[astrostar59]

When I first saw the integrated box and how unaesthetic it was to me, I started to believe they might have a good reason to adopt and I can't think anything else than to act similarly to a humidity control cabinet.

 

When I first saw the integrated box and how unaesthetic it was to me, I started to believe they might have a good reason to adopt and I can't think anything else than to act similarly to a humidity control cabinet.

Not sure, putting some headphones that the wearer would have imparted moisture, hair grease, warmth into an enclosed space? I used to store my 007s in the supplied case but the cups started getting white mood flecks, so I store them in a glass bell jar with vent holes.

 

[jgazal]

My assumption was to keep metal (or ceramic) parts at more stable temperatures.

Anyway, this is a topic I shouldn't give opinions.

Seasoned engineers speculated that it could be a problem of retaining the conductive layer in the diaphragm material.

I just don't know the pertinent facts nor have knowledge to reach any useful conclusion about this.

 

[astrostar59]

Hi Guy
The cases of channel imbalance, have they all occurred 2 or 3 months from new, or is there cases 12 month or even 23 months like my 009s?
 
Odd situation, no explanation, or word from Stax as to a revised design of the driver, just silence. Well not silence, one channel going quiet in my case. I got no crackle, no distortion, just all of a sudden 15-20% down on output on one side.

 

[HemiSam]

My then new 007A's manifested with the imbalance within a few months of receipt.
 
HS

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

 
Hi Guy
The cases of channel imbalance, have they all occurred 2 or 3 months from new, or is there cases 12 month or even 23 months like my 009s?
 
Odd situation, no explanation, or word from Stax as to a revised design of the driver, just silence. Well not silence, one channel going quiet in my case. I got no crackle, no distortion, just all of a sudden 15-20% down on output on one side.

Mine started the imbalance problem after about 3 months from buying them from PriceJapan.    
 
Since they have been repaired I haven't had any problems at all.  In fact they sound far far better than when I first had them before the repair.  They get better and better with burn in.   

 

[astrostar59]

  My then new 007A's manifested with the imbalance within a few months of receipt.
 
HS

What amp were you using with them then?

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

 
What amp were you using with them then?

Stax 006T, Woo Wee and KGST.  

 

[karlgerman]

My 009 started the imbalance problem after about 6 months from buying using a STAX SRM 006tII amp.

 

[Blackmore]

Guys, this imbalance story, when all this started, since 009 production or this was known issue of Stax in general?
 
THX

 

[HemiSam]

 
What amp were you using with them then?

 
KGST.  Been using the same amp for a good long while with the second pair w/o issue.  
 
HS

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

   
KGST.  Been using the same amp for a good long while with the second pair w/o issue.  
 
HS

Yes also been using a KGST after the 009 repair and currently no issues with well over 300 hours of use with both of them. 

 

[astrostar59]

Imbalance collated data
 

I decided to collate the reports in this long thread to see how the numbers of cases was related to dates. My own 009s failed recently and I am the only one I can report for 2016 so far. Bear in mind some of the mainstream 009 buyers who go to dealers may not post on here. Also there is a healthy Chinese thread with more cases. I read a few times the estimated sales per year of the 009 is roughly 500. If we say there are 23 cases reported on here, and say 30 elsewhere, we come to a figure of 53. So 500 x 5 years sales = 2,500 which makes 53 failures a rate of 2%. That sound pretty good IMO. Even if it hits 5% it is still ok? A lot lower I imagine than LCD.
 
The good news is it 'looks' as though the failure rate is going down, thus Stax may have solved most of the issues. The other point is most of the failures happened inside 3 weeks of use. A few inside 6 months. My recent failure is strangely at 23 months.
 
Interestingly the split between Stax amp users and DIY is roughly 50/50. Though I would say more failures not reported here are probably on Stax amps as most DIY'ers post here a lot for advice and parts.
 
Hope this helps some of you make up your mind as to wether to quit the Stax world or press on and buy the 009s.

 

[Blackmore]

astrostar59, thank you for this information, just wonder if there any information about Stax replies, however, I dont think you can e-mail them directly these days, only through dealers.

 

[georgep]

Imbalance collated data



I decided to collate the reports in this long thread to see how the numbers of cases was related to dates. My own 009s failed recently and I am the only one I can report for 2016 so far. Bear in mind some of the mainstream 009 buyers who go to dealers may not post on here. Also there is a healthy Chinese thread with more cases. I read a few times the estimated sales per year of the 009 is roughly 500. If we say there are 23 cases reported on here, and say 30 elsewhere, we come to a figure of 53. So 500 x 5 years sales = 2,500 which makes 53 failures a rate of 2%. That sound pretty good IMO. Even if it hits 5% it is still ok? A lot lower I imagine than LCD.

The good news is it 'looks' as though the failure rate is going down, thus Stax may have solved most of the issues. The other point is most of the failures happened inside 3 weeks of use. A few inside 6 months. My recent failure is strangely at 23 months.

Interestingly the split between Stax amp users and DIY is roughly 50/50. Though I would say more failures not reported here are probably on Stax amps as most DIY'ers post here a lot for advice and parts.

Hope this helps some of you make up your mind as to wether to quit the Stax world or press on and buy the 009s.

Those numbers seem a bit high. Did you just count people where you saw they raised an issue in the first instance, or did you read through every post to see how their issue unfolded?

There were a few folks who complained about imbalance in the first few months where the imbalance ended up going away, did you include or exclude those?

Also there were a few I recalled where the issue was the amplifier (like the one Arnaud helped someone with). Were those included or excluded?

And there were one or two who seemed to be complaining about imbalance, but when you read their later posts they didn't actually have imbalance or even stax earspeakers (just prospective complaints).

 

[wink]

Tyre kickers make the best skeptics