stax srm-1 mk-2/lambda pro channel imbalance!

[spritzer]

The wire mesh is to stop you from poking your finger into the drivers and the pvc film is a dustcover. It does reflect a bit of sound but the other option is for the drivers to last a few weeks, even a month until it is full of hairs and dust.

You could try and play with the connectors leading into the driver and see if they can move at all. They might be shifting position causing a short.

 

[Tachikoma]

Quote:

edit: ok i think all of this was in vain, from my deductions, i think this extra layer of mylar reflects the sound from the mylar that is between the stators. the reason it is there is to catch dust etc. from getting in between the stators. this is my understanding... correct me if i'm wrong. the other reason i say this is because after having another coughing fit (i'm sick as a dog) the squealing sound started again, so basically removing all that hair didn't fix anything

IME fixing any holes in the dust cover fixes the squealing sound, so try sticking some thin tape on the holes, or replace the entire dust cover with some foodwrap.

 

[d-cee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif The wire mesh is to stop you from poking your finger into the drivers and the pvc film is a dustcover. It does reflect a bit of sound but the other option is for the drivers to last a few weeks, even a month until it is full of hairs and dust. You could try and play with the connectors leading into the driver and see if they can move at all. They might be shifting position causing a short.

acknowledged. so that's the PVC, sorry but getting all confuzzled with all these materials that i never realised their purpose of...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma /img/forum/go_quote.gif IME fixing any holes in the dust cover fixes the squealing sound, so try sticking some thin tape on the holes, or replace the entire dust cover with some foodwrap.

i see, i may try a little tape first, rather than re-applying food wrap

if need be i can replace the whole thing with the PVC that i will try to melt the glue off from my non functioning driver hence keeping it all in tact and re-applying it to the functioning driver

thing is, if those holes are causing the squealing, wouldn't it be a constant thing, at the moment it's intermittent and if i slap the thing hard enough, it stops

 

[spritzer]

The dustcover wouldn't cause that. when the dustcover has holes in it, it will make a high pitched noise when air it pushed through the holes. That can happen when you put the headphones on your head or if you push the earpieces towards your head. The must be a bad connection somewhere or some debris that is causing this.

 

[d-cee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif The dustcover wouldn't cause that. when the dustcover has holes in it, it will make a high pitched noise when air it pushed through the holes. That can happen when you put the headphones on your head or if you push the earpieces towards your head. The must be a bad connection somewhere or some debris that is causing this.

ok well i'm going to over the solding again for the umpteenth time

if the problems persist i'm going to write this one off as a bad driver as well

*sigh* maybe it just wasn't meant to be me and these electrostat things...

truth be told, i could live with this problem as it's only intermittent, it just hurts each time i slap the thing while it's still on my head to rid of the squealing other than that it's great =D

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-cee /img/forum/go_quote.gif ok well i'm going to over the solding again for the umpteenth time if the problems persist i'm going to write this one off as a bad driver as well *sigh* maybe it just wasn't meant to be me and these electrostat things... truth be told, i could live with this problem as it's only intermittent, it just hurts each time i slap the thing while it's still on my head to rid of the squealing other than that it's great =D

I doubt it is the soldering but rather a intermittent connection inside the driver that shouldn't be. IF too much heat was used while soldering it could have melted some insulation and created a barrier but there isn't all that much you can do about it.

 

[dvse]

Hey, I warned you about the possibility of squealing...

Getting the dustcover from the other driver and leaving it at that would be my suggestion. DO NOT try to separate the stators, while it is possible without damaging the diaphragm, it will be damn hard putting them together.


Quote:

Originally Posted by d-cee /img/forum/go_quote.gif ok well i'm going to over the solding again for the umpteenth time if the problems persist i'm going to write this one off as a bad driver as well *sigh* maybe it just wasn't meant to be me and these electrostat things... truth be told, i could live with this problem as it's only intermittent, it just hurts each time i slap the thing while it's still on my head to rid of the squealing other than that it's great =D

 

[d-cee]

well, I got the SR-404s...

initial thoughts are that it doesn't have that treble peak that the lambda pros did it also appears to have quite warm mids, sort of makes it seem like it's not as detailed.

i would hope it is, but doesn't feel as detailed due to the more balanced sound. i guess i'm just used to the lambda pro's presentation sound that this sound is quite foreign to me from an electrostat, but since Pros are broken i can't really do an A/B comparison.

the lambda pro were a bit grating from my OMZ but perfect with the DAC-AH. with the SR-404s i had to switch back to the OMZ as the DAC-AH came across as a bit too warm

I guess everything's still there but i'm not blown away by the SR-404s like I was with the Pros when I first tried them, and experienced electrostats for the first time.

Nor am I disappointed, just had to make a few re-adjustments to my system to accommodate this new sound. might put it back on the warmer source later and see how it all compares, but i don't know if that'd sit well

maybe time for a new driver unit =\ still using the SRM-1/MK-2...

 

[krmathis]

Congratulations with another great pair of Stax 'phones.

The SRM-1/MK2 are nowhere a bad amplifier, but you might want to look into a tubed one. I like the Lambda Pro (and hence most probably the SR-404) a lot better when driven by the SRM-007t compared to the SRM-1/MK2.

 

[DolphinG]

Wow, old but great thread.
 
I'm also interested in fixing my SR-80 with imbalance problem and I learned a lot from here.

 

[Paul Meakin]

  Quote:

Originally Posted by d-cee /img/forum/go_quote.gif thanks, it's been a hard few weeks without them but oops, i might have spoken too soon i can hear a squealing sound in the right driver, a bit like those old kettles with a whistle on them it is ever so faint and I'm not sure what it is...

It could be a dust particle or a hair stuck inside the driver. Try blowing at it with you mouth but do not use compressed air, that will rip the mylar to bits.

 
Spritzer, huge thanks for this tip. I had exactly this problem earlier today and some gently blowing fixed it.