spritzer

The lego is very fitting... There are copper pins that hold them together. Pull them out and the drivers open up. Watch out for the front stator wire which is very easy to break. Yup, 1600$ isn't bad at all. Edit: As for the sound, I still like it a lot. I know I'll have to change the springs and move the earpads to the Mk1 position eventually but I'm digging the extra harmonics in the bass region. It's easy enough to move press the cups towards the head to hear how they should sound.

Yup

Haven't tried the 009 yet but that question is difficult due to the choice of tubes. Only tried the ECC99 as of yet so I have some testing to do.

This one should be very close to being brand new. It arrived sealed and was bought around the new years so very recent. A set from PJ should be brand new from the factory.

That box is 330x300mm or so and I wouldn't go much smaller than that. The problem will always be the height though as the tubes are quite tall so either cutouts for them or 90+mm height.

The box means very little. The oldest ones came in those crappy faux CF boxes but there were also some later ones that used them. Probably just a supply thing. The serial number is under the arc's on the right hand side. Also on the outer box which housed the flightcase. I've done the port mod now but left them completely stock in every other way. I must say this is a very, very good 007 now. As expected the port mod mostly affects the bass and holy hell it is nice. Very deep, controlled which shines when somebody put some effort into recording the drums. It might not be 100% neutral (only more exposure will tell) but this sounds very nice indeed. I'm sure the extra height of the pads is adding something to it but the pads could always be moved to the Mk1 setting easily. The improvements also move up to the midrange, giving it a bit more heft and in true 007 fashion, voices stand out like on nothing else. So as it stands now, a great Mk1 is smoother but this one is more alive. I need to dig out the 009 for a direct comparison but I fear it won't go well for the 009. Imaging and bass really aren't their strong suit which the 007 excels at plus the detail they are digging out is just insane. Color me impressed....

Nope and it sounds lovely with ECC99's and the SR-207 in my test rig. Very little compression as I push the volume.

Well yes as we don't know when the change occurred. Also Stax serial numbers are beyond useless for stuff like this.

I was the one who wrote that list so no, I don' have a Mk2.5. It is something new.

The KGST's baby brother lives, say hello to the KGDT... This is the same circuit but uses the common noval dual triodes instead of the 6S4A. While this opens up a whole world of tube rolling it does mean it must run at lower rail voltages (+/-300V) and a bit less current. This is the SRM-006t to the SRM-007t but also not as it doesn't suck. The switch on the PCB allows to select either 6.3V heater tubes (normally with a shield) or the 12.6V ones with a center tap. The amp was designed around the ECC99, 12BH7, 6CG7 and 6n6pi but there are a lot of others that will work. Some old computer grade tubes that can be had for next to nothing that I will try out.

So true, the few times I bother to read it these days it just makes my head hurt. So much ignorance and stupidity... Fuck that, this is the Mk3. I got them in a trade.

Yup, get a DY294 but those do look real or very good fakes.

Mine came from New Zealand so a proper Mk2 and not an "A". I've done that comparison countless times. The HV is more linear, more neutral and clear while the older KGSS is warmer and not as defined. Can't go wrong with either one but the HV is the superior amp. The treble is smooth but there is more of it so they can slide into brightness a bit faster/easier than the Mk1. This is nowhere near the 009 let alone the horror of the old 009's. It's a bit like the old SZ2 units, when modified they had a touch more treble than the Mk1's. I'm keeping them stock for now and just enjoying them. They are silly good off the KGST, rocking the new mix of Thick as a Brick...

Good point... As for the new 007, now that the last BHSE in fully operational condition has been packed up I had to revert to the KGST. It's not quite as bass crazy as the BHSE so here the effect of the port is minimized. I have to hand it to Stax how well the port works on this set. It did take them some 8 years to get this working but still, it does what it is supposed to do with minimal side effects. Still no way I'll leave them like this...

He's asking about classic KGSS (no ccs for the third stage and +/-350V rails) vs. KGSSHV with 2SA1968. I'm not ready to call it just yet but it sure looks like it. I've seen the counter argument being that the designer factored this into the component so only used parts that would get better with use.

The highs were never the problem with the 007Mk2.5, it was the midrange. Replacing transistors and not the resistors is not a good idea. This was built in the 70's so still 5% carbon comp resistors which will drift.

Confirmation bias is tied into the new toy syndrome and I don't see how the caps would be a factor in the channel imbalance. Something is wrong somewhere and has to be fixed.

Even those of us "burdened" with experience (paraphrasing my favorite saying in Icelandic) still get a bit lost sometimes by just how good this stuff is. What bothers me about the whole burn in crap is this assumption that our senses and auditory memory are perfect but components made to tight specs somehow drift in a way that can't be measured but is clearly audible. It took me two weeks for the shine of the HE90 to wear off and I've only become more critical in those 10 years.

The ESP950 cables were something around 10$. Haven't bought any in probably 10 years though...

You do have a point there and I know that this is a purely psychological phenomenon. It doesn't exist in the sense that we can't measure it, caps don't magically change after being charged/discharged a few million times (100 hour burn in). It is also a pure fallacy to think that a one 5 minute session with any component will give you an an accurate impression of its signature, our senses simply aren't that good. They also just make up shit and lie to us... those fuckers...

There is no such thing as run/burn-in

I've been putting them through their paces this morning and my only complaint is the slightly overblown bass. Plugging the port should fix that issue.

Koss ESP950 extension cable works just fine. Ask somebody in the US to order a few for you and drop in an envelope.

They don't ship internationally... at least they didn't. Ebay might have something like that.

Yup, and they sure can rock. Bass has that slight reverb to it which suits rock perfectly. I'll reserve final judgement until I've plugged the ports and played with the pads. This is a bloody good start though...