Stax Lambda primer for electrostat newbies

[svyr]

I'd just go for 323s + 407 and save money.

 

[Don Quichotte]

Quote:

I'd just go for 323s + 407 and save money.

x2!
...and out of gratitude for the wonderful advices received here, I'd have a month or two of intensive listening followed by a long & detailed review, comparing this combo to as much gear as possible and... you get the point.

There is little information available about the 407's sound.
 
 

 

[svyr]

x2!
...and out of gratitude for the wonderful advices received here, I'd have a month or two of intensive listening followed by a long & detailed review, comparing this combo to as much gear as possible and... you get the point.

There is little information available about the 407's sound.
 
 

well, there is a used 407 in the FS forum. Which is about $100-150 (?) off new, I guess... + 323s. Would be about a 1000 less than 507 + 600LTD, and I somewhat doubt it's be better or better for the money. (plus I still hate the 507 headband, but YMMV on that).

Wouldn't mind a 407 review ... The only info we got I think, was from people who played with them side-by-side at a display stand

 

[Eisenbart]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but Woo Audio makes an electrostatic converter so you can use Stax with regular amps.

http://wooaudio.com/products/wee.html

Woo also makes some high end Stax amps, and is a Stax dealer.

I'm considering grabbing a WEE and an SR 404 sometime in the future.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but Woo Audio makes an electrostatic converter so you can use Stax with regular amps.

http://wooaudio.com/products/wee.html

Woo also makes some high end Stax amps, and is a Stax dealer.

I'm considering grabbing a WEE and an SR 404 sometime in the future.

The WEE driving my son's Lambda Nova Signature with a 12-watt Nuforce Icon sounds pretty darn good, while the LNS sound a bit bland with my solid state eXStatA.  The Eddie Current ZDT 8-watt amp > WEE > O2 Mk1 was better, and if one has the money to step up to those it's worth it, but the budget Lambda rig was still impressive.  
 
However, for just driving Lambdas I don't know if the WEE with a decent speaker amp is going to beat something like an Stax SRM-323, or even a vintage SRM-T1 for a similar or lower price.  It does allow driving the O2 adequately with as little as 5-8 watts, but my ZDT > O2 is not quite as good as my WES dedicated stat amp, although it does allow driving the O2 without the need for a second amp when you already have a few grand invested in a good speaker amp.

 

[glac1er]

I'm surprised not many of the older Lambdas are being discussed here.
 
The vintage and previous generation Lambdas can be bought for quite cheap now and offer a good taste of electrostatic sound. At $300-$500 including amplifier they can go toe to toe with any setup in the same price range and cost significantly less than buying a new Stax setup.
 
Some good and cheap older gen Lambdas: SR-Lambda normal bias and SR-202. ($200-$300 depending on condition). Even the SR-303 and SR-404 aren't so bad since they are quite cheap used nowadays.
You can buy a matching vintage amplifier like the SRM-1/MK-2, SRM-252, SRM-T1 or vintage energizers (SRD-7 Pro or non pro) and pair it with speaker amp.  
 
Electrostats aren't necessarily better for everyone compared to other driver technology. They do some things better but some things not as good, and that's why they're worth a try for every serious headphone listener.

 

[MrGreen]

Quote:

I'm surprised not many of the older Lambdas are being discussed here.
 
The vintage and previous generation Lambdas can be bought for quite cheap now and offer a good taste of electrostatic sound. At $300-$500 including amplifier they can go toe to toe with any setup in the same price range and cost significantly less than buying a new Stax setup.

The vintage setup I have is a T1 and a lambda signature. It costs around about a grand, so less than the high end dynamics currently on-market, and in my opinion is significantly better than them.

 

[xaval]

My normal bias Lambdas don't sound decent. They sound amazing. And I'm not factoring the price.

 

[dukja]

Would some experienced vintage Stax owner kindly share other reliable channel to get these?   AudioGon? e-bay? etc...
 
Also, I have read the needs of replacing capacitor for these >20yr old amps/energizers.  How do you handle it?  (or just live with it?)
 
Many thanks!

 

[eggontoast]

Not quite sure how I missed this thread but what a coincidence as I have just brought a pair of SR-303 earspeakers with a SRD-X pro energiser.

I have been listening to them all day and I am really impressed. They have a good soundstage, excellent sparkly treble that is not fatiguing and a decent amount of bass. Initial perceptions are they are leaps and bounds ahead of my Grado RS2i's and are a more refined version of the SR-gamma's that I have just sold.

My only reservations are with the SRD-X pro energiser, are these any good or would an upgrade yield a far superior experience.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Would some experienced vintage Stax owner kindly share other reliable channel to get these?   AudioGon? e-bay? etc...
 
Also, I have read the needs of replacing capacitor for these >20yr old amps/energizers.  How do you handle it?  (or just live with it?)
 
Many thanks!

Not much to replacing caps but you have to know enough about electronics to know when the caps are fully discharged, how to pick the replacements and how to desolder/solder in the new ones. 
 


Quote:

Not quite sure how I missed this thread but what a coincidence as I have just brought a pair of SR-303 earspeakers with a SRD-X pro energiser.

I have been listening to them all day and I am really impressed. They have a good soundstage, excellent sparkly treble that is not fatiguing and a decent amount of bass. Initial perceptions are they are leaps and bounds ahead of my Grado RS2i's and are a more refined version of the SR-gamma's that I have just sold.

My only reservations are with the SRD-X pro energiser, are these any good or would an upgrade yield a far superior experience.

The SRD-X is an 80's automotive chip amp tied to some small transformers so yeah, there is a lot of room for improvement. 
 

 

[eggontoast]

. 
 



The SRD-X is an 80's automotive chip amp tied to some small transformers so yeah, there is a lot of room for improvement. 
 

Is it really lol. I know this is a how long is a piece of string question but, which energiser would you suggest for the SR-303's which would yield good performance for a reasonable price ?

 

[spritzer]

Any of the larger Stax amps from the last 28 or so years would do the trick, SRM-1 Mk2, 313, SRM-3, T1 etc. 

 

[dukja]

Though I had EE all the way to grad school, not much of chance to use circuit theory and solder iron in my job. 

  ButI have bunch of analogue/digital circuit colleagues to help.  I was concern the numbers of caps (and time spending).
 
And do energizer have less caps to work on (if needed)?
 
Quote:

Not much to replacing caps but you have to know enough about electronics to know when the caps are fully discharged, how to pick the replacements and how to desolder/solder in the new ones. 

 

[svyr]

Though I had EE all the way to grad school, not much of chance to use circuit theory and solder iron in my job. 

  ButI have bunch of analogue/digital circuit colleagues to help.  I was concern the numbers of caps (and time spending).
 
And do energizer have less caps to work on (if needed)?
 

SRM-1/mk-2 had 4 electrolytic caps to replace (and they're pretty standard value ones, so they're easy to get). About 10 mins per cap + 20 mins to find and order them and 10 mins to assemble/disassemble the unit. or your local electronics guy can do it for you if you bring in the driver unit + the caps.

The rest was optional(film caps)/I was paranoid and replaced some diodes&resistors just in case (since a large resistor died in the pro-bias section).

> insert my favourite lecture about how buying vintage gear without the potential expectation to have to debug it is potentially naive < ?