of 150V with the metal mesh on the inner baffle (later SR 1s used the same punched holes directly in the plastic baffles as the SR 2 and SR 3 that would follow in the late 60s).

Quite amazing it still works great (though it makes an audible hum even when used with an SRD 6 that came with my New SR 3 and more of a hum with the 230V normal bias socket on a SRM T1). It comes up instantly and has no real channel imbalance than I can detect. The New SR 3 (my second oldest vintage phone) has a bad channel imbalance to start and while it eventually normalizes there still remains a slight channel imbalance (now on the opposite side lol).

Build quality puts most of the future STAX lineup to shame lol

STAX got good at producing the SR 1s later on but early on production was limited to about 20 units a month (so I read on some Japanese site) and with the long lifespan of eight years there are said to be multiple revisions but for sure there are at least the pre 1964 and later units.

In terms of sound, it's very mid centric and not bad, but honestly, these can't hang with the New SR 3, which still holds up today in terms of having a beautiful midrange and a bit of highs to go along with it.

 

[szerecsen]

This one is rare, too. And also very interesting. Len-co TOTL. Spitzenprodukt.

 

[Bingturong]

most of my phones are "vintage" (90s or earlier) but this one is of a real vintage: the STAX SR 1



Not just any SR 1 but an early revision pre 1964 one which has a bias voltage of 150V with the metal mesh on the inner baffle (later SR 1s used the same punched holes directly in the plastic baffles as the SR 2 and SR 3 that would follow in the late 60s).

Quite amazing it still works great (though it makes an audible hum even when used with an SRD 6 that came with my New SR 3 and more of a hum with the 230V normal bias socket on a SRM T1). It comes up instantly and has no real channel imbalance than I can detect. The New SR 3 (my second oldest vintage phone) has a bad channel imbalance to start and while it eventually normalizes there still remains a slight channel imbalance (now on the opposite side lol).

Build quality puts most of the future STAX lineup to shame lol

STAX got good at producing the SR 1s later on but early on production was limited to about 20 units a month (so I read on some Japanese site) and with the long lifespan of eight years there are said to be multiple revisions but for sure there are at least the pre 1964 and later units.

In terms of sound, it's very mid centric and not bad, but honestly, these can't hang with the New SR 3, which still holds up today in terms of having a beautiful midrange and a bit of highs to go along with it.

Oh wow! That's a increadible headphone to own! I wonder how they're built on the inside

 

[Philimon]

Toshiba HR-810

Unfortunately one side has much lower volume. Any way to save?

 

[Philimon]

The much lower volume driver in photo. Didnt see any obvious issue, driver and connections looked clean. I couldnt take apart any further without risking damaging, sorry. Pretty headphone, sounds promising, too bad.

Are those some high frequency dampers of some sort around the circumference of the drivers? Is that how these headphones get their bass? Sounds bassier than my SR-Xmk3.

 

[Bingturong]

The much lower volume driver in photo. Didnt see any obvious issue, driver and connections looked clean. I couldnt take apart any further without risking damaging, sorry. Pretty headphone, sounds promising, too bad.

Are those some high frequency dampers of some sort around the circumference of the drivers? Is that how these headphones get their bass? Sounds bassier than my SR-Xmk3.

Very pretty, never seen the inside.

The only thing I can guess is one side lost their charge or the coating is dying off. Did you leave them playing for a while? That might help

 

[Philimon]

I let them play over night but it didnt help. Doesnt seem they work like that according to Wualta.:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/electret-vs-electrostatic.200922/

Could those resistors or whatever those are around the driver go bad?

“… sounds bassier than SR-X.” I meant to say sounds warmer (in a good way).

Edit: Also neat are that the pads are mounted on plates that twist off for easy removal. Pretty slick!

Better photo:

^ random hole pattern

 

[Bingturong]

I let them play over night but it didnt help. Doesnt seem they work like that according to Wualta.:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/electret-vs-electrostatic.200922/

Could those resistors or whatever those are around the driver go bad?

“… sounds bassier than SR-X.” I meant to say sounds warmer (in a good way).

Edit: Also neat are that the pads are mounted on plates that twist off for easy removal. Pretty slick!

Definitely possible to change the resistors, it's worth a try

 

[Philimon]

Definitely possible to change the resistors, it's worth a try

Just remove the resistors would be okay?

 

[Bingturong]

Remove and bypass the resistors would be okay?

I wouldnt do that as the resistor acts as a safety for the drivers. They look like regular resistors, albeit old, so a simple change with any resistor will do. 4.7M ohm resistors btw with a tolerance of +-10%. They look like they have a power rating of 1 Watt

 

[dougms3]

Thanks @Bingturong

Ordered an old set of Pioneer se-30 from ebay. Came in pretty good condition with the original box and manual.

I bought them because I was curious about the sound of the 70s headphones. Ear pads are terrible, almost no cushioning whatsoever, I may change those out first.

I will listen to them for a bit then decide if I want to swap out the drivers with modern drivers. So far I'm liking the sound, its quite interesting.

 

[buidoimiennui]

Pioneer se-l40. Manufacture in 1973! I remove stock cable and replacement 3.5mm cable can use for smartphone
I want sell it or trade. Who need pm me.

 

[takato14]

After an extended period of searching... Pioneer SE-1000.



Pioneer's first and only electrostatic headphone, similar in appearance to Sony's electrostatic offering from roughly the same time period.



Three units showed up nearly all at once, with one having it's original box and another having the energizer. This pair had neither, and unfortunately sold for the most... and was the first of the three that I heard wind of.

If I tally up every real pair I've ever seen, there are five of them -- one on a Chinese auction site for $Hell.No, one on display in a small local Hi-Fi store, and the three that just sold on Yahoo Auctions. The only other surviving photo is a product render from a European Hi-Fi catalog from the early 1980s. That's it -- no reviews, no product brochure, no official Pioneer catalog. For the longest time, these were nothing but a ghost.

And now here they are.



Since I don't have the energizer, I had to figure out the pinout of the (proprietary) connector manually. It is similar in appearance to a standard 6-pin DIN connector but has brass pins that are presumably rated for much higher voltage and there's some keying on the sleeve to prevent you from plugging it into something awry.



Working around this annoyingly tiny plug took a bit of nerve-racking prodding with a multimeter and some patience, but I was able to map out every pin. I've made this simple diagram in the hopes that it may help anyone else unfortunate enough to find these without the (also proprietary) adapter box.



These are a roughly 60mm x 75mm procedural oval driver, similar to the Stax SR-Lambda in design, with a peculiar earpiece design that pivots separately from the headband joint. The stators are either copper or brass, with a polymer dust cover on the front and a silk one on the back. There's a small gap between the rear cover and the metal mesh, which is filled with the now-coveted micro fiberglass damping pucks that are commonly found in headphones from this time period. The strut through the middle is only for structural support; this is a single-panel, monolithic stat driver.

According to FC2, a Japanese headphone museum with an incredibly helpful website, the diaphragm is a 2.5 micron membrane. I do not know where this spec was taken from, or if it takes the diaphragm coating into account, but it is a little bit on the thick side for a stat of this size. The original SR-Lambda has a 2 micron membrane with coating, and though this driver is wider than a lambda, it is also considerably shorter. The intended bias voltage is unknown, but given the time period it is almost certainly somewhere in the 200V range. They comfortably run off of Stax's Normal Bias standard (230V) with no issues.

I was able to get some preliminary measurements of this headphone using a modified ECA-80 and a pair of cheap and very reflective faux leather earpads I had on hand. I have a pair of period-correct Pioneer pads on the way that will be a much better fit, but for now... I am nearly speechless.

These are good.

 

[dougms3]

After an extended period of searching... Pioneer SE-1000.



Pioneer's first and only electrostatic headphone, similar in appearance to Sony's electrostatic offering from roughly the same time period.



Three units showed up nearly all at once, with one having it's original box and another having the energizer. This pair had neither, and unfortunately sold for the most... and was the first of the three that I heard wind of.

If I tally up every real pair I've ever seen, there are five of them -- one on a Chinese auction site for $Hell.No, one on display in a small local Hi-Fi store, and the three that just sold on Yahoo Auctions. The only other surviving photo is a product render from a European Hi-Fi catalog from the early 1980s. That's it -- no reviews, no product brochure, no official Pioneer catalog. For the longest time, these were nothing but a ghost.

And now here they are.



Since I don't have the energizer, I had to figure out the pinout of the (proprietary) connector manually. It is similar in appearance to a standard 6-pin DIN connector but has brass pins that are presumably rated for much higher voltage and there's some keying on the sleeve to prevent you from plugging it into something awry.



Working around this annoyingly tiny plug took a bit of nerve-racking prodding with a multimeter and some patience, but I was able to map out every pin. I've made this simple diagram in the hopes that it may help anyone else unfortunate enough to find these without the (also proprietary) adapter box.



These are a roughly 50mm x 80mm procedural oval driver, similar to the Stax SR-Lambda in design, with a peculiar earpiece design that pivots separately from the headband joint. The stators are either copper or brass, with a polymer dust cover on the front and a silk one on the back. There's a small gap between the rear cover and the metal mesh, which is filled with the now-coveted micro fiberglass damping pucks that are commonly found in headphones from this time period. The strut through the middle is only for structural support; this is a single-panel, monolithic stat driver.

According to FC2, a Japanese headphone museum with an incredibly helpful website, the diaphragm is a 2.5 micron membrane. I do not know where this spec was taken from, or if it takes the diaphragm coating into account, but it is a little bit on the thick side for a stat of this size. The original SR-Lambda has a 2 micron membrane with coating, and though this driver is wider than a lambda, it is also considerably shorter. The intended bias voltage is unknown, but given the time period it is almost certainly somewhere in the 200V range. They comfortably run off of Stax's Normal Bias standard (230V) with no issues.

I was able to get some preliminary measurements of this headphone using a modified ECA-80 and a pair of cheap and very reflective faux leather earpads I had on hand. I have a pair of period-correct Pioneer pads on the way that will be a much better fit, but for now... I am nearly speechless.



These are good.

Wow nice.

Those are a museum level piece of hardware.

 

[Bingturong]

After an extended period of searching... Pioneer SE-1000.



Pioneer's first and only electrostatic headphone, similar in appearance to Sony's electrostatic offering from roughly the same time period.



Three units showed up nearly all at once, with one having it's original box and another having the energizer. This pair had neither, and unfortunately sold for the most... and was the first of the three that I heard wind of.

If I tally up every real pair I've ever seen, there are five of them -- one on a Chinese auction site for $Hell.No, one on display in a small local Hi-Fi store, and the three that just sold on Yahoo Auctions. The only other surviving photo is a product render from a European Hi-Fi catalog from the early 1980s. That's it -- no reviews, no product brochure, no official Pioneer catalog. For the longest time, these were nothing but a ghost.

And now here they are.



Since I don't have the energizer, I had to figure out the pinout of the (proprietary) connector manually. It is similar in appearance to a standard 6-pin DIN connector but has brass pins that are presumably rated for much higher voltage and there's some keying on the sleeve to prevent you from plugging it into something awry.



Working around this annoyingly tiny plug took a bit of nerve-racking prodding with a multimeter and some patience, but I was able to map out every pin. I've made this simple diagram in the hopes that it may help anyone else unfortunate enough to find these without the (also proprietary) adapter box.



These are a roughly 60mm x 75mm procedural oval driver, similar to the Stax SR-Lambda in design, with a peculiar earpiece design that pivots separately from the headband joint. The stators are either copper or brass, with a polymer dust cover on the front and a silk one on the back. There's a small gap between the rear cover and the metal mesh, which is filled with the now-coveted micro fiberglass damping pucks that are commonly found in headphones from this time period. The strut through the middle is only for structural support; this is a single-panel, monolithic stat driver.

According to FC2, a Japanese headphone museum with an incredibly helpful website, the diaphragm is a 2.5 micron membrane. I do not know where this spec was taken from, or if it takes the diaphragm coating into account, but it is a little bit on the thick side for a stat of this size. The original SR-Lambda has a 2 micron membrane with coating, and though this driver is wider than a lambda, it is also considerably shorter. The intended bias voltage is unknown, but given the time period it is almost certainly somewhere in the 200V range. They comfortably run off of Stax's Normal Bias standard (230V) with no issues.

I was able to get some preliminary measurements of this headphone using a modified ECA-80 and a pair of cheap and very reflective faux leather earpads I had on hand. I have a pair of period-correct Pioneer pads on the way that will be a much better fit, but for now... I am nearly speechless.



These are good.

OOOOOO~ wait were you the one who snagged the recent auction?