[Hun7er]

Hello everybody,
 
I don't have seen a topic to talk about this headphone. Its seems that it has been a bit forgetting. 
 
I have been hunting this headphone for 4 months. Luckily I found it on ebay with his HEV70 amplifier in very good conditions. 
 
Even the HEV70 is not the best amp I fell immediately in love. 
It sounds so natural, airy, smooth with a little euphony. It takes me to the cloud. 
 
I have tried a KGSS, SRM600LTD, the result was very good but when I run it on my Audiomat Prelude Reference it was a new headphone. It got more bass extension, airiness, thickness with that magic tube sound.
 
So we can share our experience negative or positive to get the best result. 

 

[3X0]

It used to be more popular in the early 2000s. Now it seems to be somewhat forgotten about given its rarity and age.
 
 
I have one but I'm having some troubles with it (can't tell if it's the HEV70 or the HE60). Sonically speaking however, it's sublime.

 

[Hun7er]

Hello,
 
What kind of troubles do experienced ?
 
Regards

 

[3X0]

Quote:

Hello,
 
What kind of troubles do experienced ?
 
Regards

Sometimes when I turn the HE60/HEV70 system on after leaving it off overnight, there is some fairly intense crackling/oscillation going on and the HEV70's "Peak" LED keeps blinking between orange/red and green to the rhythm of the noises.
 
The problem usually goes away if I shut down the HEV70, disconnect the HE60 and discharge them. Once I get it "started" without any crackling, the Baby O can go for hours and hours without any problems --- I listened to it for almost 20 hours this weekend with no squealing, crackling or oscillations of any kind. Performance is great.
 
If the HEV70's LEDs weren't going whacky I'd be convinced it was dust or something, but I'm not really sure what it is. I read that the HEV70's Peak light means that the amplifier thinks it's overloaded, though I'm not sure why this would be the case.
 
I'm going to get these reterminated to Stax and run them off a SRM-T1. I hope this resolves the issues and that it's down to the HEV70 rather than the HE60.
 
I'm most worried about the transducers as replacing them has become quite expensive.

 

[wink]

Those HEV70 amps are the problem.
 
The phones should be OK.
 
I find both mine to be addictive.
 
It's only when I pack them away and listen to my Stax SR007 Mk1 for about 10 minutes that I can hear they are better than the HE60.
 
More detail and sonics, euphony, etc.

 

[3X0]

Funny, I shied away from electrostats for a while because the sound signature of the SR-007 was not to my taste and I couldn't think of any suitable alternatives in that tier. I have not heard the SR-Omega or SR-009 but I imagine they would be right up my alley.
 
What I like about the HE60 is its upper midrange coloration which renders the female voice rather beautifully. It has made the HE60 a very easy transition coming from an Audio Technica background (W3000ANV).
 
I guess I regard electrostats as generally fragile due to the preposterously thin mylar films they use. Despite the initial crackling from my Baby O setup, I can't hear any glaring errors or flaws once they get going that would lead me to suspect any damage. At the same time, I don't entirely trust the HEV70... retermination to Stax Pro can't come soon enough.
 
 
I'm screwed on the o-rings though. I ordered a pair last week due to arrive from Germany in about a month, but I tried to open up the right earcup to check out the one in there right now. One of the screws is completely shot and I have no idea how to get it out (funnily enough, left side unscrews fine and the o-ring is astonishingly intact).
 
EDIT: Might just sacrifice a screwdriver by epoxying it to the screw and going direct. I was planning on replacing these screws with PS1 screws (as spritzer recommends) anyway.

 

[n3rdling]

You can probably check the o ring without opening the cups.  Put a flashlight to the grill outside and take a peek.

 

[spritzer]

Quite like the HE60's here but all of you have to try them with really powerful amps.  The BHSE makes them wake up and shine. 
 
I also noticed something odd when I built a DIY set from my spare parts.  I used a HD650 frame and intentionally recessed the drivers as much as I could inside the cups and now they don't sound as thin anymore.  Makes perfect sense from a design standpoint but I'm not sure how this could be achieved in the stock frame. 
 
Quote:

I'm screwed on the o-rings though. I ordered a pair last week due to arrive from Germany in about a month, but I tried to open up the right earcup to check out the one in there right now. One of the screws is completely shot and I have no idea how to get it out (funnily enough, left side unscrews fine and the o-ring is astonishingly intact).
 
EDIT: Might just sacrifice a screwdriver by epoxying it to the screw and going direct. I was planning on replacing these screws with PS1 screws (as spritzer recommends) anyway.

 
The last ditch effort is a Wise-Grip clamp which usually works. 

 

[3X0]

Quote:

 
The last ditch effort is a Wise-Grip clamp which usually works. 

How did you secure the transducers into the HD 650 cups? Are the assemblies that similar or did you have to get creative with rubber grommets and such?
 
 
I am very eager to go against my better judgement and try to clean the exterior of the drivers of mine (without opening them up and exposing the mylar). The pleather debris and dust on the inside surface of the driver assembly is really bugging me out. I'm tempted to brush it off with something like a lens cleaning brush (i.e. the brush end of this) but I'm not sure it would be such a good idea, especially if there's a chance it'll disrupt/compromise the integrity of whatever the inner membrane is. In any case I doubt it'll help if the "cold boot" crackling/oscillation issue persists and is due to dust inside the drivers rather than potential failure of the HEV70.
 
I wish APS didn't go AWOL or else I'd send it in that direction for whatever cleaning he used to do. Not sure about the tools or the methodology he employed, but I'd like to give it a try if it weren't for my lack of expertise and knowledge about what I'm working with (I am a complete noob to electrostats).
 
Currently my HE60s are on their way to Drew @ Moon Audio for retermination to Stax Pro, so I'll have to wait and see and then weigh my options. AFAIK he doesn't employ a 5M resistor in his retermination process but he assured me it's safe to run them off 580V bias.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

How did you secure the transducers into the HD 650 cups? Are the assemblies that similar or did you have to get creative with rubber grommets and such?
 
Currently my HE60s are on their way to Drew @ Moon Audio for retermination to Stax Pro, so I'll have to wait and see and then weigh my options. AFAIK he doesn't employ a 5M resistor in his retermination process but he assured me it's safe to run them off 580V bias.

 
The inside of the HD650 base is nothing like the HE60 so I had to do a lot of cutting and mods to make it work.  The grommets are HE60 that were modified and glued into place.  The metal grills inside the cups are actually HD600 grills that I cut and shaped by hand.  Took a lot of time to do these and some blood as well but they were mostly free (old parts or stuff Sennheiser gave me) so I can't complain. 
 
Don't use them on Stax bias without the extra 5M inline resistor.  Drew clearly has no idea what he's talking about. 

 

[shipsupt]

That comment makes me want to check my 60's. I bought them already Stax terminated but I've never verified that the original owner added a resistor...

 

[chinsettawong]

In my opinion, the series resistor isn't all that important in the exact value.  It's there to limit the current going to the diaphragm.  Since the resistance on the coating of the diaphragm is much higher than the series resistor anyway, 5 or 10 M resister here don't make a difference, IMHO.
 
Wachara C.

 

[shipsupt]

I was thinking more along the lines of confirming that a resistor of some kind is in line. Or are you saying that no resistor is fine in your opinion?

 

[chinsettawong]

The series resister is a should have.  But the value doesn't have to be exact. You can even use 20M and you won't hear a difference in sound.

 

[chinsettawong]

The series resister here is more of a safety precaution.  If you ever have an electrical leak on you cable, you'll get just a little shock and it's not so dangerous.  But without the resister, the shock can be very dangerous.
 
Wachara C.