The Stax Thread III
Nov 23, 2020 at 11:22 PM Post #19,351 of 25,262
There are certain SEA destinations that will cater to you if that is your sort of thing.

Regarding amps....what should I get for a pair of SR-007mk2's? 353X won't cut it apparently with "only" 400v RMS but I am no expert. Ideally under £2k but don't mind used.
Your best bet is to get an srd7 pro and a nice little speaker amp. I believe that there is an srd7 pro for sale now on the forums.
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 2:28 AM Post #19,352 of 25,262
Your best bet is to get an srd7 pro and a nice little speaker amp. I believe that there is an srd7 pro for sale now on the forums.

Do you know what sort of speaker amp power is required to drive one of these? Finding info about anything electrostatic related is just a nightmare. Someone needs to make an electrostatic wiki.
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 2:53 AM Post #19,353 of 25,262
Do you know what sort of speaker amp power is required to drive one of these? Finding info about anything electrostatic related is just a nightmare. Someone needs to make an electrostatic wiki.

Kenwood L07M, Threshold S200, Krell KS150, Nakamichi PA7, I've heard good things about Harman Kardon HK770 too. I've also heard load invariant amps should be better for the task. For Stax speakers, you definitely need a load invariant amp but for headphones, I don't know how necessary it is. Kevin Gilmore can maybe enlighten us about this. Threshold/Nakamichi from my recommendations are load invariant.
 
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Nov 24, 2020 at 6:16 AM Post #19,354 of 25,262
that sounds low, it should be 580v i believe?

Yeah, I also think that. The specs say 580v, dunno if I measure on the correct point.
The only thing I can think of is the 630v 0.01uF metalized film caps for the bias, measured them straight on the board thus giving me 0.02uF, 0.02uF and 0.01uF. The two 0.02uF measurements should be correct as they are in pararell.

Transformer out gave 225vac and 255vac on the orange and red leads, the two rectifiers gave dc, big powercaps gave 220uF. Resistors and diodes in the bias-circuit is OK.

Maybe transformer thats busted? Cant find the specs for the Bando, dont say anything on the side either except model.id.

As for the volume, tried another source - with that normal listening volume at ~3-4 on the knob. Dont trust your phone as a source. :beerchug:
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 10:15 AM Post #19,355 of 25,262
https://stax.co.jp/2020/11/09/sr009dis/

Don't know have anyone post this yet but is sad to see the 009 discontinues with no sign of new successor of the omega series yet, since I consider the 009S being a refine sidegrade to the 009 I will be looking forward to the SR-011 in a few years time.
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 1:21 PM Post #19,356 of 25,262
Thank you for your continued patronage of our products.

We have decided to discontinue the production of the following products, which have been patronized for a long time.

It will be discontinued as soon as it is out of stock.

SR-009

(for those who need a quick translation)

pretty sad to see it go! is it confirmed they're working on another omega?
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 4:59 PM Post #19,358 of 25,262
Is the 009BK discontinued as well?

Stax is a small business and there many reasons why they'd do this. Maybe sales aren't there, maybe supply of some critical component dried up, or maybe it just doesn't make sense to have so many 009 variants side by side. The reality of running a small business is that you never have enough money and enough people to do everything you need to do, so you have to make compromises and go for less than ideal solutions along the way.

Anyway I'm hoping for a new Omega that is not insanely priced, I'm hoping for improvements to the rest of the lineup with regards to tuning, and I'm hoping for the amps to get out of the 80s and modernize, but I think I'm going to be hoping for a long time.
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 5:24 PM Post #19,359 of 25,262
So only the 009 not 009S was discontinued?
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 5:49 PM Post #19,360 of 25,262
Is the 009BK discontinued as well?

the 009BK is pretty much discontinued as there was only 180 of them ever made.
I think there a few store left that has them in stock 2-3 I've seen online.
But once it sold it, up to the people who have them to sell them on the use market platform.

The new Omega was mention in a video by Edifier the current owner of Stax.
The release date is when the Japanese Stax team is ready. Which at the moment they are not ready.
The reason for this is the product cycle for their product is 10 years and above. Look at 007 and 009 as reference.
But a true Omega replace is in the works, as great as the 007 on a decent DIY amp. A true successor is long overdue.
Also, Stax has been very careful with product release and this includes their dated looking energizer.
Because I'm sure, they don't want a repeat of what happened in 1995 (went bust due to trying to create the best)
In 2011 was sold to Edifier, maybe due to stress associated with the releasing of the 009.
But notice, in both situation it was a release of a flagship that bought the company down.

In the end of the day they need to be profitable as they are a business.
Creating the best of anything and making last forever, isn't good long term business.

 
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Nov 24, 2020 at 6:35 PM Post #19,361 of 25,262
1.
i-WbzwRCF.jpg


2. One stick works for both cups, break stick in half:
i-QQ4SWxZ.jpg


3. Roll out a 1/2 stick to where it fits on inner channel like shown below:
i-Bn3KDsj.jpg


4. Break segment off that is little less than 2 ribs of the channel. Will need to have it a little longer than the rib walls so it can seal against them.
i-VnMfPj4.jpg


5. Roll the piece broken off so it will attach to both ends of the original thicker segment that was rolled out:
i-7qmzCnG.jpg


6. Press it down and flatten to where it's sticking just above the channel by about a millimeter or so, and push the overhanging ends flush against the surface of the two ribs to seal. Make sure to keep the two rear peg hole clear of the putty:
i-bNwLWQw.jpg


7. Alternate view:
i-L2gvvgr.jpg


8. Press on pads at the corners, then work front to rear to press a finger inside pad on the plastic pad plate and press it hard into the cup/grille to seal pads to the housing. Keep working around the inside perimeter until you have it seated as far as it will go, then flatten the oozed seam against the inside perimeter wall with a finger. Hard to get a picture of this, but basically if you can see the putty below then your finger will go above it and under the pad and firmly press down towards the outside...just take your time and use care as you go around the perimeter, no need to rush.
i-pqfdKjF.jpg


9. Repeat for other side to complete.... then you're finished.
i-gZHHRS5.jpg
The forum needs more mod posts like this. Just take a camera, take a few pictures, no bs descriptions, and straight to the point. Less is more.
 
Nov 24, 2020 at 11:12 PM Post #19,363 of 25,262
In the end of the day they need to be profitable as they are a business.
Creating the best of anything and making last forever, isn't good long term business

Stax don't need to try and push out the best cost-no-object gear in the world, they just need to fix their own issues and update their amps to be able to drive their own headphones. If you can CCS mod the 006t and 007t to be higher output, why don't Stax do it from the factory? If you can easily feedback mod the 727 and improve the sound, why don't they do it from the factory? Why do their headbands for the L300 split in half, the L700 mk1 y-forks break, the fit on the new Lambdas be significantly worse than the old? Yes they've taken a few steps with the Mk2 Lambdas to fix these issues but they need to be doing more. This isn't the 90s when they were the de-facto leader in the high-end space. There is much more competition now and frankly they need to get a move on or be left behind.

I probably shouldn't get into tuning issues as that is subjective, and lots of people are totally fine with how Stax voices their headphones. But I'm not. Over the last 5 years I bought the L700, L700 Mk2, and 007 Mk2 and they all have tuning issues to the point that I have to EQ them to make them listenable. When you can pick up a pair of $220 Sennheisers that's better tuned than your $1k+ headphones, that is once again a real problem.

This sounds angrier than intended, but I've been using Stax for over 15 years, I'm something of a fan and I just don't see things currently heading in the right direction.
 
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Nov 25, 2020 at 12:12 AM Post #19,365 of 25,262
Stax don't need to try and push out the best cost-no-object gear in the world, they just need to fix their own issues and update their amps to be able to drive their own headphones. If you can CCS mod the 006t and 007t to be higher output, why don't Stax do it from the factory? If you can easily feedback mod the 727 and improve the sound, why don't they do it from the factory? Why do their headbands for the L300 split in half, the L700 mk1 y-forks break, the fit on the new Lambdas be significantly worse than the old? Yes they've taken a few steps with the Mk2 Lambdas to fix these issues but they need to be doing more. This isn't the 90s when they were the de-facto leader in the high-end space. There is much more competition now and frankly they need to get a move on or be left behind.

I probably shouldn't get into tuning issues as that is subjective, and lots of people are totally fine with how Stax voices their headphones. But I'm not. Over the last 5 years I bought the L700, L700 Mk2, and 007 Mk2 and they all have tuning issues to the point that I have to EQ them to make them listenable. When you can pick up a pair of $220 Sennheisers that's better tuned than your $1k+ headphones, that is once again a real problem.

This sounds angrier than intended, but I've been using Stax for over 15 years, I'm something of a fan and I just don't see things currently heading in the right direction.
After watching video posted above and looking up what Edifier puts out, I'm a little worried about Stax going forward. Maybe I'm wrong and they can leverage their size to make improvements.
 

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