Elephas

Whaddaya mean it's not?! See the label sticker? Alright, if you're gonna be so anal about it... In other news, I finally got a set of allen hex wrenches that has one in 1/16" inch size. I had to buy a whole box set.

Think about Rihanna on SACD! Hi-res Rihanna, wow, that throaty sexy voice would become so vividly real, lightly caressing my ears, I don't think I could stand it, I'll burst!

Yeah, my unit #011 doesn't have the black round rubber pads behind the grill. I hate it when people say "the Omegas" when they're referring to a single O2Mk1, a single O2Mk2, or a single SR-Omega. It should only be said when people are talking about two or more Omegas. Here's a closer look. Someone's thinking of putting Lambda headbands on an SR-Omega!!??! The horror! Blasphemy! C'mon, only real SR-Omega headbands should be installed on an SR-Omega...

I have an SRM-T1W with selectable voltage. I don't think a 100V unit would be difficult to convert to 115V. There are instructions and photos somewhere. $3400 for the package seems like a decent price, say $2500 for the SR-Omega and $900 for the amp. Assuming the headphone is in good working condition, of course. The risk of buying a used SR-Omega is probably higher than normal.

I think I can find knowledgeable people to do the calibration, but probably no one who's actually familiar with this tester. If no one local can do the job, I'll just suck it up and either ship it to the US or ask someone traveling there to bring it over and then ship it to an expert. My hands hurt! Nobody ever mentions that you have to push the buttons and keep them held down. The fingers on my left hand hurt! Two buttons have to be pushed, then Test button has to be held down for a few seconds, and then the Life Test switch has to be pushed to the right and held for a few seconds. The controls are stiff and it hurts! And the socket is really tight, I had one tube seemingly super-glued in there and it took me three minutes of grunting and pulling to get it out. Now I know why the labels on the tubes come off. And not only that, the tube heats up. Not really hot, but hot enough that it hurts. So my right hand hurts too, from pulling up the tubes and the heat. And all I wanted to do was listen to music!

I like that trapezoid-type metal case, it should look pretty good on a rack. I finally got a tube tester. After some research, it seemed as if the B&K solid state tester is reliable and easy enough for a non-DIY person like me to use. Calibration is supposed to be relatively simple with this model, but I think it will be beyond a total electrical ignoramus like me. So far its readings are fairly consistent with the reported readings by the tube sellers. The main thing I want to do is weed out bad tubes and do some simple matching of singles and pairs or confirm supposedly matched quads. I'll need to get some socket savers, or else the Position 14 octal socket is going to wear out real quick.

OK, that's good to know, thanks.

I sent an email to Justin: Can you give me an estimated delivery date for the Blue Hawaii SE? I must admit that the longer it drags on the more I want to cancel my order. I placed my order and a deposit in Oct. 2007. When you asked for full and final payment in Dec. 2008, I thought the amp shouldn't take too much longer to ship. Six months is a bit much, in my opinion, from collecting final payment and still no delivery and no communication. This kind of experience is similar to dealing with Single Power Audio.

C'mon, you can't call it a mini ES-1 without EL34 tubes and a couple of wall warts. Ouch! I thought I was deviously poking fun at Justin, but I'm a total idiot! I totally forgot about the Aristaeus, and I was just listening to it last night. I have hope there might be a coming out of retirement party!

I took a break from listening to Leona Lewis, Beyonce and Kelly Clarkson to daydream about someone to build me a DIY electrostatic amp for intermediate DIYers. I came up with a quick shortlist and thought of some accompanying comments. runeight dBel84 pabbi1 n_maher/Vince Vaughn (does he really know anything? or is all just acting?) amb spritzer (Plus: hands of a Norse god Minus: risk of amp going viking) Justin? (maybe this project too difficult for him, apparently not having built a tube amp, just hybrids and SS?) Jude (c'mon, you don't want an amp built by him?) Mikhail (just shoot me now, please)

Shocking, including those tubes with the amp! And there were those 6SN7 metal base too in the photo! I admit to experiencing some tube envy. It hurts, but at least it isn't as devastating as amp envy. For some reason the HE60 is sounding especially pleasant right now, with WE396, Sylvania 6SN7W metal base and the Treasure 6CA7. The Treasure 6CA7 seems to be thinner and less full-bodied than the Mullard xf2. Bass quantity is a bit less, though it is also quite tight and accurate. The xf2 is hard to beat.

Yeah, sorry for stating the obvious. I was just blabbing out loud, daydreaming. Hey, if you're a "good little boy" and do a good job with the SP ES-1 dissection , and maybe somehow arranges things so that one of those upcoming DIY elecrostatic amps currently being tested lands in my lap (with maybe a famous builder or all sorts of super upgrades and whatnot), maybe a certain someone who has some extra 6CA7 tubes might send some off to you.

Ah, OK. If only all my Mullard EL34 xf2 quads matched up nicely. The EL34 metal base types are even worse, it's very difficult to find a nice matched quad, whether new or used.

I'm a member of Team AD2000 + Zana Deux too! But apparently with a weaker source than an R2R. I hate you.

Apparently my first set of 6CA7 are weak. They're the quad labeled 26mA, the leftmost four boxes. At least I now have stronger sets, and I'll save a quad for use in the BHSE. It seems that many packages from China use this horrible type of crumbly styrofoam that's probably not very environmentally-friendly. I remember the He Audio Jade also came boxed with the same type of crappy styrofoam. Cheap, crappy boxes and crappy packaging materials.

Single Power ES-1 owners, rejoice! There might be hope after all for the inevitable breakdown! When emailing and calling Colorado with no response becomes tiresome and you decide you've just about had enough of the "luxury Single Power experience", here comes a shining Norse god to the rescue! I don't think the 4070 is particularly hard to drive. It has a clean and relatively thin type of sound. Tonally, if the O2 is the HD600, the 4070 might be a K701. I think it lacks some refinement and can be a bit bland and colorless. Neutral-sounding? Yes, I guess you could say that. I placed another order for the Treasure 6CA7, this time three quads.

I hope someone in "Team Animal Avatars" wins and sends me a couple of those metal base 6SN7!

There's not only no bulk order pricing (I asked about 24 tubes), but the seller says the price is going to go up. Maybe 24 tubes is not enough? Also, my bargaining skills are non-existent and may actually have negative effects, meaning that sometimes I might accidentally offer to pay more than the asking price. Yes, I'm an idiot type of buyer, especially if I like the product or just suspect that I'll like it. I probably won't do an actual group buy, but if some people really want them I'll add your order to mine and ship them to you. Send me a PM by Monday. Dusty, October is a bit long way away, so I don't know what will happen by then. If you'd like I'll certainly buy a set for you, anytime.

Very nice, I like dark wood. How exactly does one become a "Friend of Nate"? I know that posting about earpads in the Stax thread is a big no-no. What would earn some points?

I haven't had time to compare them yet. I've been "burning-in" the 6CA7 quad and CV181 pair to make sure they settle down nicely and are stable. I'll put back the Sylvania 6SN7W metal base in place of the CV181 and compare the Treasure 6CA7 with my reference set of Mullard xf2 and maybe a couple of other types. The reference set is nothing special, just a matched quad that I bought from a local shop and had tested with their tube tester. If the Sylvania 6SN7 really don't work well with Treasure I can change back or to another pair of 6SN7, but otherwise I won't change them, in order to reduce variables. I already have to "test" with multiple headphones and multiple types of music. I forgot to mention the Treasure CV181 comes in two versions, one with black glass and the other with blue glass. The black glass is more expensive. I'll ask the seller about bulk pricing.

Gah, such fast reflexes are scary. I think I'll buy another quad of the Treasure 6CA7, so I can use them at the same time on two amps. I'm open to doing a larger group buy, and sending them to a few people. The shipping charge was negligible, so it was basically just $44 per tube. -- I thought the SR-404 LTD was just a regular SR-404, with black color and leather earpads and headband. Oh, no! Did I say earpads?

Whoa, so much SR-Omega and SR-007 talk? Where's n_maher, we need to show him there's more to the Head-Case Stax thread than earpad talk. I think the Shuguang Treasure 6CA7 are good, but the price being charged by Grant Fidelity is quite excessive at more than twice what I paid, which was US$44 each. Over US$100 per tube seems high, even if their "export versions" really are marginally better or somehow better-matched. And marginally better is the most I would expect. BHSE owners group buy?

I have a set of Electro-Harmonix EL34 but no other current production tubes. I don't like them. I don't like the dimple top Siemens or Telefunken-labeled EL34 either. The Ulm-made real Telefunken EL34 with five crimped plates were good, but not a good value and a bit disappointing for the price. But I don't have a matched quad, they're hard to find. Tesla EL34 was also disappointing. Ultron wasn't that good either. I think these Treasure Series are punching well above their weight, and more than worth the price I paid. I bought a new SR-Omega headband assembly, the plastic top arc, "C" shaped metal pieces on both sides, plus a black cloth headband (they said original brown no longer available) from a local audio shop, who ordered it from the Stax distributor. I still have the original assembly, which has the brown headband. I ordered the new headband assembly because I thought the old one fit a bit too loosely. I think the plastic arc loses some tension after some time and therefore overall clamping force is reduced. Yes. The O2 has more precise imaging and each individual sound image is very detailed and well-defined.

Freud was a fraud! If I was compensating I would be using GE 6CA7 Fat Boys instead! Or 300B! And you can't use that kind of phraseology unless you're a Jedi Master.

After reading these great impressions (Iron_Dreamer is my idol! ), my stuff sounds like garbage too! And I wasn't even there! Wow, JH Audio, HD800, HF-2, Audeze, Smyth Research... it's too much, resistance is futile...