spritzer

The volume level should have nothing to do with this. The amp always burns relatively the same amount of power regardless of how hard you drive it. If the offset pot failes then yes, the phones could be damaged. We have protection built in should it happen though.

Sennheiser celebrates its 70th in May 2015 so there will be a new high end model. By that I mean high end, the 009 is dirt cheap compared to it. With the SR-Omega the external screen is clearly there to add a bit of reverb and thus EQ. Here it's just that they want to make the more expensive H3 sound better with the more open area. They showed with the H1 that the dispersion pattern of electrostatics isn't something they truly comprehend as dumping this much backwave back through the driver will never sound good.

It's exactly the same unless it's one of the new HV's which have a servo. Then the procedure is the same but the servo has to be defeated first. Only make adjustments after the amp has warmed up. For a 500V unit that can be an hour or more.

Makes note to put more pots backwards in the future...

A sound like that is almost always due to a noisy trimpot. Some of the first Alpha pots weren't as smooth as the latter ones. A bit of screaming at the company fixed that...

It really doesn't matter which way they face.

I broke down and ripped the KS-H2 apart after the right side buzzing got very loud and violent (the cup vibrated due to the osculations). We start off well as this is the back of the baffle. Some lessons learned here as this neoprene foam makes a nice seal when compressed. The cable termination is very neat and tidy but here is the first major WTF moment. It's a bit hard to see in that pic but the driver is placed backwards in a bit of a tunnel. Not a good idea with tranducers which radiate in a figure 8 pattern. Stax got away with in the 007 as the opening on the stators are much smaller than the size of the diaphragm. Hence the dispersion pattern never hits a wall. Here we have he cup and the back of the driver. First off, thanks King Sound for being fucktards. The drivers are glued shut so not only are they noisier than a 30 year old Stax set but I can't fucking fix it without having a good chance of fucking up the drivers. Second bit, notice that the drivers are larger than the opening on the back of the cups. Another brilliant bit of engineering which that neoprene ring will not fix.

I'd have said "1000 hours and you need an unobtanium cable..."

1W resistor wouldn't go amiss there but resistor ratings are a bit of a hit and miss at the best of times. Take Mills for instance, they should never see even half their rated wattage but a Vishay CCF60 can be abused no end.

Sure but spending 20$ to fix a non issue is a bit off isn't it?

No, that's not a good idea as you don't want the pot to dissipate all that heat.

Hehe... I went to town on the H2 headband when I came home from work this morning and now they are getting better. I added the 007 classic bend right at the ends of the arc so that it forces the bottom of the pads to make better contact. I also made arc better suit my melon head so now the fit is nice and snug. Cleared up the bass thud but they still sound just a tad too thin for my tastes. I'll see if I can't twist the arc a bit and angle the drivers better. Ohh and now the left channel is buzzing... For fucks sake, how hard is it to make clean drivers? Ohh right, it isn't if you give the slightest bit of fuck...

Reminds me of some of the questions I get...

The issue with the trim pot is also present in the KGSSHV or any other amp like this. Components have different specs even if they are working as they should Any pot will do. We use 50K mostly to cater to any source that is out there but 10K is most often more than enough.

Now they say we have no eruption... I has sad...

Can't argue with that. The 007 pads helped quite a bit but not enough.

Looking good and it is one hell of an amp. In other news we have an eruption here now.

Keeping them in the trunk seems to be a good plan as two hours in my right speaker started to buzz very loudly. I seriously can't think of people listening to this and thinkging "this is good!!", it's just too bland with no presence at all. Next up is putting some 007 pads on them.

I have the King Sound KS-H2 sitting on my head now. They were offering to replace the H1's free of charge so why not... The difference in build quality is quite staggering and the suspended arc is very nice indeed. The simple metal band can be bent so I can increase the very weak clamping force. The capsules are still as cheap as ever but the earpad mounting and the driver assembly is very different from the H1. Earpads are the same though which leads me to my next point... These sure do sound horrid. Shades of the Stax OEM sets (Magnavox, Realistic, Marantz etc.) are abound here as they give just a slight hint at what makes electrostatics great but it's in the guise of a light as a feather ethereal sound. No deep bass to speak of and this is off a KGST which has plenty of power on tap. Top is rolled off and the midrange has a slight honky nature to it while being closed in. There is no soundstage to speak of and what is there is very diffused. The first thing to go has to be the earpads and I saw some big "what the fuck were they thinking" in the drivers that will have to be looked at.

M'key...

Sony TA-A1ES http://store.sony.com/hi-res-integrated-2-channel-amplifier-zid27-TAA1ES/cat-27-catid-All-Res-Audio Class A with variable bias tied into the volume control.

You can lower the HT current a bit down to 140mA. That is already overkill so no need for the extra headroom. The audio supreme transformer is just a bit silly so I wouldn't go for it unless it is some very sensitive piece of kit.

Almost all integrated amps use the same circuit for speakers and headphones, they just put resistors on the headphone output to protect the phones/lower the volume. I like the idea behind this amp but to be honest I'm far more interested in the 2k$ Sony amp.

I meant more in the "not some crazy idea Kevin and I had" sense. There are others too and even the old BH supply (as in found in all the Headamp units) was just updated and modernized with new parts and a regulated bias supply.

Doesn't matter in the slightest. No other amp has a regulated bias supply.