[spekkio]

Start by putting one part of the fold into the gap, and then use a thin ruler / hard card thing to push the rest of the material inside, while making sure the fold you originally put in stays in place (try using tape to hold it down). 

 

[deadlylover]

I like to stretch the material past the gap and let the tension 'pull' it back into the gap, working your way around.

 

[rgs9200m]

 
Quote:

 
 
I know my Quad ESL-57's take a long time to charge up.
 
The diaphragms are coated with a material that, while conductive, has quite a high resistance.  (Meg-ohms per inch if I recall...)  You figure your RC time constant to reach full charge- yeah it's gonna take a while.  
 
The idea is you don't want the charge to easily move around on the diaphragm. I think if the charge were free to move quickly around,  when the diaphragm is pulled towards one stator or the other, all the charge would migrate to the center of the diaphragm 'cause it's marginally closer to the stator. The diaphragm stretches into a somewhat curved or domed shape at full excursion, with the center of the diaphragm slightly closer to the stator than the outer edge.  You'd get a weird nonlinear response if you had the charge moving around freely on the diaphragm, and arcing might happen a bit more readily too.
 
 

 
Hey, nice speakers, I heard the ESL-57s at the NY audio show 2 weeks ago and I posted here and other places that these mid-century speakers were best of show.

 

[rgs9200m]

And, yep, the 009s really shine with the EMM XDS1 cdp, so, sure, the source is all-important.
The chain of Shunyata Triton --> EMM XDS1 cdp --> 007t/ii amp --> 009s just does it all for me.
I don't even think much about listening to speakers, it's so addictive.

 

[Il Mostro]

 
Quote:

 
 
Hey, nice speakers, I heard the ESL-57s at the NY audio show 2 weeks ago and I posted here and other places that these mid-century speakers were best of show.

 
I have always thought that the 57's delivered mids better than any speaker I have ever heard -- a properly re-built pair of these are the perfect focal point of a smaller, limited LF system.  I have always wondered how they would scale up if stacked, as is fairly common with the 63's.

 

[akwok]

Got the SR-009 today.  After a preliminary listening session, I'm pretty sure it's the best headphone I've ever owned -- it reminds me a LOT of the original SR-Omega, which was my previous benchmark.
 
I guess it's time to sell off the HD800 and the SR-007 since the SR-009 has single-handedly made both of them redundant!

 

[spritzer]

I find the "this amp works best for that" quite funny since it's all based on what, meet impressions?  For most of us these are just a novelty and utterly useless for any real comparison.  You have to live with any piece of gear for an extended period of time before you can fully grasp its character.  Hence claims of magical "burn in" and other such nonsense. 
 
Now my views on the A-10 and WES should be clear to most but as a counter point I'm also not happy with the 009 in some ways.  Still I'd never pay 5k$ for a set of headphones and try to kill the resolution they offer in that way.  Makes so sense and you'd be better off with a Lambda if that's the aim.  To the same extent I don't get the argument that the 007 should not be used with anything short of the KGSS.  Sure, they just flat out suck on some sorry examples of the breed but some "lesser amps" might surprise you.  Right now I'm listening to a new amp I designed with Kevin (codename Baldur, a spin off of the GES/Aristaeus basic design but with super cheap tubes) and I have zero urge to turn on the fully loaded KGSSHV sitting underneath it. 

 
Quote:

Thanks.. Wonder when Another run will be made.... I will want to get a unit from them..!!! Thanks for info... great help.! Hope Spritzer or Justin can inform me when they next have some units available..!! Cheers. to all Staxians on this blog...

 
I'm sure Justin will never make these boards again since the KGSS has been discontinued.  He offered them as upgrades for people who believed that the headphones were warming up with use when it's naturally the amplifier which is heating up and thus running on correct spec.  The charge effect is very real but isn't a problem with normal usage and it's fine to discharge the phones when you unplug them. 
 
As for my boards, they were intended for use in the SRD-7 boxes to upgrade the normal bias only units to probias.  They will work in stand alone boxes like that too when fed from a transformer (for the virtual ground).  I always try to have some of these around so people can contact me if they need them. 
 
Quote:

I like to stretch the material past the gap and let the tension 'pull' it back into the gap, working your way around.

 
That's how I do it. 
 

 

[schorsch]

Well the esta are not as popular as the f-81 for example and they were not that expensive when they out freshly. They really need a subwoofer!
 
REgards Georg

 

[purrin]

 
Quote:

To the same extent I don't get the argument that the 007 should not be used with anything short of the KGSS.  Sure, they just flat out suck on some sorry examples of the breed but some "lesser amps" might surprise you.  Right now I'm listening to a new amp I designed with Kevin (codename Baldur, a spin off of the GES/Aristaeus basic design but with super cheap tubes) and I have zero urge to turn on the fully loaded KGSSHV sitting underneath it. 

 
So why are the Baldur and Aristaeus (had the opportunity to hear one a few weeks ago) quite good, the SRM323 mediocre, and the Woo GES quite sucky in regards to the pairing with 007? A serious question here - not trying to be a smart-ass.

 

[Maxvla]

Quote:

Woo is pretty good.  Jack Wu is well-reputed around these forums as an excellent communicator.

Except when he ignores direct questions. Twice.

 

[milosz]

 
Quote:

 
 
I have always thought that the 57's delivered mids better than any speaker I have ever heard -- a properly re-built pair of these are the perfect focal point of a smaller, limited LF system.  I have always wondered how they would scale up if stacked, as is fairly common with the 63's.

 
Wayne Piquet, of Quads Unlimited  rebuilds Quads, gives advice on Quads, rebuilds panels, makes replacement multiplier diode ladder boards for the high voltage supply, and makes a very good zener clamp board which can protect your Quads from too much power.  He has done a LOT of stacked Quads, see his photos http://quadsunlimited.us/#/photo-gallery/4534267353  - he's a great guy, provides great service and tips.  I had my treble panels rebuilt by him.
 
A stacked Quad will play louder and go deeper, but becomes even more directional in the highs.
 
In my pretty small room, with the Quads well out from the back wall, they produce great bass really, except nothing below 40~45 Hz and no real "wallops" of bass dynamics.  Still, the bass is SO TAUT and CONTROLLED- you just end up wanting every speaker to have that KIND of bass, but MORE of it!  The treble is not quite state of the art- there's something not quite "open" about it, and I prefer the treble from my Magneplanar MG 3.6's  ribbon tweeters.  The upper bass / lower mids have such great detail and body, and a kind of perfection in that register- there's no other speaker I've ever heard that bests them in this region. The other parts of the audio spectrum are very good too, so really this is just a speaker that is really special - within it's limits. It's just that after listening to Quad ESL-57's you want MORE of their sound but they really can only produce just so much and no more.
 
I've never heard stacked Quads.  Here's what some look like, a very pretty triple-stack from Quads Unlimited:
 

 
Here's my "small room" setup. This was shot through the door into the room. The listening position is to the right, the small sofa, hidden from view,  is placed where the small rug ends along the right.
 I usually use a Forte 4A amp, or a Harmon Kardon Citation 2 driven directly off an Audio-Gd NFB-2 DAC.
The small TV is used so I can read on-screen menus from a Sony DVD / SACD player.

 
 

 

[di_andrei]

 
Quote:

Start by putting one part of the fold into the gap, and then use a thin ruler / hard card thing to push the rest of the material inside, while making sure the fold you originally put in stays in place (try using tape to hold it down). 

 

Thanks, ended up using a business card, worked reasonably well.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

 
 
So why are the Baldur and Aristaeus (had the opportunity to hear one a few weeks ago) quite good, the SRM323 mediocre, and the Woo GES quite sucky in regards to the pairing with 007? A serious question here - not trying to be a smart-ass.

 
The SRM-323 is hamstrung by how much it costs to make and it's price bracket so only small heatsinks for the output devices and thus limited current.  It is a remarkable amp for the low price of 800$ and I can't think of any fully balanced amps for dynamics which come close to it in quality.  It's not perfect but still the best Stax amp one can buy for anywhere close to 1k$ new. 
 
The Baldur, Aristaeus, HEV90 and GES all share a very similar circuit layout.  They are different but in broad strokes they are all very similar.  Any reason a GES would sound drastically different from an Aristaeus is that something was wrong with the GES.  It's also not the best idea in the world to use 12BZ7's in this circuit as they are similar but not the same.  I liked both of the GES amps I've heard but Woo have a tendency to mess up any circuit they touch with "improvements".  The 6S4A used in the GES is certainly the best output tube of the lot so the amp should be very good. 

 

[rgs9200m]

 
Quote:

I find the "this amp works best for that" quite funny since it's all based on what, meet impressions?  For most of us these are just a novelty and utterly useless for any real comparison.  You have to live with any piece of gear for an extended period of time before you can fully grasp its character.  Hence claims of magical "burn in" and other such nonsense. 
 

I've lived with the 009/007t-II  for about 3 weeks now and listened almost every day and all of my huge enthusiasm for this combo comes from that.
Though you are absolutely correct that any comparison to other stat amps was at a show with a completely different system, so any impressions should be taken with a grain of salt and are not reliable.
But all I know is that the 007t-II/009 is something I could live with permanently, extremely natural, with great bass, mids, highs, vocals, pacing and lack of fatigue and hard to put down.

 

[Il Mostro]

 
Quote:

 
 
Wayne Piquet, of Quads Unlimited  rebuilds Quads, gives advice on Quads, rebuilds panels, makes replacement multiplier diode ladder boards for the high voltage supply, and makes a very good zener clamp board which can protect your Quads from too much power.  He has done a LOT of stacked Quads, see his photos http://quadsunlimited.us/#/photo-gallery/4534267353  - he's a great guy, provides great service and tips.  I had my treble panels rebuilt by him.
 
A stacked Quad will play louder and go deeper, but becomes even more directional in the highs.
 
In my pretty small room, with the Quads well out from the back wall, they produce great bass really, except nothing below 40~45 Hz and no real "wallops" of bass dynamics.  Still, the bass is SO TAUT and CONTROLLED- you just end up wanting every speaker to have that KIND of bass, but MORE of it!  The treble is not quite state of the art- there's something not quite "open" about it, and I prefer the treble from my Magneplanar MG 3.6's  ribbon tweeters.  The upper bass / lower mids have such great detail and body, and a kind of perfection in that register- there's no other speaker I've ever heard that bests them in this region. The other parts of the audio spectrum are very good too, so really this is just a speaker that is really special - within it's limits. It's just that after listening to Quad ESL-57's you want MORE of their sound but they really can only produce just so much and no more.
 
I've never heard stacked Quads.  Here's what some look like, a very pretty triple-stack from Quads Unlimited:
 

 
Here's my "small room" setup. This was shot through the door into the room. The listening position is to the right, the small sofa, hidden from view,  is placed where the small rug ends along the right.
 I usually use a Forte 4A amp, or a Harmon Kardon Citation 2 driven directly off an Audio-Gd NFB-2 DAC.
The small TV is used so I can read on-screen menus from a Sony DVD / SACD player.

 
 

 
 
Nice set up. You really hit the nail on the head with the bolded portion of the quote.  Clever use of the TV, too.