[johnwmclean]

Quote:

Its more about circuit design and topography, not the generalized tubes vs. ss. I've heard ss amps that are warm and "tubey" and tube amps that are tight, very clean and ss-ish. So it kinda depends....

 
 
I agree with this as far as amplification is concerned SS and tube are both great, although tubes are considered the best voltage gain. 
However I would never run a low voltage tube output stage from a DAC, it’s just not what tubes are cut out for.

 

[gilency]

I agree with this as far as amplification is concerned SS and tube are both great, although tubes are considered the best voltage gain. 
However I would never run a low voltage tube output stage from a DAC, it’s just not what tubes are cut out for.

Agree with you John, both are great and have pluses and minuses.
I like SS for their low maintenance and less heat production.
Tubes are soo pretty though!. but I'm in SoCal where the hot wheather makes tubes less appealing through out most of the year.
As far as the so called digital etch of sound, it does not really exist with the right gear.

 

[rgs9200m]

Quote:

Agree with you John, both are great and have pluses and minuses.
I like SS for their low maintenance and less heat production.
Tubes are soo pretty though!.

but I'm in SoCal where the hot wheather makes tubes less appealing through out most of the year.
As far as the so called digital etch of sound, it does not really exist with the right gear.

The Apex Pinnacle (and perhaps other Apex amps, though I have not tried any) has very little ambient heat; it's like a small table lamp  with maybe a low watt, like 15-25 watt, bulb.
Heat is totally not a concern.
A lot of solid state amps generate more heat around them. And you get lots of tube goodness with with the Pinnacle. 
Maintenance? The 2 PX4 bulbs have been going strong for 18 months now, and the single 6NS7 can easily go a year or more and is cheap to replace.
It has less maintenance than that table lamp.
Unless you have a tube amp with 10 tubes or strange vintage tubes or one that needs biasing (just a few do), maintenance worries on tube amps is an urban myth.

 

[gilency]

I use electrostatic headphones almost exclusively, so the Pinnacle is not something I would be interested. I do love the BHSE though, so nothing against tubes, and I will be building the Megatron when the boards become available.
As far as SS, I am also very content with my KGSSHV, so happy in fact, that I am building me a second one. No harshness, just sweet sound.

 

[Solude]

Yes and no.  Once you have solid tubes you are golden.  Getting silent running tubes on the other hand can be challenging.

 

[Solude]

Yes and no.  Once you have solid tubes you are golden.  Getting silent running tubes on the other hand can be challenging.

 

[di_andrei]

Trouble in paradise.
 
My SR-007's (Mk1) have developed an intermittent problem, on the right channel there is an occasional, low volume, high pitched sound, sounds a little like capacitor squeal, or air being forced through a small hole in a balloon. This is not volume-dependent (same noise no matter if I turn the volume up or down) It goes away if I move the earcup around a little and I'm then able to listen for hours without the noise re-appearing. I'm 99% sure the problem is with the earcup itself and not something wrong in the energizer or further upstream.
 
At the moment it's not bothering me too much but I would like to fix it or prevent it from getting worse if possible. Any ideas?
 
Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[milosz]

Quote:

Trouble in paradise.
 
My SR-007's (Mk1) have developed an intermittent problem, on the right channel there is an occasional, low volume, high pitched sound, sounds a little like capacitor squeal, or air being forced through a small hole in a balloon. This is not volume-dependent (same noise no matter if I turn the volume up or down) It goes away if I move the earcup around a little and I'm then able to listen for hours without the noise re-appearing. I'm 99% sure the problem is with the earcup itself and not something wrong in the energizer or further upstream.
 
At the moment it's not bothering me too much but I would like to fix it or prevent it from getting worse if possible. Any ideas?
 
Thanks in advance for the help!

 
Sounds like a dreaded "electrostatic driver squeal"  which I think comes from some dust in the driver.  Koss ESP-950's are said to develop this problem quite often, though mine never have.  With Koss ESP-950's the fix is simple- you send them back to the factory, they fix them or send you a new pair- Koss has a lifetime, no questions asked warranty on the ESP-950.  Stax offers a year, but beyond that you have to pay the Stax distributor in your country to fix them.  If your SR-007's are still in warranty, initiate a warranty repair IMMEDIATELY  is my suggestion. I don't think the driver will spontaneously repair itself and may get worse over time.
 
I don't think it's easy to repair the driver yourself, and maybe it isn't even possible- I've heard that the drivers have to be assembled in a Class 10 cleanroom, which is not something you'd be likely to have at home.

 

[livewire]

QUOTE: "Any ideas?"
 
Don't use a vacuum or compressed air to clean the dust out.
 
If you send them for repair, most likely the driver will be replaced with
the newer Mk2.5 driver. This is the sad fate of many aging Mk1s.
 
Buy some new 009s. Problems solved, almost. 

 

[spritzer]

The 007 drivers are pretty hard to clean of debris so I would just live with it.  I tried to clean a set yesterday and it got better but not perfect. 
 
What I would do is to check the dust covers for holes.  They are very fragile so don't touch them but any holes can be patched with clear tape. 

 

[Nanoframe]

Hello again everyone!
 
Thanks to all that helped out with the problem with my amplifier. I got someone to look at it and he said the row of 30k-ohm resistors blew. He has since replaced them and all is well again.
 
Is this common? What are the possible causes that you can think of so that I can take the necessary precautions when I bring it home to use it again.
 
Thanks again!

 

[spritzer]

All of them?  That would have to be a manufacturing flaw or all of the triodes died at the same time and did not cook the cathode resistors... 

 

[Nanoframe]

All of them?  That would have to be a manufacturing flaw or all of the triodes died at the same time and did not cook the cathode resistors... 

Yeah that was one of the reasons that were given. The tubes and the rest of the components were perfectly fine.

Well I guess I can rest easy and return to enjoying my music!

 

[moti]

Quote:

Check out EIF (koji@eifl.co.jp). I have always found Koji to be very compettitive & very helpfull.
As far as s

tepdown converters go, Stax has been making it more difficult to change the input voltage by cutting the transformer wires, however it may not be all that difficult to change. The pic shows the two wires of my 006ta where I soldered in the orange & blue wires. It was then only a simple matter of re-jumpering the pc board & changing the fuse.

 
Hi,
this is my first post to head-fi.org. I purchaced 100V SRM-006tA and would like to modify it 240V version, like plinden did above in his excellent post. I already have soldered blue and orange wires to transformer, but it is not clear for me what to do next. I found the following instructions:
 
You need to put a jumper wire between different colors where the + sign is. There are always two different connection per voltage with either two or three different colors.

240v configuration

Gray + Purple
AC power in + Blue

220v configuration

AC power in + Blue
Green + Gray

117v configuration

Blue + Purple + AC power in
White + Gray

100v configuration

AC power in + brown + green
Gray + White
 
Questions:
1. There are no purple wire, is the orange wire -> purple
2. To where to the board or wires should I connect blue and orange wires
3. Should I remove or disconnect any 100V configuration transformer wires
4. Do I need to solder anything to the main board
5. The main fuse is 125V/1,5A. What is the correct value for 240V configuration

 

[Elysian]

Thanks for a fellow HFer, I finally got my hands on a 7xxxx SN MK1.  I like it quite a bit.
 
I keep going between the MK1 and MK2, as I feel the MK1 pulls ahead on some music, while the MK2 on others.  This MK1 has much better bass and impact than I had remembered from other MK1s.  One person mentioned it might be because it's an earlier model than the SZ1 units.  I still need to log more time with this MK1, but it's a great all-rounder, and I hope it lasts as long (housed in an antistatic bag) as vintage Lambdas which are still going strong.  While the MK1 and MK2 headphones are very similar, the differences between the two are readily evident on the BHSE.
 
What I'm not happy about are the headpad and earpads.  If I replace them with the MK2 headpad and earpads, will it compromise the sound?  The old MK1 earpads require some attention to ensure a good seal.