spritzer

The midrange is a bit prominent but other then that it is ruler flat neutrality to my ears i.e. unimpressive. The slight lack of bass heft works in favor of those phones which are a bit loose in the bass in the first place (Lambdas and probably the SR-Omega as well). So it doesn't suck, far from it.

Hmmm, those sweep tubes could work in an ESP amp...

Other then the midrange, the T2 isn't really impressive. Well there is the sheer size of this thing too... I've been using for most of the weekend driving the SR-404LE and the Lambda is really growing on me. I sure hope I have the strength not to sell it since a unit with this low a S/N will be worth quite a bit in the future...

That is the shared ground balanced cable... very high tech.

Exactly.

1/2W PRP's can handle 500v and are relatively cheap so they make up the majority of the resistor with a few Rikens thrown in where PRP's weren't available. The 5W resistors are Mills. The only resistors I'm a bit worried about are the 5.1k/1W output units which will see the full fury of this beast... \

Yup, "hey look at me" treble is just annoying...

Not with me picking resistors. I wonder how much it would cost with just Riken resistors...

True. For what it's worth the stock cable is made by Belden ...

Yup and also offer a delux cable which just has some fancy nylon on it at 200$ extra.

Just put in a port, that takes care of the fart...

If the cable doesn't fail on first use but does later on then Justin will likely be blamed. The magic cable can't be to blame...? I do remeber somebody from SAA talking about these cables a long time ago and I called them on their shit. They promptly invited me to a NY meet to audition cables... Do they even know what the stock cable is made of?

I've spent the day breaking open some SRD boxes to see if my PCB will fit. It looks like I can fit it in the SRD-5 but not the 6 since the box isn't tall enough. It's also quite clear that they all used different transformers with the 7's being quite a bit bigger. The Lambdas are all a bit bright so they would work but the SR-Omega is your best bet. This is news to me...

I would certainly make it quite clear that using an after market umbilical would void the warranty. I'm not saying that the stock unit can't be improved upon (twisted filament wires could lower the already inaudible hum a bit) but I simply wouldn't trust these idiots to do it.

I know Marc's teflon sockets are a lot nicer then all the others...

That's what I thought as well but... \ I've been comparing it side by side against the SR-202 I just brought back to life (I just have to adopt broken headphones and fix them... ) and the LE is like a more sensitive version of that with moar detail and deeper bass. While not as super smooth as the 007 there are less apparent colorations then in the 404. Ohh and if the price is right on the 717 I'd pick one up. It's a great amp and you will have no problem selling it on. It's discontinued but I prefer it to the newer 727.

That's one messed up amp.

There was one more custom factor, genuine Stax sockets but the buyer had to supply them.

One interesting thing about the LE are the earpads. They look a lot like the ones used on the prototype set featured in many brochures back in '79. Same slim, square shape and the seams are in the same places. The earpads are quite a bit thinner then the normal 404 pads and that makes them a bit less comfortable for me with my rather large ears. It also appears to solve the midrange etch issue but they are still very bright. This might actually be a Lambda that I'll keep... \ Sure looks that way. It's an SR-202 and it's gone through hell, the arc was broken in a few places and held together by tape and the hinges to attach the housings were broken so the owner just used some screws... ...and we are still waiting. I know that you ordered the LE!!!!!

So we can make you build umbilicals for us now...?

Doug has tried in the past but shipping stuff here isn't exactly easy. I think it is much more appropriate to send Doug a BH to try out...

I finally received my SR-404LE today and first impressions are quite good from the T2. They are certainly 404's but there does appear to be less of a midrange etch then on the standard model (the earpads are quite a bit thinner so that could be a part of it) and on the whole it is quite nice. Very nice smell of leather. Nothing to complain about after a couple of hours while I try to salvage the most fucked up set of Lambdas I've ever come across. Somebody must have stomped on them and then tried to fix the mess... quite badly. Well the drivers appear to work...

SR-Omega FTW!!!