spritzer

Around 1500$ shipped.

The 404 is simply brilliant after it's been transplanted into the Sigma housing but I'm not a big fan either of the stock model. The SR-Lambda is one of the best headphones you can get at any price with very few flaws. The bass could be deeper, the treble more clear but the musicality is hard to deny.

Here is a pic: Having something made wouldn't be too hard but simply buying the 4070 arc would be even better.

Ok, didn't know that.

Ask EIFL or Yama's. Just so you know there are no forks to attach to a housing due to the different design of the SR-007. What is included is just the two metal arcs, headband and the plastic pieces that hold it to the base plate on each side.

The SR-303, 404, SC-1 and 4070 all use the same driver but the 303 uses the older PC-OCC cable and the SC1 is cryo treated. While all of the Lambdas look alike the drivers are very different and there are some subtle differences. I wouldn't do this mod with anything less then a SR-404 The glue I use I found at some local store and they have no idea where it's from. It's not marked in any way but I bought up everything they had so I have enough for some time. The glue with the yellow backing that I used to mount the damping material is also good and you should be able to find it at a local crafts store. One thing that you need to know is that this is far from easy and you need to be able to do repairs to the drivers as it is guaranteed that you'll rip a dustcover (or two) or even rip one driver apart. Working with electrostatic drivers takes a lot of practice and there is no room for error. One slip and you can throw the driver in the garbage. I'm not trying to discourage you but you should know the risks involved.

If it all goes haywire then a new arc assembly costs 100$ and that includes the headpad. Find a used SR-404, that is the best way. Second best would be to buy a new one from Japan and cut it up. Please be aware that the success of this mod is in the glue used to mount the drivers. I've spent a lot of time to find the best one as it needs to be strong, no mess and very thin.

It great that you guys are liking the Stax experience... Bending the arcs on the SR-007 is absolutely crucial for them to reach their full potential. It's a bit sad how many have dismissed the SR-007 in favor of other phones just because the fit wasn't right...

That price is all kinds of crazy.

Plenty of them actually.

Yeah, it is called the KGSS... Being serious there isn't a whole lot that can be done for the Stax amps as you really need more power rather then new PSU caps. New RCA inputs and wiring help but will not fix what it wrong with the amp in the first place.

Like I told Andy it must be my Nordic minimalism talking. I also wonder why they didn't hide the screws behind a fake front panel. It would have cost another 40$ but the amp would have looked much better. I don't see how this amp can be considered cutting edge without huge CCS for each channel sinking more heat then a 200w AB amplifier. You need a lot of current to keep electrostatics happy and make them reach their full potential. The new BH I'm working on will have four 0.27

This is one of the ugliest contraptions I've ever seen but Neil'a amp is worse. I also wonder where the massive heatsinks are to keep it cool... \

First off the disclaimer. This is live AC voltage you are working with so do this at your own risk. If you do not know what you are doing have somebody that does take a look at it. While I've tested the 240v version and it works fine this is posted without any responsibility on my part for any damage due to Stax changing the design at some point. This works with my two C-series SRM-1 Mk2's and my B-series SRM-T1. This is only intended for those amps that didn't ship with a voltage selector plug. If it did come with one... then use that then! The picture above is how the rear of the socket should look like but Stax often changed them around to have the component only for one voltage. If it reads 100v (or 117v, 230v etc.) only on the back and there is no plug in the voltage selector socket odds are that the socket is wired differently. It needs to be changed to the above configuration or the amp can catch fire or worse. Since there are two white wires I marked them on the picture, AC power in and from transformer. The AC power comes from the power switch and is in the upper row. It is connected to 3 pins while the other white wire is in the bottom row and only connected to one pin. That one is connected to the primary of the transformer. The only other pin that has more then one connection is the gray one. You can connect to any of the joined pins as they are all the same. Here is the list. You need to put a jumper wire between different colors where the + sign is. There are always two different connection per voltage with either two or three different colors. 240v configuration Gray + Purple AC power in + Blue 220v configuration AC power in +Green Blue + Gray 117v configuration Blue + Purple + AC power in White + Green 100v configuration AC power in + brown Green + White

You could also lower the bias voltage with a resistor to ground. I don't know the exact values for dropping 80v but I'm sure Kevin does.

If you have less then 220v then it is a problem. The transformer will just half the voltage it gets so you could be running the amp at 10?v. I would talk to some local transformer manufacturer and have them make you a 5A (at least) transformer matched for your line voltage. It's a great investment and not that much more expensive then many stock units.

If you are using a 220v->110v transformer but feeding it 230v+ like we have here in Europe then the amp is getting half of that or 115-117v. The only effect the transformers has is current limiting so it has to be very over sized. I'd never use a 727 with anything less then a 3-500w transformer.

That would be a cool project. I'm probably going to mod another one of my Sigmas and mount the drivers next to the ears and see what effect the then ported enclosure has on the sound.

Ehhhh ok... ... good for you... The grill is painted so it should be a good conductor and they often oxidize with age so the conduct even less. I wouldn't worry too much but if you want to fix it I can help you.

It could be a system compatibility issue or that the phones are defective. The SR-007 will sound like a puddle of mud in the wrong system while other, lesser cans sound just fine.

It would be touching the stator then but it's very hard to fix and could damage the driver in doing so. If you don't get shocked then I wouldn't worry too much about it as the grill isn't connected to anything.

There is a possibility that the phones are defective (known issue) or that you simply like the K701 more. Nothing wrong with that as you wouldn't be the first not to like the SR-007 or stats in general.

I posted this over on HF but it should also be here. What I did for those not in the "mafia" is to rip apart a SR-Sigma and a SR-404, swap drivers and cable and then put them together again as a SR-Lambda and SR-Sigma 404. The Sigma line used Lambda drivers or rather the SR-Lambda used the SR-Sigma driver design so swapping them is relatively easy. Stax has been doing this to broken Sigmas for the last few years but why pay them to do something I can do in a few hours. Before anything like this could be done I put a lot of hours into ripping the SR-Sigma apart, cleaning it thoroughly and removing any glue residue that was left over. That is a nasty, time consuming job and leaves you with very sore fingers and no fingernails. I didn't do any mods to the original design so the drives are out of phase like they are supposed to be and I even replaced the glue that holds the damping material in place and provides a better seal. SR-Sigma and SR-404 drivers side by side. It's startling how much things have changed in 30 years... Here are most of the parts that make up the headphones. The damping material was still drying out after the cleaning treatment and the arc was still in pieces after a thorough cleaning. Also missing is all the glue needed to mount the drivers and the damping material. The cable has been fitted and glued in place, drivers mounted to the metal baffles and all the glue to hold the damping material is in place. Drivers soldered to the cable and damping material fitted. The only issue is that the soldering connections for the bias are now facing the baffle and thus useless so I had to be creative. It would be possible to solder the cable before the drivers are mounted to the baffle but it would be much tougher to work with. Here they are ready with the "left over" SR-Lambda. I used Sigma earpads but Yamasinc has used Lambda pads for some reason in the past. I know that the Stax factory uses Sigma pads for this job so I went with that. I haven't had much time to play with them but first impressions are positive and they outclass the SR-Sigma Pro, that's for sure.

I know about that amp but I've never heard it. It should be pretty good with those tubes and all that Tango iron... The design was posted in some Japanese hi-fi magazine and it is rather popular over there. The schematic is also at the site where there are simulation tests of many Stax amps. Gotta go finish this SR-Sigma 404... ... the Lambda portion of the project is up and running...

It can be a combination of charging and amp warmup. My Blue Hawaii is quite a bit better after its been on for about 2-3 hours and the same goes for every one of my amps. My SRM-212 is on 24/7 and the same goes for the T1 and all source components. Charging is more of an issue if the phones haven't been used for a long time. It took my SR-007 once 6 hours to reach its normal sound after I hadn't touched them for some months. The bass was bloated and hollow and there was not much treble at all.