Craig Sawyers

ESP-9's turned up. Both headphones and energizer are in great shape. There is only one mains transformer, mounted on the rear panel, and orthogonal to both signal transformers. I have no idea how that is wired up to the voltage multipliers, but it seems to power up fine though and the headphones do not make any untoward noises - with no signal as yet. Common ground on the inputs. Zener strings are 4 x 180V, so it looks like the bias voltage is ~700V. Looks like a good UKP62's worth for a bit of fun, and possibly some half way decent sound quality. Expect I'll have to open the backs of the phones to check for dreaded sponge degradation at least though.

What you been drinking Knucks? - I want some now, right now

I'm actually in shock. Jacob quit? WTF.

I worked as part of a project team that was part Finnish around 5 years ago. Whenever I talked to Mikko on the phone, he was just like this guy - dour and slightly depressing. Now I had worked with Finns many times in the past and I knew that was just the way it is - partly language, partly living in a country where it is dark and minus at lot for a fair chunk of the year, and partly just the way Finns are. But I eventually said to Mikko "Mikko - are you always this miserable?" to which he came back (imagine in the voice of the VHS guy) "Oh - I am known as the cheerful one". So dour for sure, but a keen sense of humour.

I didn't spray the entire board, but I used a conformal pen to specifically insulate the high voltage pads that face upwards (ie though the ventilation holes in the top plate. I've used conformal spray on boards that will or might be working in a damp environment - like wet level damp. It is common on mil spec stuff for that reason.

Ah - thanks for the heads up. With something of that vintage I'll be looking carefully at the rats nest before I even turn it on, particularly dried out electrolytics and the such. It has apparently shipped, so will soon see what I've taken on. Just restored a pair of PRO4AA's. They were in fact the first headphone type I ever bought back in 1974; I recalled they were pretty good so I picked up a cheap pair on eBay. Fairly good condition all said. Foam damping in the cups was dust, so have used a chunk of speaker damping in each after cleaning out the cups. Dried out hardened fluid pads which I've replaced with Brainwavz (bit of a struggle, but I wasn't taking no for an answer). Then the cable that goes through the headband went intermittent - so I've spend a fun hour or two replacing that. Not perfect in sound quality by a stretch. Excellent bass extension, but evidence of a midrange hump and recessed treble. That was in a shootout with (old) Beyer DT990 and AKG K701 both owned since new. All in all I rather prefer the DT990 in terms of overall balance - the K701 is just too bright, kind of the opposite problem of the PRO4AA. But all in all, given the date I bought my original pair and what else was on the market at that time, I think I chose wisely with the old PRO4AA.

Yes indeed - a sad day. He almost singlehandedly reinvented football/soccer in the early/mid '70s. RIP Johan

Well, I did win for UKP62 - or about $90. It has a pair of Koss replacement ear pads, so I'll get a chance to see how bad the foam filled ones are. I've already ordered Brainwavz ones (in black!) for a venerable old pair of PRO-4AA's which they apparently also fit. The original fluid filled ones were as hard as a rock and of course empty.

Nice to see you on head-case Per Anders - you are doing a fine thing for affordable DIY audio modules.

Quite a guy - RIP Grove.

I have two stacked 4 channel power amps (self build - but think in terms of two Emotiva XPA5 in size and power). Damned cat has taken to sleeping on top because it is warm. Took lid off to find the inside covered in a thick layer of ginger cat fur. Hoovered it out as a precaution, but the amps hadn't missed a beat even with a mat of cat on the circuit boards.

Woah - good luck!

I'm in the UK - and maybe it is not as humid as Florida, say, but for a decent part of the year we are close to the triple point of water. No problems with any electronics I have had ever. Including BH (non-SE) and T2. Outside currently 10C and 67%RH

OK - I totally understand that! The founder of Oxford Instruments, Sir Martin Wood used his mechanical watch (no idea which one it was) to find where the 1000 Gauss contours of a magnet were. At that field the second hand would stall. So whereas the test lab would use technology to measure the 1000 Gauss stray field Martin would just use his watch.

Digital Deck Covers *is* in the US

Understood Shelly. Did you see my earlier post about Digital Deck Covers? Quilted black looks good (that is what I bought for my Thorens record deck), but you can have a range of colours and any custom size you specify..

I'm not a watch buff, but used to work at Oxford Instruments, where one of our product lines were superconducting magnets. 15,000 Gauss in new money is 1.5 Tesla, which is the fringe field of an exceptionally serious magnet. It is more than enough to erase every credit card in your wallet (got the badge on that several times). It is also the centre field in many MRI scanners. So unless you work in an advanced physics lab or particle accelerator, or want to tell the time while you are having an MRI scan.... I've read about the technology that is in there, and the use of advanced materials, and and exceptional it is too - I just don't see the point in everyday life. But hey - I've spent shed loads of money an audio gear over the years, which is just as nutty an obsession in pursuit of perfection!

Have a great day Al

Probably a daft question Shelly - but why not put the BHSE on the top shelf? Just looked at custom plastic covers (like for a record deck) - less expensive than I thought they would be. http://www.sora-shop.com/Customized-Products/Custom-Turntable-Cover.html put in 50cm x 40cm x 20cm with no base just for laughs and got 56 Euro - or about $65. I'm not suggesting for one instant that you buy in Europe and ship to the US - but there must be similar outfits locally that do the same sort of thing for not much money.

There is a possibility that PRO4AA pads fit the ESP6 - apparently they do for the ESP9. Dirt cheap from Koss https://www.koss.com/accessories/cushions/pro4aa-ear-cushion . Just seen a pair of ESP9's on UK eBay that I might well spring for.

I used these guys for a dust cover for my deck https://www.digitaldeckcovers.com/ and very nice it is too

Just dipping into this particular thread for the first time. I can listen to the SR007 and old normal bias Lambda's (1986) side by side, because I have the T2-klone set up with high bias and normal bias sockets. Much to my surprise, I actually prefer the old Lambdas to the SR007. Much to my financial puzzlement too given how much I paid for the 007's - but there it is. Way way back (late 70's) I had a pair of Koss ESP6, which was my introduction to electrostatic phones. Sounded great, but you needed perseverance - they weighed a ton (given the transformer and voltage multiplier in each cup, and the substantial construction) and it was like having your head in a vice.

I've also taken to oven cooking bacon, pretty recently. Very shallow tray with grease proof paper, fan oven on 200C for 15 to 20 minutes. Yummy.