spritzer

The SR-404II is supposed to be "normal" version of the LE i.e. old parts but with drivers which don't suck. As for the 202, I compared it directly against the LE off my old T2 and it was damn close. The 202 isn't as precise and a bit rough around the edges but they are an excellent bargain in my book. Couldn't have said it better. We post impressions, nothing more. Reviews in every shape and form are idiotic (with very few exceptions such as Darthnut and some of the older Stereophile headphone reviews) and often only showcase the authors lack of basic knowledge of electronics and experience with similar gear.

Happy Birthday Adam!!

The 404LE is to me what the SR-404 should have been all along, the marriage of the L-Signature and the LNS. This rumored SR-404II might give us that in a cheaper package which would be cool but those leather pads on the LE and the black frame are worth the price difference...

I would take a HE60 over any Lambda but that doesn't change the fact that the 404LE is damn good.

Very nice Kerry!!! Shameless plug but this isn't bad either...

What Craig is using is a ground loop breaker similar to what AMB uses in his designs (see here, scroll down to "Ground loop breaker"). Connecting the signal ground directly to the earth in the mains wiring can lead to issues such as noise and ground loops so some use ground loop breakers which act as a barrier but will safely deal with something like a live wire touching the chassis etc. It's unlikely that this is causing any issues though, more likely the grounding in either the WES or the DAC. I'd still try to jumper it inside the amp and see what happens.

There is a reason I've never put XF2's in the ESX, I could like it too much...

Tru dat. They are German through and through, especially the Land/Range Rovers.

KGSS FTW!! I just fired up the PSU of my new KGSS for the first time and zero sparks, just pretty leds.

Just got the latest Mouser order and I managed to order the wrong rotary switch. I really need to be able to switch the input ground but in my infinite wisdom bought a 2P6T instead of 3P4T... :palm: Just get one of the Muse T-amps and be done with it. Not great by any means but sounds ok with Stax transformers and it works just fine driving the Spendors for TV duty. You could always build a gainclone on the cheap...

If the background of any electrostatic amp isn't completely silent then the amp has some serious issues. The SRM-T2 has a bit of background hum but that's Stax own doing as I've manged to avoid it with same filament mess in my ESX. As for the exstata, it appears to be turning into a RSA-like fanclub since I've gotten PM's from two owners this week asking me for advice as they were not happy with what they were hearing. Nothing wrong with that (we all have different tastes after all) but being afraid to post about it from fear of retaliation is very fucked up.

Hmmm here I was thinking that MOAR BETTAH fuses would be the ideal tweaks for the Maggies...

I tried to find the picture on my system but I must not have saved it. If Kevin sees this then he's sure post it. My ES-1 used the chassis and standoffs for the ground wiring (the ground from the PSU was tied to the chassis and not connected to the signal ground).

Happy Birthday!!!!

I'm with Ari here, real star wiring is the way to go though I admit on very large amps (the ESX for instance) it did make sense to use a tree version instead of just piling on wires. As for the SP amps, Mikhail used the chassis a lot for ground wiring on his later amps leading to groundloops from hell. Kevin posted a picture once that showed them in an Extreme he was working on.

Started work on my Gainclone chassis. This one will not be an easy build as there is no room for error in the tiny chassis.

It's certainly not SP like but there have been issues with EC amps in the past. Now Craig doesn't build any of them (it's all outsourced) but it's hard to see if anything is wrong here.

Throw in some remarks like properly biased tubes and you are golden.

900$ would be a good ballpark figure and 3 amps is certainly not overkill.

To expand on Steve's idea, how about we all post the first HF rigs we had as a small trip down memory lane. Guess I'll get the ball rolling... My first HF rig (and prior to me knowing about all these crazy people and their headphones) was just a HD600 plugged into an old Kenwood integrated amp (headphone socket fed via resistors from the main amp) but since it isn't electrostatic it doesn't really count in my case. My first real headphone setup was the SRM-313/SR-007Mk1 combo, complete with a round SRE-15N extension cable and a stand/cover. After this all hope was lost... Source was shared with my speaker rig and the interconnects used cost more then the amp. A few months later I got a good deal on a Meridian G08... Now post away!!

Congrats on the 57's!!

Checking every component is well worth it (especially the leds since they are a pain to remove later on). Thanks for the warning Nate, the CT on my KGSS transformer was in the wrong spot or I just misunderstood the SumR specsheet.

Leaving it to charge does help. An effect which we call the electret effect is quite common on lambdas which is caused by a parasitic charge of the opposing polarity sitting on the diaphragm and impeding its movements. The best way to get rid of this is to let the phones stay connected and playing until the bias supply has overcome it.

Truth be told, I've never seen a Lambda driver fail. Break open, sure, but never just die on me. Even if the driver gets only sporadic "doses" of bias then they could play perfectly fine. The best way to test this would be to open them up (no need to remove the pads, just lift up the 4 corners to reveal the screws) but you could also try to bend the cable next to the earpiece and see if it makes a difference.