[davidsh]

Thanks for the tip. Seems they only cost about 20$ per pair

 

[rgs9200m]

Yep, there seems to be a pretty big supply out there. I went for a matched set of 4 from a mainstream dealer so it cost me more, but I've had good luck with lower priced sources too on other tubes, so I think those would be fine.
Stax USA actually told me to do this when I asked about this amp.
I'm sure more expensive amps could do some things better, but I'm getting such fine sound from the 007t that I just don't feel the need to move on from it.
It has a mix of musical sweetness and strong impact and speed and fine detail that is just music to my ears.

 

[s1rrah]

This might offend the purists ... but I'm a perpetual hack and so ...
 
I go back and forth between my Koss ESP-950's and my Stax SR-404LE's ... I like them both a lot. The Koss for the uber smoothness, how physically lightweight they are and, believe it or not, the better sound stage (out of your head sounding) they are for me. I enjoy the 404LE's for their slightly better bass, and the obviously better detail retrieval and better high frequency performance and, overall, I consider the 404LE's a more "reference" sort of headphone. 
 
But one thing about the Koss cans I really like much more than the 404LE's is the distance that the driver sits from my ear.
 
With the Koss cans, the drivers are kept a good distance from the ear, which, to me anyway, results in a more speaker-like sound stage. And I get a much more three dimensional image of the music with the Koss headphones. Of course it's not on par with speakers, but it doesn't sound so much "in the head" as the 404LE's do.
 
The 404LE's on the other hand, with their really swank leather pads, though very nice and comfy, still hold the driver almost right against my ear. When A/B listening between the two cans, I have to totally back the volume down when going from the Koss cans to the 404LE's since the latter is so much louder sounding due to the proximity of the drivers to the ear.
 
And so I've been wondering: 
 
Is there some way I could increase the distance of the 404LE's driver from my ear? I mean, make the pads/cushions thicker so the drivers/elements aren't resting right against my ear? (my ears fit completely within the 404LE's pads, BTW ... in a "circumaural" sort of way, and the drivers are quite nearly touching my ears).  I think the 404LE's ear pads are fixed with adhesive and so I can't think of a neat, reversible and non-destructive means of adding height to them, short of adding some material to the outsides of them.
 
One thing I've read about is that the other SR-404 variants use a "pleather" sort of material that is thicker than the genuine leather of the SR-404LE's ... and that this "pleather" based pad holds the drivers further away from one's ear. The following is from a Headphonia review:
 

As you move up to the SR404 LE, you can feel that not only does real leather pads feel nicer on the skin, but the drivers are sitting closer to your ears. On my ears, the driver cover is actually touching the edge of my ears. Taking a measuring caliper and measuring from the middle of the pads to the driver cover, I get the following measurements:

SR-404 LE: 17.1mm
SR-404 Signature: 19.4mm
SR-Lambda Pro: 21.2mm

[source]

Anyway ... as said, I love both of the aforementioned cans .. but  for my smallish ears, I think the 404LE's would sound much better if the drivers were ever so slightly backed off from my ear, like the much taller/deeper cups of the Koss cans.

Perhaps I could try replacing the pads with one of the thicker, "pleather" variants?

But once removed, are the real leather pads of the 404LE's able to be re applied?

Just curious ..

 

 

[davidsh]

I use 1-2mm double sided adhesive for my LS. Doesn't sound like much, but it actually helps getting more space for the ears.

 

[s1rrah]

I use 1-2mm double sided adhesive for my LS. Doesn't sound like much, but it actually helps getting more space for the ears.

 
Do you put the tape between  the plastic housing and the actual ear pad? I would think so as to put it on the outside of the ear pad would just result in the tape sticking to your head. Which wouldn't be cool. Nor sound that good. 
 
But thanks for that. BTW ... do you know anything about the adhesive holding the pads on to my 404LE's? Is it easy to pull them off the driver housing?
 
Also, the thickness of the tape is 1-2mm ... but do you know the "width" specification? Can you PM me a link to an online example of what you use?
 
Thanks again ... 

 

[davidsh]

 

I use 1-2mm double sided adhesive for my LS. Doesn't sound like much, but it actually helps getting more space for the ears.

 
Do you put the tape between  the plastic housing and the actual ear pad? I would think so as to put it on the outside of the ear pad would just result in the tape sticking to your head. Which wouldn't be cool. Nor sound that good. 
 
But thanks for that. BTW ... do you know anything about the adhesive holding the pads on to my 404LE's? Is it easy to pull them off the driver housing?
 
Also, the thickness of the tape is 1-2mm ... but do you know the "width" specification? Can you PM me a link to an online example of what you use?
 
Thanks again ... 

Really, my LS is kind of a mess, but it sounds good (snapped arc, occationally imbalanced driver that squeals fixed with tape etc). Point is, it's just some random adhesive I picked up locally some time ago and I don't care that much for it. It probably doesn't seal a 100% either, I just needed to put my pads in place, as they kept sliding upwards and forward on the housing. Anyway, they easily go down to 40 Hz before they really start dropping off, so it can't be that bad.

 
I don't know how replacing pads is on newer Stax earspeakers, probably not that bad, but it took me like 2 hours with isopropyl alcohol to get that adhesive off because the adhesive basically had become one sticky mess over the years. Goo-off-ish products should work very well to clean it off from what I have heard.

 

[s1rrah]

Thanks.

 

[mangler]

And so I've been wondering: 

Is there some way I could increase the distance of the 404LE's driver from my ear? I mean, make the pads/cushions thicker so the drivers/elements aren't resting right against my ear? (my ears fit completely within the 404LE's pads, BTW ... in a "circumaural" sort of way, and the drivers are quite nearly touching my ears).  I think the 404LE's ear pads are fixed with adhesive and so I can't think of a neat, reversible and non-destructive means of adding height to them, short of adding some material to the outsides of them.

I've stuffed memory foam in that spot where the earpads wrap inwards (hope that makes sense) and it worked pretty well.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

This ocd level stuff drives me nuts.  Once you rip the pad off the adhesive becomes less grippy which is a good or bad thing... You can experiment with different pads with less grating experience ripping off the pads for swapping but then the adhesive loosens every time so pads don't stick uniformly any more.  This seems to be a reality of things as older lambdas end up like this over time on their own.  I believe as long as you still get the farts you're probably ok even with looser adhesive.  New pads come with new adhesive anyways so you can set and forget when you figure out what you want to stick with, just be careful not to hurt the pads themselves.
 
Speaking of which the older pads are thicker I believe, the 407 pad will actually be plushier but warmer/sweatier at the same time.  The height of the pads seems to have a pretty good degree of effect on the sound but I think maintaining a seal is the most important part.  

 

[TheAttorney]

   
that's what i was afraid of, 'cables'.
 
i recently put psvane el34ph tubes in and even though they are now around 100 hours, i think (?) i like the stock tubes better.............need to swap them back in this weekend...........but also wondering if i changed anything else like cables, or if i didn't, will the cables make much of a difference...................the curse of 'everything matters'

Be afraid, be very afraid. IMO everything does matter to varying degrees, but that doesn't explain you preferring stock tubes over the PH's in the BHSE. Maybe you'll be surprised when you swap the PH's back in (as I was). But assuming for now you will still prefer stock, then I can only think of the following explanations:
 

1. Sample variation has made your particular PH's worse than normal
2. Sample variation has made your particular stock tubes much better than normal
3. You're nuts
4. I'm nuts

 
As you already seem to have a pretty high end system, IMO a well chosen posh cable will very broadly give much the same improvements as the PH's over the stock JJ tubes: i.e. improved definition, focus and clarity, whilst at the same time removing a layer of higher frequency "haze" and "glare", ending up with a more dynamic. lifelike sound. However, based on your tube preference so far, you may well end up preferring the stock cable, which is great, as you'll save yourself pots of money. So it's essential to get such things on a trial basis.
 
I'm getting some interesting results with my herbie tube dampers on the PH's, but if you don't like the PH's in the first place, then that option may be throwing good money after bad.

 

[Rpell]

SRM-323s failure
 
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced a bad 323s?  I recently bought one from PriceJapan and it seemed to work okay the first couple of times I tried it but soon starting cutting out in the right channel after a few minutes of use.
 
I measured the DC voltage on the right and left outputs and it starts out very low on both channels (as it should) right after turn on, but after a few minutes the DC voltage level on the right channel's + and - outputs starts rising and before long it's at about -370 V. On the pc board itself the right-channel LEDs D2 and D3 turn bright red while D1 goes dim or out.
 
The problem clearly seems heat related, and I'm guessing could be either a bad component or even a bad solder joint somewhere.  I've reported it to PJ and am awaiting instructions re: returning under warranty etc. They seemed to confuse this with the "channel imbalance" problem that apparently many have reported but which has never been resolved, and seem reluctant to give me the needed info to ship the unit back without being able to "show malfunction-sample to Stax."  

 

[3X0]

This is going to sound really obvious, but were you using a 117V->100V converter? JDM SRM-323Ss are only designed to operate on 100V.

 

[cat6man]

 
Be afraid, be very afraid. IMO everything does matter to varying degrees, but that doesn't explain you preferring stock tubes over the PH's in the BHSE. Maybe you'll be surprised when you swap the PH's back in (as I was). But assuming for now you will still prefer stock, then I can only think of the following explanations:
 

1. Sample variation has made your particular PH's worse than normal
2. Sample variation has made your particular stock tubes much better than normal
3. You're nuts
4. I'm nuts

 
 

 
number 3 is obviously true, but this could involve more than just one factual item
 
i may not have been clear originally, but i may have already changed cables a bit, so i'm not sure the psvane tubes are the only thing i varied.
stay tuned............

 

[complin]

Miosz is absolutely correct this is very important with electrostatics the p 2 p voltage and slew rate particularly in relation to the more difficult to drive models like the  original Omega, the 007 mk1 and the Sigma Pro.
I have been a stats headphone user since the late 1960's and these are two of the main attributes I always look for when evaluating an amplifier  for these types of transducers.  The best amplifiers sonically always tend to excel in these areas like the legendary Stax SRM-T2 which really wakes up the 007 mk1 and Omega.
 
Quote:

  I think people are somewhat off-base talking about the reason that some of us feel that the 007 (esp. mk I) really come alive with an amp capable of higher voltage swings -  and it is NOT just volume.
 
The SLEW RATE is important.

 
Quote:

  Most electrostatic amps just can't swing ENOUGH voltage FAST ENOUGH (with low distortion) into the reactive load of an electrostatic driver.  

 
 
Quote:

  The SLEW RATE is meaningless.
 
Quote:
 
Classic unsubstantiated claim.

 

[rgs9200m]

   
But one thing about the Koss cans I really like much more than the 404LE's is the distance that the driver sits from my ear.
 
 
 

Read Wes Phillips on the Lambda Nova:
"Maybe it's just me, but I experienced an odd sensation while listening to the Stax 'phones over long periods. I would become aware of the proximity of the diaphragm to my ear, but the sensation would disappear as soon as I paid attention to it. This felt like the aural equivalent of those optical illusions in which the foreground becomes the background when gazed at intently. By contrast, the Sennheiser HD 600 simulated music occurring in space better than any other headphone I have used—I was never conscious of its diaphragm's proximity to my eardrum."
 
stereophile.com/content/stax-lambda-nova-signature-electrostatic-ear-speaker-wp-february-1998