spritzer

I highly doubt that they are in any way similar, let alone if the v6.0 is made in Norway. The cost of making one unit in overhead alone is much, much higher then in the US let alone the Far East so the parts have to be cheaper to maintain the profit margin.

It's run by the guy that founded Electrocompaniet. Now thanks to you lot I'm looking into the V2.0 integrated amp for my speakers. Here I was hoping I could get away with a cheap NAD or Onkyo...

Ahhh.... well then the YH/HP-1000 should be nice but there we are right at square one again.

Now it more then stands up to its little brother but the tone is a bit different. The SR-3 has a "thicker" tone, more lush with an over damped bass so it thunders a bit but deep bass is always limited from these small drivers. The SR-1 is a bit thinner and more open then the 3 and dish out a surprising level of detail for something this old. The bass is limited by modern standards but what is there is tight and controlled. Both do have this... ehhh.... horny feeling to the sound so they are a bit larger then life but that reflects the era in which they were designed. Hell, the LP was only a few years old when the SR-1 was introduced.

T-50 v1... if you can find one. The donuts weren't miles off once fitted with SR-007 pads but still had a ways to go.

Nahh, but it's nice to know ones roots.

I was using the SR-1 for the first time in a long while and found out that there was some connection problem in the left side as it dropped out from time to time. I had noted the corrosion on the contacts when I first opened them up but since they played just fine I left it. Big mistake since now that I've gone to town with DeOxit and some sandpaper I have bass and an expansive soundstage that wasn't there before. Nice to see that grandpa still has some life left in him.

The Stax wires have only one level of insulation so the wire isn't easy to twist permanently. The Senn wire does have two layers so it's easier to twist. Just to clarify, the gold plated pins are an indication that the wires used are PC-OCC which the SR-303 uses. This is the only way to discern the rare black, non-wide PC-OCC cable from the OFC variant. The SR-007 is the easiest to fix of them all, just rotate the earpieces until the wire is untangled. Threading the rest of the cable through the Y-split also works just as well.

Yeah WTF?!?! Similarities as in there are caps, resistors and opamps used in both or the design as a whole?

x2!

Very nice!!

Cardas GRFA rca sockets are a pain to works with. You need to sand the shell to get a good contact which is just .

There is always a light twist on Stax cables so some is normal. Some examples have been worse then others with the cable badly done to begin with.

Yeah. \ I recently checked most of my Mullard stock and one of them is borderline so it's a good idea to have at least a tube checker handy. That tube has seen a lot of use in the old BH so may it rest in peace.

The BH uses EL34's and if the RCA's are really Mullards then they are very good tubes. They need to matched and tested though before even coming near the BH.

All the Signatures are brown, Lambda Signature is brown with old style of arc assembly, Nova Signature is almost identical to the SR-404 except for the labeling and the RSA approved gold rim on the drivers which can be seen from the outside.

I put that Blackgate on the bottom of the PCB so it wouldn't be in the way. It adds another 10mm or so to the height but that's no problem.

Up and running with the 7808 PSU. The heatsink on the PSU should perhaps have been a bit bigger with it's temp at 15

A cheaper amp with the same or better specs (i.e. no CCS, AC coupled, high bias output tubes) but better made and at a lower price. You may prefer the sound of the other amps or some of their features but the cold hard value is hard to deny.

Where did I comment on the sound? Change the feedback, the operating point for the tubes or the PSU and the amp will sound very different from another one using the same topology. Right now I'm building my own version of the Egmont (everything different except the basic topology if the amp section and the input tubes used) so while it will have the same character as the crap that Rudi is peddling but not sound the same.

They are very upfront about some parts being made in China such as the chassis and I'd guess that they get their transformers from there as well. I know they've even offered to help some of their competitors get parts from China. As for them being assembled in China I don't know and don't really care. Their craftsmanship is second to none and the parts quality is on par or even superior to far more expensive amps from SP and RSA. When the upgraded GES will be released both of them will be in a world of hurt.

Happy Birthday Jay!!

Most use WPI sockets (which were used by Koss in the 70's on the ESP10) today and Woo has their own custom made. They aren't half as nice as the Stax sockets but do the job. WPI also makes male plugs which work but not much more then that. The Woo socket is custom made for them, probably in China like the rest of their stuff.

While the 5 pin XLR connector is very nice to use and work with it has no place in a world full amps with Stax sockets. It should be easy enough to move the Stax plug from the adapter to the headphones...

This project has been dormant for a while now due to lack of time and parts but the parts arrived early this week and I finally had some free time so now my Shigaclone is riddled with Blackgates. Since I couldn't pick up a LM7808 regulator before the weekend I'm still running off a 6v battery so the main 470uF reservoir cap is still in place and so is the critical 0.1uf electrolytic. The PSU should be done this week and then I'll replace the 0.1uf cap and remove the main reservoir cap as well. I'm using three 47uF/50v N and two 4.7uF/50v PK BlackGates for now and a Riken 390ohm resistor on the output plus a Caddock MK132 91ohm as a shunt to lower the output level. First impressions are good with the bass leaner then before but much more natural. The treble is more extended and less harsh with far more detail retrieval. Total cost is under 300$ for two units with parts to spare.