spritzer

I'm sure we could work something out...

The ESP950 did just fine out of my SRM-1 Mk2 P.P. and T1 so those are good places to start from. They are pretty far from being as power hungry as the O2's but still get a nice boost from the BH. Once the economy here bounces back I'll pick up some SR-007A's to modify and we can talk then. It looks like I'll have a surplus of amps soon given my ambitious DIY plans and that includes a couple of Blue Hawaii's...

It was an ingenious plot of being busy and not being able to reply...

Yes...

Sorry to keep you waiting, damn work stuff taking up too much time. As for the Stax amps... well it's all about the money. If Stax could sell a 6k$ amp with the headphones (Japanese list prices not outrageous dealer markups) then the popular opinion of the 007 would be different but sadly this isn't the case. To make matters worse we have "upgraded" amps that aren't even close to what Stax was trying to achieve with the T2.

It wasn't really designed for the user to change but to be dialed in when the amp is built. Still it's easy enough to relocate the pot so that it can be reached from outside the chassis and setup two test points.

Last I heard the sweet spot was around 620v but the crazy bugger may have pushed them even further...

Ahhh, there's the Doug we all know...

It has a variable bias supply so yes. All of the Headamp units also have a variable bias but you have to adjust it on the PSU board.

I bet that's just the gin...

Electrets can (in theory at least) have the same problem as electrostatics where a charge of the wrong polarity sits on the film and impedes its movement. Sony thought it was a large enough problem to design semi conductive driver housings to prevent it from happening.

Ditto. Group buy?

Your doing this the wrong way... The 007 is more neutral on better amps because then the amp isn't limiting the performance of the phones. The amp can be neutral sounding but lack power (and the other way around) but the end result of how an ES transducer behaves will always depend on the amp not being a factor and being able to feed drivers all the power they need with enough left over for peak transients. If the amp can't supply enough current to keep the voltage in the treble region from sagging then that is hardly the headphones fault. Stax could have done what they did with the Mk2/A and changed the character of the phones to suit their lackluster amps but that's a terrible idea in my book. When the MDR-R10 was designed there were no dedicated headphone amps to speak of so should Sony have tailored it to play well on a walkman? No, they made the best phones they could and even made a speaker amp adapter so the phones could be driven by a good amp. The 717 does do a respectable job with the 007 but the 007t or any of the other tube amps are a bad match to say the least. I've been living with the 717 now for 7 months and while I can't wait for the BHSE the small Stax amp does a respectable job. It's not what I'd call fully neutral but for less then 700$ it's a steal. The Stax amps under performing doesn't reflect badly on the headphones in any way as making a great headphone is a lot cheaper then making the amp to match them. The SR-007 is a very thought out design and built so that they could get maximum performance without any crazy ideas such as mesh stators or other such lunacy. Amps are tougher as you need heavy items such as transformers and heatsinks coupled with transistors that run for a few $ a pop. That's why Stax will always be very financially constrained when making amps as they are only getting max 30% of the retail price for each unit sold (basic retail rule of thumb). The amp actually costs 1/3 to 1/5 of that 30% to make and the rest covers all manners of overhead (manufacturing rules of thumb). With these margins you are very limited in every way and a small increase in the cost of manufacture grows exponentially. If Stax were to make something like the BHSE then it could never be made under 15k$ and would probably be closer to 20k$. While the Stax amps aren't dark sounding it is their limited power output that makes the 007 sound like poo. If it were simply a matter of how the amp would sound then we would all buy an Egmont and be blissfully ignorant, rolling caps and tubes like crazy to achieve some sound we were after. That sadly isn't the case and the needs of the 007 still haven't been fully met though I can assure you it is being worked on...

It's always handy to have a sledge hammer around if you want to cave somebodies head in. Since we are on the subject of Thor, the story about him wearing a drag to get Mj

I do. The new printers for the food industry are amazing and make something like that Coke bottle possible.

Yup, called Mj

Well I do have some resemblance to my mythical namesake though I lack the beard.

There is no doubt in my mind that Stax tried to tame the top end of the phones deliberately. That's why the open area of the stators is so small i.e. air damping which provides the diaphragm with a cushion of air to prevent it from oscillating. This also changes the electrical parameters of the drivers so you need more power to open up the treble. You really need the BHSE and some good silver cables.

Awwww chucks....

Some phones do need a rig tailored to their needs as it were. The HE90 doesn't play well with a DC-coupled amp and needs something to color the sound, be it a bad choice of tubes or some caps. The Lambdas don't need all that much power driving them as the housing can be overloaded making the usual colorations even worse. The Sigma's are the complete opposite as they need something clean and powerful to overcome the limitations of the design and make them really sing. I for one do think that most popular transducers are to bright. Could be that they are made by old farts, for old farts but they simply don't sound natural to my ears. Some voice their gear to impress and a relaxed treble presentation isn't something that will impress 99% of listeners. As for the SR-007, drive them off the 007t, or some other low power amp, and have no clue how to wear them and you will end up with a dark, bass heavy mess. Feed them well in a neutral system, with the correct fit, and I don't think they are dark at all. Do they lack the excessive treble energy of the SR-Omega and He90? Yes, but those phones are simply excessively bright and have the etch to prove it.

Happy birthday old bastard...

Now that Elephas has had some personal time with his leather pads the war can go on... For less then 100$ then the electrets aren't bad but don't spend much more then that. All Stax amps have the SRM prefix but the SRA is for the intergrated amps which had some kind of a preamp function.

I have a bunch of NIB (new in bag) SR-X pads and no headphones for them so feel free to drop me a line when you need them.

It's a truce then. The pads do look worse as they age but clean them with some leather cleaner/conditioner and they look like new.

I have some new SR-X pads that I can sell you at less then what AC is asking for them.