cjfrbw
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2010
- Posts
- 144
- Likes
- 63
I guess this is the place to post my impressions. I have been the happy owner of an Ultrasone Edition 8/Manley 300b preamp combo. The Ultrasones seem to take absolutely forever to break in, but finally achieved something like headphone heaven on the Manley with Svetlana 300b's.
I have small getaway place where I cannot play a system loud and wanted to try some electrostats to see if they were a viable alternative to speaker listening.
I got a pair of original Lambdas a couple of weeks ago with a SRD-7SB amplifier energizer. I was please that they looked nearly new with perfect ear pads. I guess the price was a bit high for vintage($350 for the package), but they arrived flawless, so that was a plus.
I used AAC files, vinyl and CD's, either played through a vinyl system or a Mac Mini computer, sometimes fed to a Lexicon DC-1 DAC/ processor, sometimes through a Yamaha RZ Z9 amp.
I was very pleased with the Lambdas out of the gate. They are exceedingly natural sounding to me.
They sound great with every amp I tried, but there were a couple of surprises. The best result, according to expectations, was playing sources through the Manley 300b preamp and using a Wavac 50 watt single ended amp for the energizer.
However, the next best contender was a 6v6 single ended integrated amp (from the 60's I presume, complete with junkie old caps and wiring), with tone controls. This amp is not any brand, but looks like a home studio DIY project with what appear to be transformers from an old Akai/Roberts reel to reel tubed tape deck. It got this a few years ago on audiogon for about $200 shipped, and spent additional $100 for upgraded tubes (6SL7/ two 12ax7 for tone controls/ two 6v6 tubes, two 6x4 tube rectifiers). It probably puts out about 4 watts per channel.
The 6v6 doesn't have the ultimate space and delicacy of the Manley/Wavac 50 watt combo. However, it comes close, and it has a wonderful, sweet, full sound that is just crazy nice to listen to.
The 6v6 beat another 15 watt Wavac single ended and a Hogan 26/300b amp with Shuguang Black Treasure 300b tubes. The smaller Wavac and the Hogan both sounded a bit thin, without the full, seductive quality of the single ended 6v6.
So, my rig of choice in the second residence is the 6v6 with the original Lambda.
The Ultrasone Ed8/ Manley is hard to take off. However, the Stax pairing does sound a bit more natural overall, and once the Stax is on, it takes a major tractor beam to get me to take them off again (like my wife bashing me over the head with a rolling pin), so they are a reasonable substitute for a speaker rig. They are easy to listen to indefinitely without fatigue, which is a really hard thing for any stereo rig to do.
The ease and natural character of the Stax Lambda are its most impressive traits. I would call the Lambda/SRD-7SB/6v6 amp combo a real bargain for hi end sound, I am probably going to get a lot of listening time with them.
I have small getaway place where I cannot play a system loud and wanted to try some electrostats to see if they were a viable alternative to speaker listening.
I got a pair of original Lambdas a couple of weeks ago with a SRD-7SB amplifier energizer. I was please that they looked nearly new with perfect ear pads. I guess the price was a bit high for vintage($350 for the package), but they arrived flawless, so that was a plus.
I used AAC files, vinyl and CD's, either played through a vinyl system or a Mac Mini computer, sometimes fed to a Lexicon DC-1 DAC/ processor, sometimes through a Yamaha RZ Z9 amp.
I was very pleased with the Lambdas out of the gate. They are exceedingly natural sounding to me.
They sound great with every amp I tried, but there were a couple of surprises. The best result, according to expectations, was playing sources through the Manley 300b preamp and using a Wavac 50 watt single ended amp for the energizer.
However, the next best contender was a 6v6 single ended integrated amp (from the 60's I presume, complete with junkie old caps and wiring), with tone controls. This amp is not any brand, but looks like a home studio DIY project with what appear to be transformers from an old Akai/Roberts reel to reel tubed tape deck. It got this a few years ago on audiogon for about $200 shipped, and spent additional $100 for upgraded tubes (6SL7/ two 12ax7 for tone controls/ two 6v6 tubes, two 6x4 tube rectifiers). It probably puts out about 4 watts per channel.
The 6v6 doesn't have the ultimate space and delicacy of the Manley/Wavac 50 watt combo. However, it comes close, and it has a wonderful, sweet, full sound that is just crazy nice to listen to.
The 6v6 beat another 15 watt Wavac single ended and a Hogan 26/300b amp with Shuguang Black Treasure 300b tubes. The smaller Wavac and the Hogan both sounded a bit thin, without the full, seductive quality of the single ended 6v6.
So, my rig of choice in the second residence is the 6v6 with the original Lambda.
The Ultrasone Ed8/ Manley is hard to take off. However, the Stax pairing does sound a bit more natural overall, and once the Stax is on, it takes a major tractor beam to get me to take them off again (like my wife bashing me over the head with a rolling pin), so they are a reasonable substitute for a speaker rig. They are easy to listen to indefinitely without fatigue, which is a really hard thing for any stereo rig to do.
The ease and natural character of the Stax Lambda are its most impressive traits. I would call the Lambda/SRD-7SB/6v6 amp combo a real bargain for hi end sound, I am probably going to get a lot of listening time with them.
