[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

The diaphragm is obviously damaged (an adapter is capable of overdriving it so it starts arcing)
But you can always try to do a return in those cases, and get another one after that. Unless it was advertised as defective in the first place, it should be accepted.
Of if the price was low in the first place, it may worth it for the parts alone.

 
Here's the problem: sold as-is in the description, no return policy. The seller had no adapter to test it with, hence that.
 
The only loophole I can think of is that it was listed as "Used", which in eBay parlance means that it "is fully operational and functions as intended". Were it listed as "For parts or repair", which implies it may not be working as intended (and which I will always do with an imbalanced set), then I'd be totally hosed...
 
Regardless, my questions about the Normal bias Gammas are now answered. Respectable-sounding (if balanced) with a smaller soundstage than the Lambda line, but those shallow earcups and my big ears (pinnae) just do not get along at all.

 

[padam]

Quote:

 
Here's the problem: sold as-is in the description, no return policy. The seller had no adapter to test it with, hence that.
 
The only loophole I can think of is that it was listed as "Used", which in eBay parlance means that it "is fully operational and functions as intended". Were it listed as "For parts or repair", which implies it may not be working as intended (and which I will always do with an imbalanced set), then I'd be totally hosed...
 
Regardless, my questions about the Normal bias Gammas are now answered. Respectable-sounding (if balanced) with a smaller soundstage than the Lambda line, but those shallow earcups and my big ears (pinnae) just do not get along at all.

It should have been advertised as junk/defective if the seller is not sure about whether it works or not.
It happened to me a few times but in every case I managed to do the return and just loose the return shipping on it so one shouldn't be afraid of doing that.
When they say returns accepted that means you can even do that if it is fully working and you simply don't like it, changed your mind etc.

 

[milosz]

Polishing pins:
 
On fancy gear, or any gold-plated connectors / pins with surfaces that are not terribly pitted or scored, I like to use a Dremel rotary tool with a WOOL FELT BUFF.   Don't use too many RPM or too much pressure, you don't want to burn the felt. Burned felt is CARBON, which is too abrasive.
 
 

http://www.amazon.com/TEMO-POLISHING-ROTARY-BURRS-DREMEL/dp/B004H46PWW/ref=pd_cp_hi_1
 
I don't use any abrasive - no polish or etc - when polishing gold plated stuff.
 
If the connector is tinned and not gold plated, or is steel and not plated, I like to use a little Mother's "Billet" metal polish on the felt point. Or, for more cutting power, some jeweler's rouge (don't use very much!)  If corrosion is really serious,  I'll use a rubber polishing point.  The rubber has some light abrasive embedded in it.
 
This is a rubber polishing point, though it looks a little like a grinding stone it is indeed rubber.
It's not as abrasive as it looks, though it is more abrasive than felt or cotton.

http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-463-Rubber-Polishing-Point/dp/B00004UDHR/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_img_z
 
The rubber polishing points have rather fine tips that come in handy in various small spaces.
 
I've drilled a very fine hole in the dead center of  one rubber polishing bit, this can be used to  polish crusty 9 pin tube pins by fitting the pins one by one into the hole and running the Dremel at low RPM.  One has to be careful with this- you don't want the spinning tool to grab the tube and hurl it into low earth orbit....

 

[jjinh]

polishing pins?? okay.....

 

[DefQon]

Some de-oxit and abrasive paper would do.

 

[milosz]

Quote:

polishing pins?? okay.....

Some old tubes get really nasty crusty pins, this is noisy in phono preamp circuits and so on.
 
For example- a stock Telefunken 12AX7 tube sitting in a damp basement for 50 years stuck in the cheap socket of a Dynaco preamp  can have junk from the tube socket contacts actually corrode itself onto the tube's steel pins.  A Telefunken 12AX7 is worth about $30~40 these days, it's worth cleaning up if you come across one with gunked-up pins

 

[milosz]

Quote:

Some de-oxit and abrasive paper would do.

Not a good idea to use abrasives on gold plated surfaces.
 
A little strip of fine emery cloth and a bit of De-Ox-It is fine for the steel pins of a tube, but with my Dremel and the rubber polishing bit with the hole, I can quickly clean up a whole bunch of tubes when I come across some old relic from a basement or garage find.  Lot of good tubes in old audio gear moldering away in basements.
 
Some rotten old Packard-Bell "Hi Fi" console from 1958 might not be a good restoration project, but stuff like that contains useful tubes.

 

[DefQon]

Well obviously you wouldn't want to use on gold plated surfaces - common sense really. I'm talking about cack/rust build-up on the normal Stax tip's esp those from vintage models.

 

[oogabooga]

Quote:

 
First off, don't use epoxy, nasty stuff and it's way too liquid.  Use polyurethane, that's what Stax used and what most ESL builders use as well. 
 
Now for the bad part, your plan involves adding another layer of glue on top of one already there and that messes with the D/S gap on one side of the driver and thus knocks it out of balance.  Distortion rises pretty quickly when doing that but you might be lucky and pull it off with a tiny amount of glue. 
 
For the pins, just get something like Brasso and polish them. 

 
 
 
I looked more closely and didn't see very much glue between the stator ring and diaphragm ring. Instead, there is quite a bit of glue at about four points around the sides of the diaphragm/stator rings, and I could see how this glue had separated from the stator ring.
Two tiny bits of this glue had bent in such a way that they were between the diaphragm and stator rings; I carefully pushed them out of the way. Now, the diaphragm and stator sit perfectly against each other, with no visible gap.
 
I clamped the back stator to the rest of the assembly and made sure everything was flush. Then I 'painted' a thin layer of Gorilla Glue around the sides, and left it clamped overnight. Later today I will put the drivers back in the cups and listen!
 

 

[edstrelow]

Quote:

Jay, you know how discussions about cables always end.
Its like having a pro lifer trying to convert a prochoice to their point of view.
Or an amicable conversation between a capitalist and a communist.
It's just that is not going to end well.

They end badly if the person with the biggest axe to grind tells the other person he didn't hear what he said he did.  Usually that's the anti-cable, "everything sounds the same lobby."  For some headphones nothing much is going to change the sound but with most Stax just about everything you do will affect the sound.
 
I am interested in the results of serious listening and serious measurement and will apply whatever caveats to such results that I feel are needed.

 

[edstrelow]

Quote:

 
Here's the problem: sold as-is in the description, no return policy. The seller had no adapter to test it with, hence that.
 
The only loophole I can think of is that it was listed as "Used", which in eBay parlance means that it "is fully operational and functions as intended". Were it listed as "For parts or repair", which implies it may not be working as intended (and which I will always do with an imbalanced set), then I'd be totally hosed...
 
Regardless, my questions about the Normal bias Gammas are now answered. Respectable-sounding (if balanced) with a smaller soundstage than the Lambda line, but those shallow earcups and my big ears (pinnae) just do not get along at all.

 That "no adapter or no amp" excuse is just a cop-out.  I would consider it a total crap-shoot as to whether the phones work when sold that way.
Quote:

 
 
 
I looked more closely and didn't see very much glue between the stator ring and diaphragm ring. Instead, there is quite a bit of glue at about four points around the sides of the diaphragm/stator rings, and I could see how this glue had separated from the stator ring.
Two tiny bits of this glue had bent in such a way that they were between the diaphragm and stator rings; I carefully pushed them out of the way. Now, the diaphragm and stator sit perfectly against each other, with no visible gap.
 
I clamped the back stator to the rest of the assembly and made sure everything was flush. Then I 'painted' a thin layer of Gorilla Glue around the sides, and left it clamped overnight. Later today I will put the drivers back in the cups and listen!
 

 Good luck let us know how this works.
Quote:

 
I have the mk1s. For me I'd say it's borderline whether it goes in your ear canal or not - they pretty much sit on the edge and seal them off.

 I don't know about the new tips but on the older phones, I preferred the smaller tips initially because the large ones made the sound too bassy.  However the large ones were more comfortable and I realized that you can adjust the bass by breaking the seal with a small rotation of the driver unit if needed.

 

[oogabooga]

Quote:

I noticed a problem today with my Stax SR-303. Whenever very low bass notes/tones play, I hear a very loud rattle unless I press the earspeakers against my head. It's so loud that I can hear it without placing the headphones fully on my head. What is going on?
 
I am freaking out right now. My AKG K167 broke literally yesterday, I can't handle my only remaining headphone having obnoxious problems like this.

 
So when I opened up a pair of Lambda-Pros recently, I noticed one driver had separated from its baffle. I used double-sided tape to reattach the driver to the baffle. It's odd that your rattle is taking place in BOTH ears, but it's possible that both drivers have become separated from their baffles. If, on the other hand, the drivers have come apart internally (as it did with me a few posts back), you'll have a big repair on your hands.
 
 
On most Lambdas, going from your ear outwards, you have the earpad, foam or cloth cover (usually part of the earpad), baffle, driver, more foam, and the back grille. The earpad and driver are stuck either side of the baffle with double-sided tape, while the baffle is screwed to the back grille (the screws are on each corner of the earcup; gently lift the corners of the earpad to access the screws).  Complicating matters slightly is the cable, which slots into a notch on the bottom of the back grille. The cable is soldered to the driver, so never pull on it.
 
 
You could try the following, but I would wait to see the advice of others first, as I am not an expert:
To open the earcup, unplug the headphones from the amp, undo all four screws and then gently remove the back grill, making sure you don't strain the cable in any way. The driver should be stuck firmly to the baffle. If not, you will need to re-adhere it using double-sided tape. Try to clean off as much of the old sticky tape as possible, using a plastic edge, like a credit card. No water, liquids, etc. Also, when 'scraping', always scrape outwards, so that none of the junk you scrape off has a chance to get on the driver. Then apply double-sided tape to the edge of the driver (see my next post) reposition it, and put everything back together.

 

[oogabooga]

Good news about my Lambda Pro driver restoration!
 
Before reattaching the newly-glued driver to its baffle, I compared the thickness of both drivers using a micrometer. The driver I re-glued was 10.74 mm in thickness, while the other, undamaged driver was about 10.69 mm in thickness (both numbers are an average of measurements at three different points around the edge of the driver). The 0.05 mm difference is more likely due to measurement error than anything else, as there was still a small amount of tape residue on the front edge of the drivers, etc. It would appear that by gluing around the edge I didn't change the D/S gap enough to affect the sound (and I do not hear any channel imbalance or distortion).
 
I then used some Hercules Tap (1/8" thick double-sided tape, $2.50/roll) around the front edge of the driver. The tape doesn't really curve so you have to cut it in segments (after taking the photo below I still had to do a bit of trimming of excess tape). The tape is quite tacky but you can still reposition the driver if you don't apply too much force. After centring the drivers, I used a couple of thick paperback books (nothing too heavy!) to help the tape set.
 
 
 
 
I put everything back together and it sounds great. No channel imbalance or distortion I can hear of, and incredibly detailed! The Lambda Pros are currently going head-to-head with my 404LEs - they are sonically different, but both very enjoyable!

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

I put everything back together and it sounds great. No channel imbalance or distortion I can hear of, and incredibly detailed! The Lambda Pros are currently going head-to-head with my 404LEs - they are sonically different, but both very enjoyable!

 
*thumbs up!*

 

[jjinh]

Quote:

Some old tubes get really nasty crusty pins, this is noisy in phono preamp circuits and so on.
 
For example- a stock Telefunken 12AX7 tube sitting in a damp basement for 50 years stuck in the cheap socket of a Dynaco preamp  can have junk from the tube socket contacts actually corrode itself onto the tube's steel pins.  A Telefunken 12AX7 is worth about $30~40 these days, it's worth cleaning up if you come across one with gunked-up pins

 
Werent you talking about stax connector pins, not vacuum tubes or valves - that's definitely what I was talking about.
 
I dont have crusty pins on my Stax. Looking at a pair of them right now they do not appear to be dire need of a polish using a dremel tool, or re-plating for that matter. I think I'll leave them alone.