T2 - Finally bought one!

[Benny-x]

Yes, but then the original Stax SRM-T2 cost at least similar to that (if accounting for inflation), at an apparently huge financial burden to Stax, and the KG DIY T2 is vastly improved over it. Let's not even discuss its value compared to other "high end" electrostat offerings on the current market, or I'll choke to death. And it truly achieves a "beyond comprehension" pinnacle of performance that is magical. So honestly, I believe it's quite the astonishing bargain

That is indeed a Fidelity Research FR64fx. Lovely tonearm. And the SOTA is in an original 1980's cabinet of absolutely gorgeous Koa wood - with a full-on iridescence/chatoyancy/tigers-eye effect (in person, with decent lightning). I also have an FR64S waiting in the wings for mounting on my main ClearAudio deck, but it's taking an inordinate amount of time for the custom armboard to be finished. The FR64S (with original B-60 VTA base) at 3 lbs is actually far too heavy to mount on the SOTA. The lighter FR64fx just makes the cut, by a couple of ounces.

I've run Koetsu stone bodies for most of the past 8 years as my primary/favorite cartridges, but now I'm really loving a Shelter Harmony in the 2ch rig, which is why I've ordered a Shelter Accord for this SOTA table. Currently running "just" an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze here, since the extra output helps in the headphone rig (the Shelters also have extra output at 0.5mV); this Cadenza cartridge had been relegated to backup duty for years, as I felt it performed a level below the Koetsus & Shelters. However, I'm simply shocked at the greatness of sound coming out of this Cadenza now, into T2 + 009S. Never would've guessed it could perform at such a high level. Hope the new Shelter Accord can exceed this when it arrives!

And hiding in the background there, a Jensen ISO-MAX. It looks like a PB-2XX, but with only 1 set of XLRs it's a little hard to understand what's happening with it.

And all this talk about the DIY T2 being the pinnacle of electrostatic amps is disheartening for my dynamics and planars. Over in that realm, it's so vast and with so many variations and perspectives that there's no "one amp to rule them all", even at the $10K USD price point. Damn, I can think of 5 amps off the top of my head that cost that much...

There really doesn't seem to be this kind of "certainty" outside STAX, eh?

All those DIT T2s are beautiful, though. @purk You said you helped arrange the chassis purchase, but just from my quick look, it seems the OP's DIY T2 and the subsequent T2s are using completely different chassis. The first one really does look exactly like a bigger BHSE. Anything us future hopefuls need to be aware/mindful of here?

 

[Whitigir]

There is nothing to be aware of here. The original KG T2 is the larger chassis one (obsolete parts). The smaller one is the modernized by Kerry with his own design and newer parts.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Just remember that you don't need a T2 for the SR-007, SR-009, and SR-009S to outperform all non electrostats. I believe you just need a KGSSHV at the minimum, and an outstanding DAC (Stax has higher source requirements than non electrostats, scales much better with them since it is more revealing of them).

Sure I recommend the best amp you can afford, but I am not upset that I have a KGSSHV Carbon rather than a T2.

 

[mulveling]

And hiding in the background there, a Jensen ISO-MAX. It looks like a PB-2XX, but with only 1 set of XLRs it's a little hard to understand what's happening with it.

And all this talk about the DIY T2 being the pinnacle of electrostatic amps is disheartening for my dynamics and planars. Over in that realm, it's so vast and with so many variations and perspectives that there's no "one amp to rule them all", even at the $10K USD price point. Damn, I can think of 5 amps off the top of my head that cost that much...

There really doesn't seem to be this kind of "certainty" outside STAX, eh?

All those DIT T2s are beautiful, though. @purk You said you helped arrange the chassis purchase, but just from my quick look, it seems the OP's DIY T2 and the subsequent T2s are using completely different chassis. The first one really does look exactly like a bigger BHSE. Anything us future hopefuls need to be aware/mindful of here?

Yes that's an ISO-MAX on its way to being unhooked from my system

It's one of their RCA-to-XLR balancing input transformers; I believe they have newer model number now. I needed it when I ran the Headroom Balanced Max/Home or Gilmore Balanced Reference for dynamic headphones, since those amps won't produce balanced output from a single-ended input (i.e. my phono stage). The Stax amps don't have this problem, and are better run without the transformer.

The Stax amp ecosystem is vastly different than dynamic world. There's a distinct, nearly linear progression of amp performance, versus the dynamic chaos. There's much more clarity in things when the next amp up renders really better performance, not just a different "flavor", or "maybe incremental improvements", or merely a better match with some headphones but not others. I think we can thank KG for this, because he's had a hand in most of the better electrostatic amps. Plus, the top Stax headphones scale much more than any dynamics. Who knows; maybe they can scale even beyond the T2?

 

[oneguy]

Who knows; maybe they can scale even beyond the T2?

Blasphemy! I shudder to think what that would cost.

 

[mulveling]

Just remember that you don't need a T2 for the SR-007, SR-009, and SR-009S to outperform all non electrostats. I believe you just need a KGSSHV at the minimum, and an outstanding DAC (Stax has higher source requirements than non electrostats, scales much better with them since it is more revealing of them).

Sure I recommend the best amp you can afford, but I am not upset that I have a KGSSHV Carbon rather than a T2.

I agree with this sentiment. I think a good regular KGSShv w/ 009 outperforms non-electrostats, but maybe not by so much of a margin that you won't get tempted to dabble again in the cool new dynamics, after a couple of years. I had the BHSE and still got tempted by Utopias, which were actually very cool but of course faded over time after the newness/excitement wore off; the Stax 009 + KGSShv (and of course with Carbon/BHSE) is much better in the long run for sure. The good Stax gear's sound never gets old or goes stale.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Blasphemy! I shudder to think what that would cost.

It might cost less. I am thinking the Circlotron, aka the KGSSHV Carbon Nanotube. Especially one with EML 20B-V4 tubes but I don't think such a thing will ever be made (and at that point you can forget about saving money).

I agree with this sentiment. I think a good regular KGSShv w/ 009 outperforms non-electrostats, but maybe not by so much of a margin that you won't get tempted to dabble again in the cool new dynamics, after a couple of years. I had the BHSE and still got tempted by Utopias, which were actually very cool but of course faded over time after the newness/excitement wore off; the Stax 009 + KGSShv (and of course with Carbon/BHSE) is much better in the long run for sure. The good Stax gear never gets old or goes stale.

Yeah at least with a KGSSHV Carbon or BHSE, I personally have zero interest in dynamics or even planars. The Focal Utopia to me sounds like a poor man's SR-009 despite costing more. No respect for it at its price point.

 

[mulveling]

It might cost less. I am thinking the Circlotron, aka the KGSSHV Carbon Nanotube. Especially one with EML 20B-V4 tubes but I don't think such a thing will ever be made (and at that point you can forget about saving money).



Yeah at least with a KGSSHV Carbon or BHSE, I personally have zero interest in dynamics or even planars. The Focal Utopia to me sounds like a poor man's SR-009 despite costing more. No respect for it at its price point.

It does sound kinda like a poor man's 009, heh - you're right, and I got seduced by its beauty and newness lol. But the Utopia's specific "magic" is in being able to do most of its thing from very cheap amplification. I was blown away by how good it sounded right out of a Naim integrated amps' headphone jack, when I wasn't expecting much. When I got them home and threw some great balanced dynamic amps at it, sure I was a bit disappointed when the Utopias went only a little bit further, at all. Then again, they did scale nicely with a good vinyl source, but as expected so too does Stax! The combination of vinyl, T2, and 009S is simply...insane performance.

And yeah, I have been liking the 009S better than 009 from the T2. Now I need to finally try some NOS EL34 in T2 and see if that preference holds up.

 

[Whitigir]

It does sound kinda like a poor man's 009, heh - you're right, and I got seduced by its beauty and newness lol. But the Utopia's specific "magic" is in being able to do most of its thing from very cheap amplification. I was blown away by how good it sounded right out of a Naim integrated amps' headphone jack, when I wasn't expecting much. When I got them home and threw some great balanced dynamic amps at it, sure I was a bit disappointed when the Utopias went only a little bit further, at all. Then again, they did scale nicely with a good vinyl source, but as expected so too does Stax! The combination of vinyl, T2, and 009S is simply...insane performance.

And yeah, I have been liking the 009S better than 009 from the T2. Now I need to finally try some NOS EL34 in T2 and see if that preference holds up.

probably blow your mind

 

[Rhamnetin]

It does sound kinda like a poor man's 009, heh - you're right, and I got seduced by its beauty and newness lol. But the Utopia's specific "magic" is in being able to do most of its thing from very cheap amplification. I was blown away by how good it sounded right out of a Naim integrated amps' headphone jack, when I wasn't expecting much. When I got them home and threw some great balanced dynamic amps at it, sure I was a bit disappointed when the Utopias went only a little bit further, at all. Then again, they did scale nicely with a good vinyl source, but as expected so too does Stax! The combination of vinyl, T2, and 009S is simply...insane performance.

And yeah, I have been liking the 009S better than 009 from the T2. Now I need to finally try some NOS EL34 in T2 and see if that preference holds up.

Yeah the Utopia sounds great just out of the Hugo 2 even, I'll give it that.

Can't imagine how you will react to really nice NOS EL34 tubes in the T2 lol. That must be mind blowing.

 

[Whitigir]

With his pocket power, even unicorn Fart in a Jar will be possible

 

[mulveling]

With his pocket power, even unicorn Fart in a Jar will be possible

LOL. But I'm done buying gear, this time for sure, I promise!

 

[purk]

Funny how all of us were all seduced by the Utopia short lived romance/performance. The soundstage did me in on the Utopia.

 

[mulveling]

Yeah the Utopia soundstage is pretty terrible. What hooked me about it, at first, was having such great detail and clarity for a dynamic, while also having a pretty beautiful midrange too - though still not up to top-tier Stax standards. But again, I was especially impressed to be hearing this at first from very mundane amplification circuitry. You can get pretty great performance-per-total-cost with the Utopia IF you get a good discount (they're available) AND pair it with a decent source and a quality built-in jack (e.g. the Hugo 2 or the Naim integrated I heard). It can be pushed to perform beyond this, but at that point you're better off making the jump to Staxes.

 

[Jones Bob]

LOL. But I'm done buying gear, this time for sure, I promise!

You might consider getting a spare T2 to store in your hall closet, as a lot of SS parts are pretty much unobtainium already.