[BassicScience]

I'm restocking my electrostatic stash after abandoning them all back in 2010.

For running X9000s and Audeze CRBNs, what are the absolute best options that are actually available?

The Carbon CC is at the top of my list. I love the Kerry T2 but it is not readily available that I'm aware of and the $14K price is bonkers, The BHSE excited me back in 2010 but after being around them for 15 years, the mystique has somewhat worn off (I know they are fantastic and have been improved considerably through the years). I love Woo but don't really feel that they are at the top of the Stax game (I could be wrong). I have the skills and machining resources to build something but ack the time so that's not an option unless it literally arrived as a complete bill of goods including finished chassis.

Am I missing anything? Possibly something from Kevin Gilmore (I'm not sure if he is building anything these days).

And if anyone is getting rid of something special, let me know.

Thanks!

Although it's not the "absolute best option" most likely, the Eksonic Aeras offers a lot of the performance of the DIY T2 at roughly half the cost. I can attest that it makes a superb pairing with the X9000. I even wrote a short review of the combo toward the end of my "Estat Summit" thread, if you're interested. I haven't heard the CRBN with the Aeras, but imagine that combo would also play very well together. @number1sixerfan or other folks could probably weigh in there.

 

[ardbeg1975]

Although it's not the "absolute best option" most likely, the Eksonic Aeras offers a lot of the performance of the DIY T2 at roughly half the cost. I can attest that it makes a superb pairing with the X9000. I even wrote a short review of the combo toward the end of my "Estat Summit" thread, if you're interested. I haven't heard the CRBN with the Aeras, but imagine that combo would also play very well together. @number1sixerfan or other folks could probably weigh in there.

Linear Tube Audio’s eStat amp may also be an option.

 

[BlackSport350]

Although it's not the "absolute best option" most likely, the Eksonic Aeras offers a lot of the performance of the DIY T2 at roughly half the cost. I can attest that it makes a superb pairing with the X9000. I even wrote a short review of the combo toward the end of my "Estat Summit" thread, if you're interested. I haven't heard the CRBN with the Aeras, but imagine that combo would also play very well together. @number1sixerfan or other folks could probably weigh in there.

Thanks. I did read your writeup and it certainly got my attention but at the price, I wasn't sure it was viable vs the Carbon CC. Unless I'm mistaken, the Aeras is in the $7K range.

 

[BlackSport350]

Linear Tube Audio’s eStat amp may also be an option.

True. It has gotten some high praise.

 

[Gazza]

@BlackSport350 If you already have a very high quality speaker amplifier/prepower combo you may want to try using them with an electrostatic energiser to power your stats before splashing out on a dedicated amp. I'm using a Woo audio WEE energiser to feed my Stax SR-009 and the sound quality I get is simply stunning. This lets me enjoy the fruits of my Manley pre (after upgrading all the tubes) combined with my lovely Densen power amp which already is an excellent combo when powering my speakers.

Would a dedicated stats amp sound better? Maybe. But the cost of admission to better what I have would be absurd I feel and would feel like I'm replicating components I already have.

Downsides? Be very careful with the volume control. There is always the danger you may have it cranked when listening to speakers, switch to your stats without lowering the volume by mistake and damage the drivers. I'm always hyper-careful to not do this but it's something to call out.

EDIT: Another potential downside is that using one amp to drive both speakers and stats means it's harder to juggle and compensate for wildly different sounding transducers. My SR-009 are almost at the opposite spectrum of my Sonus Faber which can sometimes result in a particular recording not suiting one as well as the other. Having said that, my components are balanced well enough that 99% of the time it gels and upgrading valves ameliorates the issue.

Anyhoo, I'm not saying you shouldn't buy a dedicated e-stat amp but to try your own set-up with an energiser if you already have a quality amp in the chain. The results may surprise you.

 

[BlackSport350]

@BlackSport350 If you already have a very high quality speaker amplifier/prepower combo you may want to try using them with an electrostatic energiser to power your stats before splashing out on a dedicated amp. I'm using a Woo audio WEE energiser to feed my Stax SR-009 and the sound quality I get is simply stunning. This lets me enjoy the fruits of my Manley pre (after upgrading all the tubes) combined with my lovely Densen power amp which already is an excellent combo when powering my speakers.

Would a dedicated stats amp sound better? Maybe. But the cost of admission to better what I have would be absurd I feel and would feel like I'm replicating components I already have.

Downsides? Be very careful with the volume control. There is always the danger you may have it cranked when listening to speakers, switch to your stats without lowering the volume by mistake and damage the drivers. I'm always hyper-careful to not do this but it's something to call out.

Anyhoo, I'm not saying you shouldn't buy a dedicated e-stat amp but to try your own set-up with an energiser if you already have a quality amp in the chain. The results may surprise you.

This had crossed my mind and I have no shortage of high end speaker amps but I just see too many compromises and convenience issues as I don’t want the headphone rig where my speaker rig is.

However, imagine Soulution 701 or Air Tight ATM211 monos running your headphones!

 

[number1sixerfan]

I'm restocking my electrostatic stash after abandoning them all back in 2010.

For running X9000s and Audeze CRBNs, what are the absolute best options that are actually available?

The Carbon CC is at the top of my list. I love the Kerry T2 but it is not readily available that I'm aware of and the $14K price is bonkers, The BHSE excited me back in 2010 but after being around them for 15 years, the mystique has somewhat worn off (I know they are fantastic and have been improved considerably through the years). I love Woo but don't really feel that they are at the top of the Stax game (I could be wrong). I have the skills and machining resources to build something but ack the time so that's not an option unless it literally arrived as a complete bill of goods including finished chassis.

Am I missing anything? Possibly something from Kevin Gilmore (I'm not sure if he is building anything these days).

And if anyone is getting rid of something special, let me know.

Thanks!

I think the Carbon CC makes sense and would be up there on my list as well if looking for something reasonable and for those two as well. I didn't love the BHSE with the x9000 after hearing them through the Aeras and T2, but did enjoy it with the CRBN (although it scaled a lot with the T2, so you may want to start with something more powerful). Get the feelings on the T2 price (although worth the purchase in my book if looking in that range), but you do get a lot of that performance for a fraction of the price in the Aeras.

The cheaper priced Woo options do better with brighter stats imo and are a slight step behind the competition technically, so I probably wouldn't look in that direction even if used. If price to performance ratio is the highest concern, again finding a used Carbon and seeing what you like/don't like with the pairings and then moving up at some point (if desired) makes a lot of sense to me. Keep in mind, the x9000 is easier to power to peak performance, the CRBN a bit harder.

 

[BlackSport350]

I think the Carbon CC makes sense and would be up there on my list as well if looking for something reasonable and for those two as well. I didn't love the BHSE with the x9000 after hearing them through the Aeras and T2, but did enjoy it with the CRBN (although it scaled a lot with the T2, so you may want to start with something more powerful). Get the feelings on the T2 price (although worth the purchase in my book if looking in that range), but you do get a lot of that performance for a fraction of the price in the Aeras.

The cheaper priced Woo options do better with brighter stats imo and are a slight step behind the competition technically, so I probably wouldn't look in that direction even if used. If price to performance ratio is the highest concern, again finding a used Carbon and seeing what you like/don't like with the pairings and then moving up at some point (if desired) makes a lot of sense to me. Keep in mind, the x9000 is easier to power to peak performance, the CRBN a bit harder.

Any further thoughts on the Carbon CC vs the Aeras with both the X9000 and CRBN?

It sounds like the Aeras keeps a lot of the T2 performance.

Thanks.

 

[Gazza]

This had crossed my mind and I have no shortage of high end speaker amps but I just see too many compromises and convenience issues as I don’t want the headphone rig where my speaker rig is.

However, imagine Soulution 701 or Air Tight ATM211 monos running your headphones!

I'm drooling thinking about using Air Tight with Stax...

 

[Kiats]

I think the Carbon CC makes sense and would be up there on my list as well if looking for something reasonable and for those two as well. I didn't love the BHSE with the x9000 after hearing them through the Aeras and T2, but did enjoy it with the CRBN (although it scaled a lot with the T2, so you may want to start with something more powerful). Get the feelings on the T2 price (although worth the purchase in my book if looking in that range), but you do get a lot of that performance for a fraction of the price in the Aeras.

The cheaper priced Woo options do better with brighter stats imo and are a slight step behind the competition technically, so I probably wouldn't look in that direction even if used. If price to performance ratio is the highest concern, again finding a used Carbon and seeing what you like/don't like with the pairings and then moving up at some point (if desired) makes a lot of sense to me. Keep in mind, the x9000 is easier to power to peak performance, the CRBN a bit harder.

Thanks for your views. How did you think the Carbon do with the CRBN?

 

[BlackSport350]

I'm drooling thinking about using Air Tight with Stax...

It would only cost me $850 for the Mjolnir box to try.

 

[BlackSport350]

Thanks for your views. How did you think the Carbon do with the CRBN?

I’ve heard it’s an excellent match. Especially as Audeze has used that combination to demo.

 

[Gazza]

It would only cost me $850 for the Mjolnir box to try.

I've thought about the Mjolnir but the lack of a toggle to switch between speaker or headphone out is a no-go for me. But you should definitely give it a try!

 

[Chefguru]

I'm restocking my electrostatic stash after abandoning them all back in 2010.

For running X9000s and Audeze CRBNs, what are the absolute best options that are actually available?

The Carbon CC is at the top of my list. I love the Kerry T2 but it is not readily available that I'm aware of and the $14K price is bonkers, The BHSE excited me back in 2010 but after being around them for 15 years, the mystique has somewhat worn off (I know they are fantastic and have been improved considerably through the years). I love Woo but don't really feel that they are at the top of the Stax game (I could be wrong). I have the skills and machining resources to build something but ack the time so that's not an option unless it literally arrived as a complete bill of goods including finished chassis.

Am I missing anything? Possibly something from Kevin Gilmore (I'm not sure if he is building anything these days).

And if anyone is getting rid of something special, let me know.

Thanks!

Correct on Woo

Kerry also has a smaller “mini-t2” that directly competes with the Carbon & BHSE.

The carbon (cc or not) is the hands down best pick for CRBN of the three but the amps are more of a preference game for the x9000.
Megatron is a very rare amp (Mjolnir made like 5~ units) that can be a step above the Carbon/bhse group depending on the build. Mjolnir’s is said to just be on par with his carbon.

T2 is clearly a level above those 4 amps.

Headamp has a new amp that’s maybe within a year of release that is similar to a megatron but used DHT tubes and is rumored to cost closer to 20k. It will be even less available than the T2.

 

[BlackSport350]

Correct on Woo

Kerry also has a smaller “mini-t2” that directly competes with the Carbon & BHSE.

The carbon (cc or not) is the hands down best pick for CRBN of the three but the amps are more of a preference game for the x9000.
Megatron is a very rare amp (Mjolnir made like 5~ units) that can be a step above the Carbon/bhse group depending on the build. Mjolnir’s is said to just be on par with his carbon.

T2 is clearly a level above those 4 amps.

Headamp has a new amp that’s maybe within a year of release that is similar to a megatron but used DHT tubes and is rumored to cost closer to 20k. It will be even less available than the T2.

Thanks for the reply. I did not know about the Megatron or the new Headamp.

Any experience with the Audiovalve amps and how they stack up? I’m not sure if they are still in business but their amps are lookers and pretty versatile.