spritzer

You know full well that the sound is directly linked to how much we paid for the gear!!

I just finished repairing and restoring the most disgusting headphone I've ever had the unfortunate pleasure of coming across, a Sony ECR-600. They have that "special" cable Sony invented for the ECR-800 and the insulation had literally turned to goo with 4 copper conductors sticking through. Just to add to my pleasure the "goo" stuck to everything. The headpiece had a thick layer of dirt on them but after a good scrub and a Stax electret re-cable they are good as new. My problem is that I can't get any volume out of them either with the BH at full volume or with the adapter box driven by the B22. My old ECR-400 box is long gone so I can't use that for testing but this isn't normal. All the connections are fine as there is no imbalance at all, just not enough volume. Btw. It's probably the best built supra-aural 'stat I've ever seen and what limited impressions I have they sound stunning. Milled metal cups and an ingenious headband which puts just enough force on the ears. I will post some pics when I get off work tomorrow for the Sony ECR nut cases out there.

The main difference between the two units is the slightly more forward sound of the Mk2 which also has a major (in Stax terms) midbass hump and less bass extension.

It's a bit on the high side but it is the final price including fees and shipping so it wouldn't be much more then a 500$ sticker price and could even be less.

One of us (again)... one of us (again)... Around 7000Yen in Japan so be prepared to pay 100$+ for a set.

This the complete opposite to my experience with two different HE90's with a lot of different amps. They do "boom, boom" bass pretty well i.e. can be like a dynamic headphone but any deep and complicated bass and they simply flat out refuse to play it. Add the SR-Omega to the mix (a reputed bass headphone) and the SR-007 goes deeper and is more controlled at high volume but otherwise they are pretty similar. Now that I've bought a SR-Omega/SR-007 hybrid it will be interesting to see how it sounds in comparison to the other models.

If the He90 even came close in bass, treble extension and coherence then the phones were off their game. That being said the SR-007 is not a meet friendly headphone and you need to spend time with them to fully realize their potential.

My SR-007's have only once needed to be charged but this is certainly tied to the humidity level and Iceland is very dry. If this was Justin's set and just came off a plane then there might have been some "electret effect" i.e. a negative charge sitting on the diaphragm impeding its movement. That would make them sound congested and shut in when they are obviously not supposed to be. Did you try any other phones with the amp such as the Lambda Signature?

Ok, thanks.

That's very interesting!! Did he have any specs on it?

Yup, one works and the other is faulty.

Happy birthday!

They suffer massive channel imbalance which is most likely tied to some structural issues. It might be very hard to repair but I'll just have to wait and see.

There will be a full report on them and any/all repair attempts of the old drivers. The seller told me how they failed so it might be tough to bring them back...

Ok, I admit it, I lied!!! I just bought them! Not a bad price though for some spare parts for my other set.

Excuses, excuses...

...and why isn't there an amp on the way to you now?? ... There are some speakers which would work with the amp due to their high impedance and efficiency but they are rare though compatible drive units could be found with relative ease.

Til hamingju me

Those pics would be beyond great to have.

The Nova has the newer arc assembly (same as the new phones), the current TOTL cable and better earpad material then the Signature but I find the sound to be good on the Nova but they are just boring and lifeless compared to the older phones. All of the T1 amps use the same PCB but the T1 is RCA only while the T1S and T1W are multiple input and one has XLR sockets. The T1W also has variable bias on one output and a passive preamp function. I prefer the sound of the original T1 by a hair but they are all good amps that can be made better with a few simple mods. The ED-1 is a hot item for some strange reason so they can go for 200$ and up to 700$ depending on the market so nailing down one amount is tough.

Those that know far more then I about Quad's say that they will go very load with the right amps and if the speakers are in perfect condition. I've heard one restored set driven by some old ARC tube amps and they went very loud indeed though we didn't want to push them into protection mode. As the speakers age, the crap glue used by Quad comes apart so all tolerances go out of the window and amp has to work much harder to get the same dB level. The speakers are also often used with very badly matched amps which may have a lot of power on paper but since the RMS figures are worthless when it comes to driving ESL's lower can be much better.

The dynamic speakers are just that, dynamic so much easier to make properly then the ESL63 which no industrial engineer did ever touch. PJW was one of the best audio engineers of all time but coming up with an efficient way of building said designs wasn't his forte. The Quads will go well above 100dB in the right system so the loudness crap is just like the "common knowledge" that electrostatic headphones have no bass. Some of these speakers have been in use for 30-40 years so it's no wonder they are starting to show their age.

The He90 is just badly designed and so is the SR-Ω for that matter but the SR-007 is much, much stronger. The drivers are bolted to a plastic subassembly which is then mounted to the aluminum frame. The only real flaw with the Mk1 design is the ineffective strain relief on the cable which can cause the cable to break but it's easy enough to replace (100$ for a new cable if I'm not mistaken) and if you have have a SR-007BL then the new Mk2 cable should fit where this isn't a problem. Even though I baby all of my gear, my old SR-007 did fall to the floor once ,when I turned my head to fast and the headphones stayed in place, but there wasn't a mark on them and they still sound excellent. The PCB stators are indeed what makes them so good yet strong along with the attention to detail i.e. how to get rid of all the resonances inside the drivers. Both the He90 and the SR-Ω get "confused" at high volume as the drivers can't get rid of all the energy (a major issue with all planar design) while with the SR-007 the energy is transferred out of the drivers, through the housing and into the head. This also makes the stators very inert and stable so they can sustain shocks and bumps much better then other designs.

I would start off with anything made before 1980...