[John_M]

Thank you - this is reassuring to hear. There have been a few posts on possible channel imbalance... your mind starts playing tricks on you and you wonder if there is some subtle imbalance.... but definitely nothing at all obvious.

 

[newaudio46]

Does anyone know how to identify a 007mk2.9?

 

[Tugbars]

Nobody knows for sure. What we know is that since 3 years all models are mk 2.9. From my experience mk 2.5 pads are deeper.

 

[PJJK]

Finished the mods on my 006T; plugged it in and let it run for about two hours without phones plugged in and then another two hours listening to it before switching it off. Restarted it today only to find the right channel has gone missing. I checked the CCS and its fine. However, it appears that resistor R48 on the main board may have gone open circuit, but perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree. I've Googled for a schematic without success, so I'm hoping someone here has one or knows the specs for R48. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[PJJK]

Finished the mods on my 006T; plugged it in and let it run for about two hours without phones plugged in and then another two hours listening to it before switching it off. Restarted it today only to find the right channel has gone missing. I checked the CCS and its fine. However, it appears that resistor R48 on the main board may have gone open circuit, but perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree. I've Googled for a schematic without success, so I'm hoping someone here has one or knows the specs for R48. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Amendment, problem is not with R48.

 

[Degru]

Interesting, bought a second SR202 for a friend and this one came with replaced pads; the EP234BL pads that are currently sold on the stax store. These are actually considerably different from the original 202 pads that are on my unit. They are way softer and form a much better seal (which means waay better bass) but also change the overall presentation and make it less aggressive, more in line with how my 404 sounds. Not as open sparkly soundstage-y as og pads, but overall an improvement in coherency and especially bass.

Thought I'd share if anyone is looking at getting those pads for an older lambda..

 

[Mach3]

If you want bass, get the 3D printed adaptor and add the vespa angled pads comfort to die for.

 

[Degru]

If you want bass, get the 3D printed adaptor and add the vespa angled pads comfort to die for.

Non OEM pads on stax seems like a recipe for disaster ..

 

[Armored Soul]

How do the SR-5 compare to any of the HD6xx series (HD6xx, HD600, HD650 etc) compare?

 

[mulveling]

I did something very stupid and dropped my SR-009 headphones... But luckily it doesn't seem to have had any effect on sound. Can anyone reassure me that if there's no audible effect (or visible damage) I won't have damaged them in some other way (loosening some internal component or anything like that?)

Some people recommend whacking the cups/drivers as a potential *cure* for a Stax imbalance, lol.
I've heard a few significant imbalances over the years - an old L3000, RS-2, my first pair of 009S from the 1st shipping batch. You'll know when it occurs - it's not at all subtle. This is when the imbalance exceeds around 1.5 - 2 dB (sometimes a lot more). Believe me I've spent countless hours over years obsessing over "is there a slight imbalance here?" with various headphones. Mostly - nope, and you'll know for sure when you have a problem. It's not worth the heartache in the meantime.

 

[Degru]

(Trans)portable stax is a go! Bought a TalentCell 12v battery and wired up a janky little center negative interconnect for it, and the thing works! Zero noise from it, and since the battery can do up to 3A it improves the sound quite a bit too over the 400mA power brick. It's a 6Ah battery, so it should hopefully last a while. Probably gonna be using this around the house mostly, but I'm definitely gonna take it down to the coffee shop for the meme at least once when stuff reopens around here

On a related note, I also discovered that my 252 pot has imbalance of about 2 volts on the output except for at max volume. What's a good pot to replace it?

 

[robo24]

Does anyone know how to identify a 007mk2.9?

I read recently that serial numbers starting with ZC3 are the latest for the past 3 years.

 

[John_M]

Some people recommend whacking the cups/drivers as a potential *cure* for a Stax imbalance, lol.
I've heard a few significant imbalances over the years - an old L3000, RS-2, my first pair of 009S from the 1st shipping batch. You'll know when it occurs - it's not at all subtle. This is when the imbalance exceeds around 1.5 - 2 dB (sometimes a lot more). Believe me I've spent countless hours over years obsessing over "is there a slight imbalance here?" with various headphones. Mostly - nope, and you'll know for sure when you have a problem. It's not worth the heartache in the meantime.

Thank everyone for the comments but now I'm pretty sure they do have a channel imbalance. Not sure if dropping them caused it or if it was there anyway. Mono sounds very slightly to the right of my head when they're on the right way round. I blind tested myself by shutting my eyes and twisting the headphones round, then testing myself on whether it sounded to the left or the right of my head. Unfortunately I was able to pick out which way round I had them on seven times out of seven, then decided it was a sure thing. I'll have a look at that UK dealer someone referred to.

Edit: this may actually be the cable... trying it with another cable (by the way much cheaper) and I can't pick the imbalance any more - although it may be just lateness/ fatigue, will try again tomorrow...

 

[afgmjkl]

I read recently that serial numbers starting with ZC3 are the latest for the past 3 years.

SZ2 is 007A and SZ3 is 007mk2.


There is no way to identify post-2016 model.
I assume that serial numbers after 20XX are post-2016.

 

[robo24]

SZ2 is 007A and SZ3 is 007mk2.


There is no way to identify post-2016 model.
I assume that serial numbers after 20XX are post-2016.

Thanks, I read the same place that the numbers weren't useful because they weren't sequential. Who knows!