spritzer

I wouldn't blame PJ for this, that price has stayed the same well before any refurb units existed. Hell with Stax there are normally no refurb anything... As for the production, based on the interview on HF? Very little of that piece is actually true.

The KGSS and KGSSHV are very similar so you might need to use those values. I don't think anybody has tried the HV at these voltages though. Don't mess with the input resistors. You can leave the - one out as the fet is grounded on that side but the + side needs to be 500K to protect the fet should the pot ever float.

Now here is thought... maybe this is a refurb? All those units sent in for repair from the US get replaced so they have to go somewhere. I opened up mine and it's pretty much the nightmare of the SR-Omega but made worse with screws. The SR-007 pads are a joy compared to the 009...

Both amps are excellent when modified. Pretty much transformed over the stock versions...

How hot is that thing running with 1K cathode resistors?

The EML tubes in an octal base for DHT's but there are some very good triode strapped pentodes out there. I do have a fondness for odd tubes nobody uses though...

Get them out of the closet!!!!

The first trouble with a 300B amp is running it single ended through a transformer. So we can improve performance by using a simpler transformer. Also better drivers help but I'd still use a large number of tube besides the 300B...

That would certainly account for the offset. Bypassing the current limiter might work but it could also end badly...

I'm also building one specifically for Tyll, a special reviewer model. Also made by a guy with a fake company...

The 1968's would be my guess as well.

Indeed there will be, when I get off my ass finish an amp for you. To my defense it is rather complicated that one and I've been busy...

That was brilliant Milos. I think part of the problem was the general suck of the group. We should have sent you a KGSS as a baseline.

I did just check some of my 6S4A's and none have a connection at pin one. Still some versions might use that so better safe than sorry. If the wrong part of the tube is connected there then the amp might go boom... That resistors is so small in value but since I will be removing the plate resistors in this one it was a good idea to do a direct connection.

There are at least three of these already built...

The 5K resistor has no penalty or drawback. Too fucking cool!!!

Tyll is most certainly not part of the hype train. Electrostatics are not his usual thing though so that might be a factor.

The thing about the bass is that it's at the same time way over the top and anemic. There is no sub bass at all and it has a huge peak higher up making it sound like a bloody dynamic. This slow, muddy, thundering bass that over powers everything. As coloration's often do they stand out more on some tracks than others. On some you have the bass drowning out everything and the coloration in the top end wanting to claw your ears out. It's that bad with flat headphones, I don't even want to think how bad the 009 is... Edit. I didn't want to work on the LL today so I instead swapped in a normal bias socket on the 007tA I have here. That means stripping the amp down so it's fun to compare to something like the LL. Stax have thought this through so the sockets are mounted on a special plate so it is easy to get to them. Socket on the back that connects both of them that makes wiring neater and now all the switching stuff for the inputs is hidden behind the front panel. There is so much labor that goes into making these that it isn't even funny

I'm way too lazy to do another DIY chassis at this point but I think some DHT action is in my future. I'll at least order up the remaining parts for this 300B amp. Good to use some of these filmcaps too...

The CE tests is a basic test of electric compliance,hence the name, this is not some gold standard. It's the basic "will not catch fire on the spot" test and often called China Electric as makers of cheap crap flaunt it to make their products appear good As it stands the earthing on this LL does not meet the European safety standard as the earth can become loose so how is this the end of the matter? Also please show me the part of CE testing that extends to the units intended function and how peripherals connected to it are protected? The Stax amps are all CE and PSE marked and yet the headphones and the user are protected when using them. We need to make ECP make a Stax amp for us. Unknown tubes and transformers... when can I order one Doug?

But here is the thing, that wasn't a serious reply. It was just BS leveled on top of more BS. At the end of the day this is a 5000$ amplifier that is supposed to compete with the stuff Stax made and it quite frankly doesn't. I'm leaving the BHSE out of this as we all know it doesn't belong in any 5K$ amp comparison regardless of the retail price, it's simply too cheap for what you get. With the Stax amps you have dealer and distributor networks to think about and building an esoteric product to a price. They are also stuck in their ways so there are comparisons to be made. The parts quality in the Stax amps is superior to almost anything found in the LL except maybe those bloody carbon pots they insist on using. Been using the same stuff from the 70's so, stuck in their ways. Stax do skimp on PSU design, always have done but then the circuits don't need an overkill PSU to work and work well. The amps are bulletproof though and will last for decades and decades, even the truly abused ones just need a bit of spit and polish to spring back to life. They also measure excellently and are easy to service. Well not the SRA-14S as it is built in the same way as the LL. Wires everywhere and not a terminal block in sight. The LL on the other hand has a pretty chassis but at double the cost of the 727 offers no benefits. It's more powerful but the sound is even worse, fat, bloated and thick. Then we have the safety issues, no output resistors, ballast resistors on the bias supply that will not work at the 600V they have to hold off in case of short and an earth contact that isn't legal anywhere. Seriously, who doesn't put a locking washer on the nut? This is basic safety stuff... Measurements posted aren't real, not even close and the build quality is appalling. Pictures don't do it justice, it's just the sheer lack of any common sense that gets to you. Stuff like the switch circuitry has a ground plane but why on earth doesn't the rest of the amp use it? Long ground traces, especially on the amp pcb aren't good engineering, especially on the cheapest PCB's money can buy. Just to be clear, I was agreeing with Jacob that the large majority of the audio market is just snakeoil and BS. Should have stated that...

Yeah, I agree with Jacob 100% and that post is just full of BS and lies. Not that I expected anything different... Now back to fixing this pile of fail. I'll get some J74's so I don't need to dip into my stash of J109's and I'll order the parts to fix the PSU too. Having no capacitance to speak of after the regulator makes no sense to me. Either it is due to the designer being an epic cheap scate or because it likes to blow up with too much capacitance. Some film caps should be ok though.

6c33 is also very fuzzy about pretty much everything. The 6P21S could work as an output tube at just 600V. Not a whole lot of data on them but it would be doable and quite cheap. I'd personally go for some nice IDHT on the front end as it's easier to power and the DHT's really need the high frequency filament supplies to behave so they add up quickly. The 300B is overrated for pretty much everything but I like the challenge of trying to make something of them. I also have them and pretty much all the parts needed for something like that. PSU will be a CLCLCRC or something like that with a tube rectifier and all film caps. The EML's are a bit nuts but also truly great tubes. Kevin has designed a 12 tube DHT amp which used a quad of 20B's just to drive the output 845's. Never asked for the schematic of that one as I don't want to see it. Then I might actually build it...

Yes, now it just acts as 006t. TVR3 and TVR4 could just be removed. In fact you should connect to the other side of them. Do not connect anything to pin 1 on the tubes as that will cause problems. It's used inside the tube... Here is the last one I did showing the removed TVR3 and 4:

I will do something similar for electrostatics but no way in hell that is better than having a good driver stage. So for a full DHT amp you'd need some driver, I'd use a IDHT here as there are less issues. An amp like this would get very expensive... very quickly.