[Uncle Erik]

Lunatique, some will disagree with me on this, but I don't go after the rare, NOS tubes or high-end new ones. Tubes are a wear item. Therefore, I don't go nuts on something that eventually has to be thrown away. Maybe you can gain a little bit from a special tube, but I find that the circuit is more important than the tubes or individual components.

Even the rarest and most desirable NOS tubes will not make a bad circuit sound good. Neither will the most futzy capacitors and resistors. A good circuit with average tubes will sound better than a bad circuit with the finest parts.

I only buy and build amps that have newly manufactured tubes that are reasonable, or good supplies of NOS tubes that aren't priced into the stratosphere. I can retune my Zana for $50-$60, which is entirely reasonable. I've already put aside stocks of tubes for the next 40-50 years, as well.

The prices were good, so I loaded up. Nothing fancy, but they work and sound fine.

Keep in mind that all parts wear out eventually. If you go to Mouser or Digikey, you'll find the MTBF (mean time before failure) for everything. Even if you're running solid state, the caps and resistors will fail eventually. Failure isn't necessary an explosion of sparks or a fire. Usually, something like a resistor will change from (for example) 100 Ohms to 175 Ohms. The amp will still "work," and the change will happen slowly enough for you not to notice it, but a resistor that does that is out of spec, has failed, and should be replaced. Capacitors do the same thing.

So if you run a solid state amp long enough, you're going to have to replace parts in it. Same with a tube amp. The benefit of tubes is that the circuits are generally simpler than solid state and some of them are built point-to-point. Replacing parts in a point-to-point amp is much simpler than desoldering a PCB, which is easily damaged.

This is why I've gone with tubes, mostly point-to-point, in my gear. I'm more or less done buying equipment and happy with what I have. I intend to maintain it for the rest of my life, then have some very nice vintage stuff to pass on.

 

[forbigger]

warm up for tube takes 5 mins to reach operating temp. Thats it. And you still start listen for as soon as you turn on your amp. A set of 4 EL34 output tubes for BHSE costs around $100-150 which like i mentioned above should lasts you at least 2 years.
 
Dust cover is just a cover for the headphone specifically made by Stax for their headphones. Its like a plastic bag to cover your O2/Lambda while you hang it on the headphone stand. There's saying that stats stator is sensitive towards dust and humidity. So far I've never had a problems. I live in 70-80% humidity country and my house is full of dust.....Guess just need to cross my fingers

 

[Maxvla]

I'm with Erik on the tube quality. All 6 tubes for my amp would cost me about $30 total.

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

I don't get the dust cover thing--is this specific to electrostat headphones? I suppose the more delicate drivers need that level of protection from dust accumulation, and dynamics don't?  
 
 

I don't think you want dust on electrostatic speakers either. The speakers can be cleaned I think with a vacuum, but you cannot use that on the headphones. No wet hair either. Dynamic drivers really aren't sensitive to dust. Assuming they're handled properly, Stax phones should outlast most dynamics. The dust cover thing is so cheap and easy though, why not make sure they are safe?
 

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

So if you run a solid state amp long enough, you're going to have to replace parts in it. Same with a tube amp. The benefit of tubes is that the circuits are generally simpler than solid state and some of them are built point-to-point. 

It's not exactly the same thing. That's like saying that a DLP rear projection that needs a new arc lamp every two years is the same as a plasma, because the parts in both will wear out. Arc lamps were around $100-150, and a good plasma should last 20 years. So the DLP rear pro owner has to spend $1000-1500 on new lamps, while the plasma owner has to spend nothing. A good SS amp should have 15-20 years of life without the owner ever having to open the case.
 
20 years from now I'm just gonna buy a new SS amp. I'm sure Mr. Gilmore will have cooked up something better than the KGSS-HV by then.

 

[Lunatique]

I'll have to listen to a tube amp one of these days and hear it for myself it I like them more than SS. It won't be something I'll go out of my way to do though, since I live in a crappy city and there are no meets around here, and flying international to meets to listen to gear where people are talking in the background doesn't sound ideal either. I doubt there are any serious head-fiers anywhere near where I live where I can pop on over for a nice afternoon of gear testing.
 
Quote:

I don't think you want dust on electrostatic speakers either. The speakers can be cleaned I think with a vacuum, but you cannot use that on the headphones. No wet hair either. Dynamic drivers really aren't sensitive to dust. Assuming they're handled properly, Stax phones should outlast most dynamics. The dust cover thing is so cheap and easy though, why not make sure they are safe?
 

I've seen photos of the Stax plastic cover, and it looks simple enough where I can just make one myself out of fabric or a large ziplock bag or something. Or is it more involved than that--some kind of anti-static material used?
 

 

[n3rdling]

Just use a grocery bag or something.  Unless your house is really dusty I don't think it's a necessity to have the phones covered when not in use.  Doesn't hurt is all.

 

[Michgelsen]

No, it's just a plastic bag in the right shape and size, but you can use any plastic bag. It's for a little extra protection against dust. The headphones will attract some dust when they're charged, but only a small part of the airborne dust. Stax headphones have good internal dust covers. Storing them in a plastic bag is therefore not absolutely necessary, but it can't hurt and might help. Other electrostats, such as the Koss ESP-950 or the Sennheiser HE60, do not have good internal dust covers and require more care. Staxen are more robust.