spritzer

Dumping them for a Mk1 might be the best course of action for now as I'm still not sure that the damage done by Stax can be fixed without some major surgery. I don't really believe that any synergistic amp will make the Mk2/A sound better (or rather as it should) but I have been thinking about the problem and I have a theory. The only two things that really are different with the Mk2/A is the port and the distance from the drivers to the ear. While the pads are different in shape then the sound should be more similar to the SR-Omega/007 hybrid which isn't the case due to the similar pad design. That only leaves those two factors and with the port plugged it's probably the distance between ear and driver that is causing some unwanted reflections in the larger pads. One of the complaints about the Mk1 was comfort for weirdos (me included) with large ears so Stax increased the gap. A quick test would be to force the headphones closer to the head by a few mm and a more permanent solution would require modding the spring which holds the earpad. My set is out on loan so I can't test it but please do and report back... just mind the backwave!!!

Very nice!!! It looks much better without the hideous HE60 connector...

That is high on the list but the SR-2 tops it as the rarest Stax headphone ever. It isn't even on the history site and the Unofficial page has only the pictures that were included with the only one I've seen for sale. I do have a review of them in a late 60's HFN mag and the specs. I did buy some old Stax phone this week and it could be a SR-2 or a SR-3 as the picture included is so bad. Maybe I got really lucky or just scored a nice example of the original SR-3. The link is here

First off the SR-Ω driver will never fit in a SR-007 housing so I was talking about the newer drivers in a SR-Ω housing. Stax didn't bother to tune the drivers and make sure that there wasn't any baffle leak which is IMO very poor performance. I would expect something like this of Yama's but not the factory. Seal off the drivers and they sound very good indeed with a wider soundstage then the stock SR-007 yet the same "ease" with which everything is presented. The bass is a bit more upfront and apparent so it won't win out on neutrality but this might just be my favorite Omega as I can wear them for hours and the focus is stronger then on the SR-Ω. Drive them really hard and the thin aluminum chassis starts to resonate same as if it had the original drivers so that is something I have to work on but other then that I can't wait for the BHSE to take them to their full potential. The SR-007 is clearly the superior design but it's much more down to earth then the SR-Ω, more sane even. The holy grail has to be a bit nutty and thinking outside the box which the Omega does, like for instance with the dual outside screens which are damped due to their large size and support each other. The plug in cable is also a nice touch and shows that old Stax had some further cable designs cooking or were just thinking ahead.

Yeah that is an issue but I couldn't find anything wrong with the drivers I have so it could be a simple fix. Sometimes the drivers just have to be taken apart and reassembled to be good again... The SR-Ω/007 hybrid does sound bloody great, even out of my current meager amplification and an "improvement" over the old units if Stax would have bothered to do the conversion properly.

Throwing around cash isn't really the best way as I got both of mine for a total of 2000

The highest S/N I've seen is around 480 and I'm not going to assume that is the last set ever made. As to why they are so hard to come by, they are better then that HE90 crap so the owners won't sell them... All joking aside there are quite a few on HF and here for that matter. Elephas has two and so do I, randerson has one and there are others I'm forgetting.

A quick count gives me 12 ES-1's though some could be the same amp that changed hands. The issues are indeed serious and some of the amps have been sent in for repair without any work being done. Considering that there were 500 SR-Ω's made in two years then 300 SR-007''s seems about right. According to Mikhail they can just stop making the 007t...

No problem.

Again you are confusing rail voltage with output voltage. Like Justin said the KGSS runs on a +/-350v power supply which would give an output swing of 1400v P-P if run all the way but it isn't so the output voltage is 1200vP-P. A Blue Hawaii runs on a +/-400v PSU so it could output 1600vP-P and Stax would have used a +/-450v PSU in the T2 to reach the 630vRMS figure.

We are talking about two completely different things here. I was talking about the rail voltages for the output stage as Justin said which are a good way to see maximum output voltage. More voltage will only make the amp go much louder and not give more power. A Jecklin Float adapter swings a lot more voltage then any Stax unit but that's due to different driver design i.e. a larger D/S gap. That being said, voltage isn't that hard to come by but you also need current due to the wild impedance curve of an electrostatic element. It's a similar situation as with low and high impedance dynamics though electrostatics are both. The impedance is very high in the midrange but drops dramatically in the bass and treble. To maintain the same output voltage into a lower impedance you need current and that's where the Stax amps fall short. Right now I'm listening to my SR-Omega hybrid on a SRM-1 and it simply can't feed the treble and bass so when I increase the volume (voltage) the sound is louder but there is no more power to be had so the bass is still tubby and the treble rolled off.

A stock Blue Hawaii is +/-400v so the KGSS is less then that or +/-350v though it can be run at 400v+. I would like to run the BH on 550v+ but capacitors are a problem at this level though I have some huge oil caps that can handle the voltage... ...and here I was thinking he was just a fucktard... I'm not a MOT so I don't work on stuff for others unless there are some very special circumstances.

Ahh I forgot that the stock KGSS runs on +/-350v and not 400v... No.

That is correct. Something like the BH will output around 600V RMS and the KGSS 495v RMS if my memory and calculations are correct. The small Koss amp can do 810v RMS according to the instructions manual... but sounds like shit and can't drive anything.

There are no special tracks I can remember now (been at work now for 15 hours so all memory is shot) but it's something you hear with almost everything. The SR-007A and He90 bass are similar in a way that they allude to some deep bass that the phones can't deliver in the end (all show and no go) while the Mk1 is the exact opposite. The SR-Omega is between as it can pull off complex and deep bass but the chassis can dissipate the energy so turn up the volume and you have some excessive midbass bloom.

These are the three exact reasons why I tore my 007A apart to try and fix it. Plugging the ports does fix the bass issues but they are still a bit shouty. It's clearly not the drivers though as the SR-Omega hybrid sounds great and it uses 007A drivers. The overly emphasized midrange could be caused by a number of things and I'm sure I can "fix" it but working on any one of the Omega's takes a lot of time. A small calibration and then 15 minutes of piecing them back together will get old very quickly. The bottom line here is that Stax made a bad call IMHO and made a more impressive phone that does sound good for a while but to those that love the Mk1 there is no comparison.

Anything is possible on HF. Just look at some of the crap that has been popular over the years...

They won't fit in the standard KGSS case so that's one reason and it's also a good idea to keep electrolytics cool so that they will last longer. Some of the KGSS amps did have internal Black Gates but they used a larger chassis.

Very dark setup you've got there.

How do you think one will fair in an Egmont.

It's a similar deal with the Fischer connectors so ease up on the cutting Marc.

You can try to remove one of the plastic "fins" in the strain relief and see if it helps.

This is strange indeed. I assume that you normal listening level is somewhere around 5 or less on the volume dial as T1's don't like to go much higher then that. The 6CG7's begin to distort more but it's nothing as obvious as you have described. Try it with other headphones if you can and try new tubes but other then that it's tough to see what's wrong. Stax will repair your amp but Yama's does a horrible job so it might be better to ship it back to Japan. For the record Stax will try and fix any of the amps that they have made.

Yup. There seems to be only one Sigma Pro version though as designs stabilized after the mid 80's.

I have not heard one so I was only commenting on the design. If you feel like the price you paid for a SP amp is fair than good for you but most of the customers don't know what's on the inside of their amps and how much it costs to make one. Value is always in the eye of the beholder and my view may be a little odd as to me a 100k Lamm amp is a rip off of epic proportions while a 100k Kondo amp isn't with a lot of things hand made such as the resistors and caps. Design matters as the sound can be altered dramatically with a few component changes. My point exactly.