[transient orca]

I just received to LNS, and I have several questions. First of all, there is a crack on the insulation just where the cable connects to the right driver? Is that a big concern? What's the best way to prevent the crack form growing? Second of all, The pivot pins that connect the left driver to the head band is a bit loose. I can partially pull them out of the sockets if I apply force to the plastic arms. The driver is not about to fall off, but I'd still like to know what I can do to remedy it. Finally, I hope the drivers are not too fragile. The ear pads were not correctly placed when i received the headphone, I had to tear them off and reposition them. I might have applied a little pressure to the fabric covered ear side of the drivers. I hope that would not cause any damage to the driver. I am just feeling a little paranoid after dropping $500 on my first pair of Stax.
 
Alas, I cannot test the sound yet since I am still amp-less.

 

[John Buchanan]

TO,
1. the arc to earcase pins should be able to be removed from their corresponding sockets with minimal force. Normal.
2. A split in the cabling is not normal and may require a recabling.
3. The glue holding the pads to the ear cases also became less adhesive on my LNS pair and required a new pair of pads eventually. The fabric is part of the ear pads, not the drivers. Presumably the metal grille under the fabric has not been bent, nor the dust cover been torn. Should be fine.
That leaves the cable as the only likely long term big worry. IMHO, the LNS is a rather nice phone.

 

[transient orca]

Thanks
 
About the pivot pins, they are a bit loose on one side but quite tight on the other driver. About the cable, it's not a huge crack and it's mostly on the plastic reinforcement part of the cable to driver connector. I am planning to wrap the section in electrical tape and perhaps try to put a bit of epoxy glue in and around the crack. It seems that the only place to do recabling is at Yama's. I was thinking about sending it to them and do a full inspection and repair, but I get a feeling that it's going to cost me as much as the headphone.

 

[John Buchanan]

At a guess, $200 including cable supply and fit, but email them and see to get a worst case scenario.

 

[svyr]

Thanks again. I got the new power suppy, but before I could check it, the the SRM-252 stopped turning on with the old one. I must have I must've screwed up the fuse when trying to take it apart before (maybe a bump, or maybe I could've short circuited it when one of the probes slipped (while it was under load)?). Now I've removed the cover as you and WilCox suggested and the fuse is indeed broken (not blown, the wire is broken, but nothing is blackened), so I'll have to replace it before trying the new power supply.
 
BTW, for anyone wondering, the feet seem to be 're-sealable'.
Quote:

you can CAREFULLY measure the high voltages here.
http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/sr252-1.jpg
 
the left one is ground, and the next two are B+ and B-.
 
I believe the electrolytic caps are either rated at 250 or 350 volts.
 
With a suitable bench supply you can raise the input voltage a bit
and meaure the voltage it takes to run the caps at about 85% of max
rated voltage.
 
On previous amps, 13 volts at more than 1 amps would raise the
voltage 10% or more, and the thing definitely sounds better, and
runs a bit hotter.
 
Once you know the suitable voltage you can devise a power supply
to supply that voltage.

 

[reiserFS]

Quick question guys, I recently got hold of my first Stax set and have a question about the amp it comes with:
 

 
So basically the amp says it needs a plug with (+)--(.----(-) polarity, though I only have one here with (+)---.)----(-). Should I get a step down converter to 110v or does this work as well? I'd really appreciate help on this matter.

 

[svyr]

reiserFS,
 
There are at least two threads on the topic: 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/441597/stax-basic-system-power-adaptor-eu#post_5963306
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/210476/srm-252-power-supply
 
Basically - either get a transformer or get a 12v > 0.4A regulated power supply with center negative polarity. (eerrr, center positive polarity is not ok)
 
I may have burnt my SRM-252a with a dodgy power supply very recently (my old wall wart works, but the unit clips (incidentally it may clip because the first psu is dodgy too). I replaced the fuse after connecting the new one, then tried the new one again and it burned another fuse), so the transformer ('voltage converter') might be a larger (not that a bench power supply is small, but wall warts are) and slightly more expensive but safer option?

 

[reiserFS]

Quote:

reiserFS,
 
There are at least two threads on the topic: 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/441597/stax-basic-system-power-adaptor-eu#post_5963306
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/210476/srm-252-power-supply
 
Basically - either get a transformer or get a 12v > 0.4A regulated power supply with center negative polarity. (eerrr, center positive polarity is not ok)
 
I may have burnt my SRM-252a with a dodgy power supply very recently (my old wall wart works, but the unit clips (incidentally it may clip because the first psu is dodgy too). I replaced the fuse after connecting the new one, then tried the new one again and it burned another fuse), so the transformer ('voltage converter') might be a larger (not that a bench power supply is small, but wall warts are) and slightly more expensive but safer option?

Not a slightly chance to get a damn 12v 0.4A regulated power supply here with center negative polarity, not even on the web. I thought that this might happen and bought a 220/230 > 110/120 voltage converter from eBay. Why the heck is it that hard to find a PSU?
 
Edit: Just read that the converter outputs from 100 to 120v, I think I'll be fine!

 

[transient orca]

EXStata builders are hard to come by.

 
I just spent $650 on a SRM-T1S. That is about $150 more than a C series SRM-1/MK2 that I could have bought. I hope I made the right choice.

 

[Lornecherry]

 

I just spent $650 on a SRM-T1S. That is about $150 more than a C series SRM-1/MK2 that I could have bought. I hope I made the right choice.

 
You did. I have two of the T1's and they often run 24/7 without incident. Unless you are willing to go to the big Woo or BHSE at 8 times the price, I suspect there's not much better to drive Lambda's or even 404's.
 
And, should out-grow or even dislike the amp, it will be snapped up instantly on the used market. It is, simply, one of Stax's best designs, provided you are not using it to drive 007's, which require a fair bit more power.

 

[transient orca]

Quote:

At a guess, $200 including cable supply and fit, but email them and see to get a worst case scenario.

Well, I emailed Yamas and there is no reply. What other options do I have if I want to do some serious restoration? I'd really like this $500 investment to last a long while. The crack on the cable insulation is tiny but worrisome nonetheless. I also want to make sure that there is nothing amiss with the drivers and clean up the driver housing a bit. I don't think I can do much myself without detailed pictorial or video guide.

 

[Currawong]

The T1S is a great amp for the Lambdas. It's just a tad on the sweet side of neutral, though it wont deliver tight bass, it will still scale nicely with the quality of your source, especially as it has balanced inputs.  $650 is a good price I reckon.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

The T1S is a great amp for the Lambdas. It's just a tad on the sweet side of neutral, though it wont deliver tight bass, it will still scale nicely with the quality of your source, especially as it has balanced inputs.  $650 is a good price I reckon.

Sherwood gave me a hard time when I compared his T1 to the prototype Woo GES and said the T1 bass was not as tight as the GES, but I did feel the T1 sounded very close to the prototype GES in all other areas.

 

[hifidk]

I really liked my T1S as well. Even O2 sounded decent with the amp but it lacked that last bit of punch in the bass area. I have never tried the amp with lambda but just about everyone in this forum said they sound good out of this amp.
 
Anyway, my amp is now on its way to transient orca

 

[DyBre]

what about the T1S as compared to T1? are they any major differences in sound quality besides the balanced input?