spritzer

Given the fact that Stax made some of the best SS amps in the world it would be worth a shot.

So you are going to skip a 10$ bias supply and go for a 1k$ amp instead?? I like it!!! It should be a fine match but the SR-Lambda loves the extra power the BH can give them though the GES should be quite nice with some MKP coupling caps.

Being a constant tinkerer is a way of life. It's not always for the better, that's for sure... If you going to angle the Lambda drivers even more then the stock design calls for you have to treat the housing a little and be very careful removing the drivers from the baffle.

After owning nearly every headphone there is there is nothing new and exciting. This is where my love of modding comes in so that there is something new to tinker with.

Here they are. First up is the Stax "A" design from the SR-3 instructions manual: Next is the SRX schematic from the same manual with the PSU: Here is the SRA-3S design: I think this is the SRA-12S or the 10S: This the rather smaller "Daughter of the Beast": Last but not least the whole 845 equipped "Beast". The schematic is so massive that the printing is a bit too coarse to fit it on the small page so the pictures are equally bad. If there is anything missing just ask me: Enjoy!!

The National design is a bit of a joke so it should be perfect for Ray. The schematics are uploading now and I've included both the 845 "Beast" design and the lesser "Daughter of the Beast" with a 6BX7 pulling output duty. I'll post them as soon as they are done uploading.

The tube Cad would be perfect for him and there is also that National circuit that can be used with both tubes and transistors for output duty. Two amps for the price of one... Here is the National PDF with the electrostatic amp at the back. I don't have a scanner but I can take a picture of it and the two other Stax schematics. I also have the SRA-12S here somewhere and the Jones designs. We might as well make it easy for Ray to steal some good designs...

I'm eagerly awaiting what crap Ray will come up with for his "reference" ESP amp. Milspec this and that... Good to that there is a solution to that particular problem. There is a large minimum order on the custom units though so that would make a small production run harder, right? The SRA-3S is fully DC-coupled but it uses output caps and it is a great little amp, with the emphasis on little as it is tiny! The SR-X was never put into production so that is clear but it was presented as a design for DIY use and it is all tubes but comes from the same era as the SRA-3S or the old Stax sound.

So who do I have to kill to get some adapters from you...?

Here is the design for those interested minus the PSU. I have the original from Stax in an instructions manual for the SR-3 in Japanese and there is has a simple RC PSU with no regulation and dual secondaries. The Stax portable is stranded due to the commitment to the miniature transformers needed. They need to be bought in bulk and that simply isn't feasible unless someone just takes a hit and buys them or their price is added to the first amps bought.

Ahhh so designing is now taking an amp that has elevated every ESP headphone I've connected to it to new heights and "fixing it" so a crap (for the price anyway) headphone sounds good. I can see that the old Quad motto of "the closest approach" is long lost on you or you would see just how much crap that is. The He90 is so good that the best amp design available can't drive it and make it sound good can't be an indication that the headphone just isn't as good as you think it is? The fact that the Stereophile reviews (back when they weren't the crap they are today) rank the He90 as good but the SR-? as the standard against which all are measured and that is with a SRM-T1S as a driver. So I tried the He90 with about 20 different drivers and that includes the 1969 SRA-3S (contemporary to the no.2 Stax design the ES-1 is...ahem... based upon) where it sounded ok but it simply can't touch the Omegas in anything we'd call high end quality. The bass can seem deeper and the treble smoother but that is simply the amp fucking up the signal so the phones appear to be better.

A braided cable has higher capacitance then a flat ribbon and with the likes of the SR-007 we want to bring it down as much as possible. I did to a cable where I twisted the 6 wires around a center tube but it was very unpleasant to use and very, very time consuming to make.

The difference is startling to say the least. It's not in your face "OMG it's so much better" but the phones are merely left to do their own thing and are fed close to all the power they need. You do need to crank a stock KGSS/BH a bit so even more power is needed.

You should have jumped on it when I get impatient and just want to get rid of the stuff...

I've been looking for something similar but haven't found any.

Cover all of the pins with a finger and that's it.

All the normal bias Lambdas are sold and I only have a Lambda Pro for sale. I'm always willing to discuss a deal to help out a fellow addict... They are very sensitive and delicate instruments so I never plug them in with music playing and always let them charge up for a second or two before hitting play. When I unplug the phones I always short out the pins to discharge the diaphragm. It's also not wise to run the amps without a load present for any length of time but that's about it.

Budget option for Kondo but they aren't exactly cheap either. They are how ever amazing value when compared to that 110k$ Lamm and other very expensive amps that use standard parts. The RK50 is crazy expensive at 900$ but since there will be no Black Gate caps in the amp I might as well splurge on the signal path.

I just don't want anybody to get swept up in the FOTM madness and be stuck with a under performing product they can't sell. I'm not saying that is the case but the TakeT craze should be fresh in mind with a rush to buy something that is really still a prototype. There is one thing I really like about the 1.2B and that is the crappy box and the fact that it was still marked 1.3 but that was just scratched out and 1.2B marked instead. All that for the price of a used SR-007... What I'm saying it that just be careful as they are going up against some very formidable headphones that cost about or less then 1k$, SR-SC1, recabled ESP950, used SR-007 and 4070 and a modified Sigma. I never said that I had heard the amp but I fully comprehend the effect caps have on the signal path. Add that to the relatively small PSU and a lack of huge current sources to feed the difficult loads but I'm sure tube rolling it to eternity will make it sound great...

The PS2 Jecklins run at 1550v DC+ but I'm mainly future proofing the amp just in case I ever break down and start to prototype the driver designs I've been dreaming up over the last few years.

Kondo uses them as the...ahem... budget option in the preamps with a huge stepper as the 2000UKP option with hand made silver resistors.

No BH is complete without at least 3 bias supplies, Normal, Pro and one variable up to 1000v...

*High Five!!*

This is certainly possible and there are a number of transformers available for this, both in existing designs and new. Sowter and Plitron have new transformers and Just Real Music might also have a transformer that might do the trick. There are also plenty of output trafos that will work so look for a ratio between 1:25-1:50 or even higher. The bias supply can be constructed in any number of ways but the Stax SRD-7 Mk2 design would work just fine. I'm staying away from this particular can of worms in case I won't like them...

I would wait for the 1.2b FOTM to die down to get some solid feedback. You also have to read between the lines as owners ofter refrain from posting negative comments from the fear of getting mauled by the other owners. It's not pretty to be on the receiving end of that... There is one "budget" option for driving the SR-007 that I'm going to look into but it will be DIY unfortunately. That is to use the massive transformers from a Koss E/10 (the adapter for the ESP10) and hook it up to a 580v bias supply. They are about 4 times as large as the Stax transformers so the necessary current should make it through.