spritzer

Yup, I thought about doing a RIP Cavalli thread with all the bad shit he's done over the years but didn't find the time. Even the site now throws up a cert error... Must be nice to have a terminally flawed Liquid Carbon with a "lifetime" warranty.

I've had to desolder a RK50 and it is easy with a desoldering gun. You can get a cheap one which costs a fraction of what the RK50 costs...

In other news, I just heard a Senn HE-1 has landed in Iceland. I missed a call from the Senn rep during the week so I guess I need to haul some gear over to their place for a comparison...

Indeed and when the charge is there, it will stay there for some time. The ifi spiel is just BS on top of other BS claims.

There is a lot of BS in that...like a lot a lot... The whole part about the bias supply being a battery supply and the super 1kV Wima caps... Also why the hell at the Stax sockets upside down? True but it would have been beneficial to keep them at an angle. It would also have been beneficial to have a better amp in there, a proper preamp not using the cheapest parts so it was really nitpicking...

It probably has a capacitor dropper in there. Now how they crammed a cap in there that is large enough and with a proper safety rating is a bit dubious...

First off, anybody who plugs anything Stax into that box deserves the Darwin award, plain and simple. Going by that the new Floats are supposed to be compatible with the old ones we are dealing with a bias of +1500V... yeah...just about three times that of the Stax. Maybe they lowered it but I some how doubt it as those drivers need a lot of bias to work. That "Thinker" (the irony is palpable) states over and over again that the bias is 800V but how was that verified. Perhaps by measuring after the (32M) ballast resistor? Then we have the transformers, Stax used a ratio of 1:25 but Jecklin...1:120. So, even with a low input you are overdriving the fuck out of the Stax. I guess that is one way to get a "meaty" impression...

To take this pics and post "best amp evah!!" shows a special level of something... Some things stand out for me, the total lack of heat shrink on the mains switch which means the CE rating doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Also just the sheer level of hacking going on. Parts suspended in mid air and other marks of quality. Also just the general lack of giving a fuck...

Even though I've already replied in private, it might help others. Here is the official Stax repair service for Stax in the UK: https://electromod.co.uk

The boards have been here for a while now but there just aren't any parts available so I can't test it. I'll have to dig it out and take a picture but basically, it's a stereo board, all through hole and it is pretty small.

I just loved to see the inside pics of the "best electrostatic amp in the world" over on HF, the QA Jecklin Transdyn. So it's a badly built EQ board with a B&O IcePower 125ASX2 power amplifier module and a couple of cheap looking transformers. Also locating those two transformers side to side... yeah there will be some crosstalk.

Sounds crazy, we could do it...

I would personally go with pure Class A amps. None of the Quad stuff interests me at all and the build quality on the Elite stuff is shockingly bad. One of them has the output transistors on wires going all the way across the chassis as the heatsink on the other side wasn't big enough.

I have enough parts on hand to build at least 80 T2's...

I've had at least five 007A's that were SZ3... Stax serial numbers, such a source of joy.

Stax and serial numbers mean nothing so it could very well have been brand new. The first Mk2's were SZ2 but there were reports of SZ3 in the mix as well. The new ones should be SZ3 but who knows what they are up to now.

Yes, the drivers were glued to the baffle on all my sets. No pics as I didn't take any but as soon as you open them up there should be a very dried out adhesive ring.

The input on that KGSS is so fucked that it might be better to just take the pot off the board and just wire it all from the beginning. You should have a 100R input resistor and 500K shunt to ground. That's it... Be sure to replace the adhesive rings in front of the drivers or they will sound pretty wonky...

Exactly what I though. The Schottkys would be even worse...

You need to use the OPA445 on this one or it will die very soon.

Good that it works and I'd add some solder to the tube pins (helps take the strain when inserting tubes) and clean off the flux.

First thing I'd check is a cold solder joint or something like that. Then measure the pots and see what they are doing when you turn them.

It's hard to say really, the old Stax is hit and miss but if they were never exposed to direct sun and never arced then they should be just fine.

Must try that sometime. Use a transformer way past its rating but only use one winding... Yup quality stuff.

For hum I'd look at the rectifiers and caps. they are all probably well past their prime. I would swap them all out regardless just to be on the safe side.