I don't always post, but when I do.
I have been away for a long time now, since I sold the 007 MkI, which I regretted dearly. So last year I made the HV, albeit with much explosions. I couldn't have completed the build if not for the fact that I received tremendous help from the Stax mafia, specifically Victor Chew. It's another 1 year before I finally made the plunge. I asked my friend who's traveling in Tokyo right now to pick up a pair for me. The last pair in stock at E-earphone. I am picking it up 3 days from now.
Another friend of mine got me itchy again. I got a pair of Dynaudio recently, and have just auditioned the Maggies 1.7 powered by the incredible Sanders ESL amp (capable of almost 800W into 4 ohm). I will be checking out the Soltanus Acoustics ESL speakers too. Safe to say that, my dream speakers build is just a pair of Maggie 3.7i with the Sanders Magtech amp, which cost less than $10k. Or I might consider the Sanders ESL speakers, or the Soltanus Acoustics ESL speakers. I do like Quad, but I have heard that their quality has not been where it was during their heyday.
There's too many dynamic cans out there, too many amps, Stax makes it easier to pick. Sometimes less choices is better for me. I like planar headphones and speakers a lot. But even then there's too many planar magnetic cans out there. For speakers, there are less choices so easier to choose. If one day after getting the speakers, and I still find myself having too much money lying around, which is highly unlikely (and rather impossible) I would take a look at the gorgeous yet priced over-the-line Orpheus II.
Many thanks to many people, Kevin Gilmore, Spritzer (Birgir), Lil Knight, Victor Chew, Kerry, RiStaR, the lot of Stax mafias, and Currawong, Shigzeo, and AnakChan, and the rest of whom I might have missed. I can't be too happy yet, not 100% sure my HV is working. But from measurements it should be alright. Voltage swings to Vpp of 1.8kV, bias voltage is alright.
Cheers.
