[Steve1976]

Thanks. I do have a dB app on my phone and I will measure the L/R drivers in a week after they have been in the closed case with dehumidifying packets. I live in a normal NYC apartment with a normal amount of dust in the air. I wonder if plain old dust in the air is enough to cause a driver imbalance. It's nice to get so much good advice and support from members of this forum.

If something got stuck near the edge of the driver it’s quite possible to cause an imbalance.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Hi. Did you receive your x9000 yet? Very interested in hearing your opinion of the X9000 with the 3ES Elite!

Nope, it's been delayed again

I don't know when it will ship either. I'm guessing 2 months. Apparently Stax is having serious parts issues. I'm really excited to get it and will post impressions for sure

 

[Sandro Sena]

Just curious why k1000 have the same treatment as electrostatic headphone?

The reason is that it deserves it. Besides being a nearly 30 year old unit, it is a precious headphone to me, not only as a collectible object, but because I love it in the only way a thing can really be loved: in a deep knowledge of its imperfect essence, maximum attention to the virtues and minimum to the defects. For me, the AKG K1000 (amplified by a pair of Audiopax monoblocks) is above the Raal SR1a and any electrostatics I have ever owned, all of them passing passions.

 

[Chefguru]

Thanks. It seems that the left side is somewhat louder than the right on all music tested. I have also tested on two different amplifiers. I hope these expensive phones aren't so fragile that I can't have them sit out on a stand like I do all my other headphones. For now, I will put them back into the box they came in and let them stay there for a few days or a week or so. I hope that resting in the box will do the trick. Can you imagine sending these back to Japan and what that would entail? My CRBNs are being repaired at Audeze for the sticking diaphragm issue. Boy, these electrostatics are becoming somewhat of a pain!

My CRBN was doing this sometimes and if I slapped the driver side it + discharged the headphone by putting the metal part of the plug against the palm of my hand it would correct the issue.
I've never had this issue with my Sr009S in the 1+ yr of ownership, and never had this issue with my 007. My Sr-omega back 10 years ago seemed to maybe be having an imbalance but might have been the amp.

 

[elton7033]

The reason is that it deserves it. Besides being a nearly 30 year old unit, it is a precious headphone to me, not only as a collectible object, but because I love it in the only way a thing can really be loved: in a deep knowledge of its imperfect essence, maximum attention to the virtues and minimum to the defects. For me, the AKG K1000 (amplified by a pair of Audiopax monoblocks) is above the Raal SR1a and any electrostatics I have ever owned, all of them passing passions.

you make me feel shame as i normally just put my pair of K1000 inside the original box ...lol

 

[elton7033]

Thanks. I do have a dB app on my phone and I will measure the L/R drivers in a week after they have been in the closed case with dehumidifying packets. I live in a normal NYC apartment with a normal amount of dust in the air. I wonder if plain old dust in the air is enough to cause a driver imbalance. It's nice to get so much good advice and support from members of this forum.

make sure you have the STAX cover on when its out of the box.

 

[musicman59]

I have all my headphones on Woo stands and with Stax covers.

 

[protoss]

There should be more warnings

1. Stax Covers is a must or back into box
2. Don't vacuum or dust near headphone.
3. Don't use after shower.
4. Don't drink coffee, tea or soup near headphone.
5. Don't squeeze earpads together. I see lots of people do this. Its so annoying and a potential danger to driver.
6. Try not to use metal headphone stand or anything like that. Only wood stands.
7. Don't plug, unplug, plug, unplug, plug headphones alot.
8. Leave plug connected to amp when not using. If unplug use stax cap to protect pins.
9. Don't off amp with high volume on.
10. Pets, hair, heat, cold, and shaking head is not good.

These are the 10 stax commandments.

 

[BTD1]

There should be more warnings

1. Stax Covers is a must or back into box
2. Don't vacuum or dust near headphone.
3. Don't use after shower.
4. Don't drink coffee, tea or soup near headphone.
5. Don't squeeze earpads together. I see lots of people do this. Its so annoying and a potential danger to driver.
6. Try not to use metal headphone stand or anything like that. Only wood stands.
7. Don't plug, unplug, plug, unplug, plug headphones alot.
8. Leave plug connected to amp when not using. If unplug use stax cap to protect pins.
9. Don't off amp with high volume on.
10. Pets, hair, heat, cold, and shaking head is not good.

These are the 10 stax commandments.

I assume you are serious about these commandments. Well, it would appear that you need a to enter a special environmentally controlled chamber in order to use Stax phones. No matter how good they may sound, is it worth all of this?

 

[Chefguru]

is it worth all of this?

yEs

 

[paradoxper]

I assume you are serious about these commandments. Well, it would appear that you need a to enter a special environmentally controlled chamber in order to use Stax phones. No matter how good they may sound, is it worth all of this?

Welcome to the wonderful pains of electrostat headphones.
Funny my SR-Omega seemed ageless, the Mk2 seemed bomb proof, through the 009's, their fragility only seemed bipolar.

It's a semi-crapshoot, very curiously so.

 

[Dboy1414]

I currently need only store my 9000s in a dehumidifier but leave the crbn outside on a stand. Anyone else think that’s ok or that I should squeeze the crbn in with the 9000?

 

[BTD1]

Frankly, I am stunned by what seems to be required to own and operate Stax electrostatic headphones. I would have thought these reports were just exaggeration, but I now sit here waiting to see if the channel imbalance in my own x9000s will correct itself after a period of dehumidification in the box. Coming from the world of TOTL planars that are apparently immune to the many Stax diseases, I don't know what to think. It's my own fault. I could have done the research to find this all out ahead of time. Oh, well, I'll mark this down as a lesson learned. Should I blame my giant Airedale pup for shedding? This is all his fault!

 

[lsantista]

#7 Don't plug, unplug, plug, unplug, plug headphones alot.
this is what prevents me from putting the X9000 back in the box after each use, though I have done so for the first week. Of course the stax could still be kept there with cables attached to the amp through a rather smalI opening of the box lid, I reckon it would be so small as cable is flat and so thin as to still prevent dust or humidity to come inside the box in a harmfull quantity.
I usually cover my Staxes with those opaque, "special plastic" covers a Dell monitor comes wrapped in inside their boxes. It's not a pretty solution but Ive never seen dust gathering on them even after months in the case of the Lambdas. A stax cover should arrive by tomorrow though and I may experiment with that.

 

[nepherte]

I think people are taking this too unnecessary extreme levels. I own Stax headphones for over a decade. None of them have failed me so far.

What I do to keep them safe:
- Keep them in the original box when not listening to music, or
- Put them on a (Stax) headphone stand with (Stax) cover when not listening to music
- Plug them in the amp after it is turned on and plug them out before the amp is turned off (with volume all the way down)
- Discharge the drivers after use by touching the pins on the Stax connector that terminates the cable

Everything else seems overkill to me. And yes, I'm also living in a climate with an average yearly humidity of 80+%. I do drink (coffee, beer, whatever) while using the heapdhones. I listen to music right after takinga shower, My wife often vacuums the place while I'm using the headphones. No I don't use any de-humidifier, or any other fancy stuff that was mentioned. But it sure looks cool.

Sure, you can be unlucky and have a failing driver. These things seem to happen more frequently with newly released models. YMMV