spritzer

Some progress today, now I just need to finish wiring the PSU and it is ready for testing: I also dared to mess with the one off titanium knob Kevin gave me. I needed some indicator on it so it took about 10 minutes of very careful drilling to come up with this:

Happy Birthday Scott!!!

Since the SZ3 SR-007 Mk2 just showed up at my door I can safely say that there is a lot of difference between the SR-007's. The SR-007 mk1 we all know and love is about a flat as a transducer can be and never puts a foot wrong. Play them at crazy levels from a Blue Hawaii and they are still composed and clear. They are also equally at home with top quality recordings and something recorded on 8 track... The SZ2 SR-007A I have here was the usual case when I got them, bass out of control and some mild midrange coloring. This set like all the other SZ2 units I've heard was also just a tad more forward then the Mk1. The bass and midrange issues were quickly resolved by playing with the fit (making the arc's larger in my case) so the end result is a slightly more forward take on the Mk1 with a bit of excessive bass bloom at the lower notes. It's a really nice combination and has made my Mk1 sit and collect dust for a few weeks now. Now enter the SZ3 SR-007Mk2. Ever since it dawned on me that there clearly was a Mk2.5 model out there I've heard rumors of what Stax actually changed. The fit was certainly improved since the headband is looser and I haven't had to modify any of these sets to fit my head. They have also improved the port so now it closes when it should for a much more realistic bass response . There are also rumors that the drivers were changed again to use the same diaphragm material as the SR-009 uses. After a short listening session it is quite clear that something has changed, no midrange issues and the bass is nice and controlled but now they are just bloody bright. This is almost as bad as the SR-507 which is a headphone I'm not really fond of. Since I have spare SR-007 Mk1 drivers (who hasn't... ) I'll probably try a driver transplant and see if the drivers are at fault here. All comparisons were done off my KGSS and all the headphones use Mk2 earpads. Otherwise they were all stock.

But... but... these are supposed to be one of the best headphones in the world?? The high price can't lie?? Epic review Tyll and it mirrors my findings for everything Ultrasone have ever made...

Some Stax earpads, stands and a SRM-323S amp. The idiots sent me brown pads even though I asked five times for black ones... Looks like this SR-Lambda Pro I'm rebuilding will be fitted with brown pads... I do like the new color on the Stax stands and the 323S is a very nice amp. Easy to change the voltage too.

Any loop coonection will have issues but I think they aren't big enough to outweigh the benefits for my needs. Kevin did change the layout but on his advice I kept the amp as it is at least for now.

I thought about getting some tanatalums for that spot just to be a bit silly.

Slow and steady progress here. Better red than dead... A rather tight fit but having full loop through capability plus SE/XLR inputs makes it all worth it.

Happy Birthday!!

Pffft, sure blame the foreigner for all of this... Now just wait for what I'll come up with next time around...

Hehe, tru dat...

I was really, really drunk but I sure remember it. Just before that Pete didn't want to believe I was Icelandic which I didn't take lightly...

I'd stay far away from any Cary amp, badly designed crap and the build quality... Plenty of good 300B amps out there though, one I'd like to try is the Nagra unit. I'd say get a better amp for the SR-007 though since you haven't heard what it really can do yet. You can also get a SR-007 Mk2/A for a slightly different take on the same sound.

First thing to do is swap the channels inside the amp so if the issue moves over to the right earpiece then it is the amp. Well that or try another set...

Since I just did one of these today I figured I'd post a "how to convert a SRM-T1 to use ECC99's". Not much to this really since the ECC99 is very similar to the 6CG7, the heaters draw a bit more current but the transformer seems to have no trouble with this. The only difference is the setup of the heaters since the 6CG7 is just a 6.3V unit but the ECC99 is a 6.3/12.6V. Easy enough to accomplish, cut two traces, add two wires and bridge two pins on the sockets. On the top side all the anode resistors have to be changed for 30K/2W units. Rebias and you are done.

Yup, a bad 300b amp. There is no substitute for large transformers etc,

Yeah, that is some heavy editing as it's just way off.

It's all to do with the temperature extremes of shipping something and different humidity levels. If somebody used them straight out of the box before allowing them to reach room temp then that might lead to some issues.

That's just due to shipping and can happen to any electrostatic transducer. Still it is not a nice thing to happen to a 5000$ set...

Luther was brilliant. I just finished Campus, pretty good too.

Cleaned the ash off my car. Bloody volcano...

Leica M9?

We are fine here in the south west of Iceland. He had some ash over the last few days but nothing compared to what they are getting underneath the glacier.

Been there, done that...

Over the years I've had a few dozen but this would be the third SR-007 for my collection. They are all a bit different though. The plan is to have every Omega version here when the SR-009 arrives, SR-Omega, SR-007 Mk1, SR-007A SZ2 version and SR-007 Mk2 SZ3 version.