The Stax thread (New)

[complin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak /img/forum/go_quote.gif You know he receives a few hundred emails a day. I can't blame him for not answering an email about a product he has never officially announced on the top of his to do list, especially considering how busy he is with Pico orders and the BHSE.

That may be so, but he does not even answer emails about things he is building! I sent him an email a month ago and still no reply................

 

[facelvega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-Pak /img/forum/go_quote.gif You know he receives a few hundred emails a day.

That would mean at least 50 emails per amp sold, and probably more like 100. I seriously doubt he receives more than a couple dozen business-related emails on a busy day. Still, personal responses to a couple of dozen emails would mean at least one full unpaid hour of work per day, including weekends. Kind of a pain for a one-man operation.

 

[complin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by facelvega /img/forum/go_quote.gif That would mean at least 50 emails per amp sold, and probably more like 100. I seriously doubt he receives more than a couple dozen business-related emails on a busy day. Still, personal responses to a couple of dozen emails would mean at least one full unpaid hour of work per day, including weekends. Kind of a pain for a one-man operation.

Yes I agree, but the irony of it is i'm trying to buy one of his products and potentially spend several thousand dollars with the guy. To be honest its really turning me off making any purchase, so what happens in future if i have a problem? Its really, really painful

 

[Lornecherry]

I emailed him a month ago about ordering a KGBH Special Edition ...which I assume, is several thousand dollars. Never got a reply.
If he's that busy, then he needs to hire and assistant ...it is after all, a business.

 

[complin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lornecherry /img/forum/go_quote.gif I emailed him a month ago about ordering a KGBH Special Edition ...which I assume, is several thousand dollars. Never got a reply. If he's that busy, then he needs to hire and assistant ...it is after all, a business.

At least I know its not just me then..........

 

[Voltron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lornecherry /img/forum/go_quote.gif I emailed him a month ago about ordering a KGBH Special Edition ...which I assume, is several thousand dollars. Never got a reply. If he's that busy, then he needs to hire and assistant ...it is after all, a business.

Quote:

Originally Posted by complin /img/forum/go_quote.gif At least I know its not just me then..........

The current run of KGBH SE was sold out as of a month ago, so I'm not sure what he could do to appease you. Another will not be made for some time. In general, Justin is suffering from the success of the Pico because he spends hours and hours a day just trying to build, test, and ship them all, plus get out other orders, plus deal with correspondence, plus attempting to have a life. You don't have to sympathize with him but in my opinion you should either accept the limitations of a one-man shop or go elsewhere for your gear.

 

[Voltron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi. I have been discussing buying a GES with Jack via emails this month. Jack just did some upgrades to my WA6 that sound wonderful, as I just got it back a couple of days ago. Now I am trying to justify NOT doing the max upgrades on a GES, to make it more affordable, while at the same time spending money to make the WA6 better. Doh! It sure would be helpful if I was able to demo/review the prototype GES that you have. I realize that could get complicated pretty easily. Could you at least verify with Jack whether it is a basic model or upgraded? If it is the basic model and you like it so much, then I would feel better about ordering the basic model for my HE60 (stax plug) and SR-Lambda Sigs. Thanks!

This model was characterized by Jack as the prototype that is not even up the level of the current stock production model. I am certain it is not the upgraded model he is currently offering.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiod /img/forum/go_quote.gif Birgir, What are your thoughts on the Woo GES design? When the amp first came out I was going to order it, but after all the negative comments that it used a older Kevin Gilmore design that Kevin stated was bettered by the KGSS I changed my mind. Kevin said that the design had tubby bass and rolled off highs as compared to the KGSS. I certainly don’t want tubby bass and rolled off highs on the SR-007’s. It also has NINE coupling caps, per channel, in the signal path (that can’t be good). Have you heard it? The GES chassis design and layout look very nice. I’m extremely happy driving my O2 & O2mk2 with my SRM-717.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've never heard it but I've nearly pulled the trigger quite a few times. The only thing that held me back were all those caps and the cost of replacing them with some nice Mundorfs and that the amp uses ECC83's which are more trouble then they are worth. A fully upgraded GES is well in the range of a DIY Blue Hawaii but it is very well built and the mods the Woo did to the PSU might give it better handling of the SR-007.

I had heard rumors of the type you mention, audiod, but when I posed the question elsewhere as to whether the GES was somehow a poor circuit design or poor in relation to other Gilmore designs, Birgir said there was not truth to that assertion. He mentioned that it does not have the same power as later designs and has a lot of capacitors in the signal path, in his opinion, but that was all.

I have heard it and have listened with a variety of cans. It is a very nice sounding amp and I believe that even the stock production model beats this prototype. The price to performance ratio is very high, especially when considering that the stock GES will drive Stax far better than even the 007tII in my opinion.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I could use a little advice here, please.

I will get my HE60 back this week, and will get to try them with my SRD-7 Pro and a Nuforce Icon 12 watt per channel speaker amp that has gotten high praise on 6moons (I will try this with my Lambda Sigs and SR-003 soon, but I have been ill and without the energy to mess with it lately). I could also consider something like an Almarro A205a Mk2 speaker amp with the SRD-7 Pro, which is still considerably cheaper than a dedicated stat amp like the GES (less than half the cost of a maxed GES). I did not get to spend much time at all with the SRD-7 Pro before I sent the HE60 back to Sennheiser for new drivers, but my brief experience with a Travagans Red 5 wpc amp was promising when compared to the SRM-1 Mk2 Pro (very similar sound). I do not plan to drive speakers at all, only the SRD-7 Pro.

My questions are,

(1) when teamed with a high quality speaker amp, will the SRD-7 Pro be able to replicate the experience of a good stat amp like the GES or KGSS? It seems many people are satisfied with their SR-007 via SRD-7 Pro and a speaker amp.

(2) And, what areas would the SRD-7 Pro with good amp excel or suffer vs a dedicated stat amp - in terms of dynamics, micro-detail, soundstage/headstage, accuracy, coloration and truthfulness?

(3) When compared to my SRM-1 Mk2 Pro (or even an SR-007t or 717), wouldn't the baseline GES (WITHOUT the $650 upgrades to caps) still be a noticeable upgrade in sound quality and driving power?

Thanks!

Larry

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Looks like #3 was answered while I was composing my message above.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltron /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had heard rumors of the type you mention, audiod, but when I posed the question elsewhere as to whether the GES was somehow a poor circuit design or poor in relation to other Gilmore designs, Birgir said there was not truth to that assertion. He mentioned that it does not have the same power as later designs and has a lot of capacitors in the signal path, in his opinion, but that was all. I have heard it and have listened with a variety of cans. It is a very nice sounding amp and I believe that even the stock production model beats this prototype. The price to performance ratio is very high, especially when considering that the stock GES will drive Stax far better than even the 007tII in my opinion.

You will always hear the caps in the signal path but the design is a lot better then the Egmont or the Stax amps. They are also capacitor coupled but Stax uses the excelent Vishay PP caps and it's only the output stage which is CC coupled on the 007t. Since I have one 007t here going through a complete rebuild I'm thinking about installing a quad of 6SA's (same as in the GES) instead of the 6CG7's. Should have interesting results...

 

[complin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltron /img/forum/go_quote.gif The current run of KGBH SE was sold out as of a month ago, so I'm not sure what he could do to appease you. Another will not be made for some time. In general, Justin is suffering from the success of the Pico because he spends hours and hours a day just trying to build, test, and ship them all, plus get out other orders, plus deal with correspondence, plus attempting to have a life. You don't have to sympathize with him but in my opinion you should either accept the limitations of a one-man shop or go elsewhere for your gear.

Isn’t it common courtesy to reply to emails and correspondence?

Especially if you are operating as a business, I appreciate his problems, even an acknowledgement would suffice.
My trail of contact goes back before last Christmas, so its not that I’ve just asked to order something in the last few weeks . I was planning to organise a holiday in America so that I could arrange to pick up my purchase and bring it back with me.

 

[Voltron]

EDIT: Justin has responded to this directly, so no further need for this response.

 

[ktm]

Ok, I've learned something today. I've been thinking about the Gilmore all triode
amp for a while now. Parts look easy to get(unlike some other designs)
and I can handle point to point wiring just fine. But I now figured out why
no one talks about it much. The Woo GES is a new design of the classic
all tube unit. I am at a loss to explain all the extra transformers, but it
must be an improvement over the old design??? Comments?
I believe when Kevin Gilmore said he doesn't listen to his tube amp anymore,
he most likely was talking about the KGSS Vs. All triode, rather than the
BH hybrid. I know the KGSS and BH are better sounding, but the bang for the
buck appeal of the all triode amp looks pretty good.
I have a pair of 404's still in the box waiting for the proper amp.
The prices some of the used amps, or even the srd-7sbmkII
have been waaay over the top in price to buy right now.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ktm /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, I've learned something today. I've been thinking about the Gilmore all triode amp for a while now. Parts look easy to get(unlike some other designs) and I can handle point to point wiring just fine. But I now figured out why no one talks about it much. The Woo GES is a new design of the classic all tube unit. I am at a loss to explain all the extra transformers, but it must be an improvement over the old design??? Comments? I believe when Kevin Gilmore said he doesn't listen to his tube amp anymore, he most likely was talking about the KGSS Vs. All triode, rather than the BH hybrid. I know the KGSS and BH are better sounding, but the bang for the buck appeal of the all triode amp looks pretty good. I have a pair of 404's still in the box waiting for the proper amp. The prices some of the used amps, or even the srd-7sbmkII have been waaay over the top in price to buy right now.

I once compared an internal pic of the GES to the schematic and they are very similar though it's tough to tell as it isn't easy to see all values from a pic. The power supply needed some work so I guess they added a couple of chokes and put in larger caps. They might also be filament transformers so somebody with a GES, open up those covers and take some pics.

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I could use a little advice here, please. I will get my HE60 back this week, and will get to try them with my SRD-7 Pro and a Nuforce Icon 12 watt per channel speaker amp that has gotten high praise on 6moons (I will try this with my Lambda Sigs and SR-003 soon, but I have been ill and without the energy to mess with it lately). Larry

How do you plan on connecting you Icon to your SRD-7 Pro? Mine has banana plugs on the end and so does the Icon speaker cables.