spritzer

I know. Gotta love local shops...

Couple of ECC99's, a 4A/6.3v filament transformer and some 2SK389/2SJ109's for pennies.

For a speaker cable you only need two wires to each but you can parallel connect conductors as you want. Just make sure you don't connect the wrong ones...

Cat5 (or 6 which is shielded if I remember correctly) does make for cheap and easy cables.

Damn you!!!!

ERS paper and tinfoil!! In all seriousness you can get copper braiding to pull over the cable but it might just be cheaper to try some CAT5 wire.

I never had any problems with the new pads in terms of seal, even with a brand new set out of the box. In other Stax news, I did some further testing on the Egmont today and swapped out the ECC83's for some ECC99's with good results. Even running at just +/-260v there is plenty of grunt for Lambda Pro's. The reason for changing the tubes was to make the amp simpler to build since the ECC99 can run on 300v+ like the 6S4A's requiring me to cram only one PSU in the chassis. How high I'll go depends on what transformer I'll use. I have some 265-0-265 transformers on the way that were very cheap but also a large 340-0 transformer which may end up in my new BH. Time will only tell how far I'm willing to push this crappy design. *Smacks Michael again* Thanks for reminding me that I scratched my SR-Omega/007 yesterday...

It does seal better. Just ask the US Airforce...

Ahh that would explain things.

Am I missing something?

The SR-003 off the BH is a sobering experience to say the least. *Reaches through monitor and smacks Michael on the head* Leather can be made in any way the customer wants so it doesn't have to breath. The lamb leather in the Mk2 pads is much coarser (which no doubt leads to moar bass) then what is used on the Mk1 pads. You want the pads to seal as much is possible to create the illusion of an infinite baffle. I'm no leather expert but the fine grain and the back could mean that the Mk1 pads are some strange leather such as Antelope or something like that. It's also very thin, much thinner then what little leather there is on the Mk2 pads.

There is that... I do think that the pot is the most often overlooked part of any "pre amp" which is why I admire companies like Spectral which used the RK40 and Accuphase, Denon, Sony and etc. which used the RK50.

Ditto and one of the reasons why the T-50 ended up on the FS forums. I can't do this on ear nonsense anymore...

RK50...? TKD are also supposed to be nice but why risk it.

Vincent, here is a picture from one of my old listings showing the different pads: The black ones in the picture are Sigma pads bur the SR-202 look very much alike. Thanks for your help and lets hope they'll get back to you. Looking at the insides of the 007 pads it is easy to just remove the soft foam from the backing material and cut a new piece from any foam you'd like to use.

I hope you are ready for some rather large pics... I forgot that the HC albums don't resize and since I've been up for 20 hours now and working 15 of those I can't be bothered to do this again: Here are SR-007 pads opened up to end all this nonsense. For comparison is a set of SR-Omega earpads which do use high quality artificial leather: Happy now? Their site is riddled with inaccurate details which they never bother to fix. One of the reasons I don't buy from them any more... None that I can think of. I do like the sound of the "breathable" pads a bit more as the bass is more even but the difference isn't earth shattering.

One problem with those RK40's , they are all linear and not log. While you can certainly make them work a RK50 might be easier in the end...

The foam is in two layers so it can most definitely be diy'ed. I'll open up a set of Mk1 pads later and post some pics if only to silence out baby elephant... The SR-202 pads ar eblack and the replacement for the L-Pro's. It even says so on the pads. The 303 pads are this gray/green color and use the same material as the 404 pads which is a bit nicer to wear. The 404 pads are indeed brown but not like the stock pads. They are long sold out in Japan but Yama's might have some. That would be great if Deepak comes up empty

I'm already working on those... I did do it in an SR-Ω shell if that counts...? Didn't do much to tame the inherent resonance in the Omega housing so I removed most of it. I do like to properly secure drivers though as the driver must get rid of all excess vibrations as quickly as possible or the sound will suffer. Mass damping would surely change the properties of the housing which can be beneficial if you don't want to spring for some custom machined aluminum shells.

Thanks, much appreciated. The leather will last a long time with some care but the foam is toast after a few years. The Mk2 foam does fit but paying 100+$ for leather pads and only use the foam is very stupid... even for me. I have done it though with SR-Ω earpads as the new black pads are uncomfortable and look horrible. Some good vinyl care products will do wonders to the old SR-Ω pads...

I've thought about this and my preferred way would be a Lambda frame with a new back section. Both drivers would be run full range and act as a line source. Another option is to use 3 drivers per side, one run full range pointing at the ear while the other two are angled at the ear and fed through a low pass filter. Some type of bass reflex enclosure would probably be needed though. The only problem I have is that I've yet to come across a Lambda I couldn't fix...

Compared to the Sony R's they indeed are. Me want a Sony CDP/DAS-R10...

That would be brilliant and Yama's is still the US distributor.

USA and Europe

I just don't know if they are any different since I've never had a set here. I could perhaps persuade you to buy a set or two from the UK distributor on my behalf...? Last I knew they were but in usual Stax fashion they will probably be phased out in favor of Mk2 pads, hence the reason for me stocking up. I've use the stock Michael mentioned a few times but you do need a deputy service so I always bought 20-40 sets at a time. You could also speak to Craig at KuboTen as he might be able to get them cheaper then AC2.