Hints on maintaining / improving my Stax SRM-T1S

[plaurids]

More bad news...

Edifier / Stax Japan answered and they said they won't accept items for repair through Edifier Brazil unless either they were bought from the latter or, at the very least, I have a receipt from the original owner showing the original place of purchase. Needless to say, I satisfy neither requirement - my 007 Mk1's former owner also got it used.

I'm making a last ditch effort at Edifier Brazil acting as a middleman for getting a (pair of) spare sound element(s) from Stax, since they won't sell it directly to customers. HeyNow HiFi in Australia had these for sale until recently, but they no longer seem to have them. To sum up, things seem pretty bleak for my 007 Mk1 as they stand right now... 😫

I'm open to suggestions / places to get the parts I need... Any ideas?

Edited April 7, 2023 by plaurids

[chinsettawong]

Hi plaurids,

Fixing the headphones, if the membrane is still in good condition, isn't that difficult.  If you are handy enough, I can guide you.

Wachara C.

 

[plaurids]

Dear Wachara,

Thanks a lot for the reply and the kind offer. Since the driver is dead FAPP as it stands and it most likely would be replaced in any official repair scenario, I could try going through the procedure and seeing if I'd be able to do it. I've got used to maintaining my e-stat gear myself and learning what I need to that end - within certain bounds...

I'd be quite surprised if the membrane weren't damaged after all that mold entered the driver through that tear in the dust cover, though. It certainly sounds like it did.

Edited April 10, 2023 by plaurids

[chinsettawong]

Yea, just let’s open the driver and see how it is inside.  If there is mold, can we clean it?  If the diaphragm is bad, I can help you make a pair of new diaphragms. 
First, you want to unsolder all the wires.  Unscrew all the screws and it’s open.  Please be very careful with the dust cover as it’s very fragile.  
Take some pictures and let’s see how bad it is.

[plaurids]

On 4/7/2023 at 11:33 AM, chinsettawong said:

Yea, just let’s open the driver and see how it is inside.  If there is mold, can we clean it?  If the diaphragm is bad, I can help you make a pair of new diaphragms. 
First, you want to unsolder all the wires.  Unscrew all the screws and it’s open.  Please be very careful with the dust cover as it’s very fragile.  
Take some pictures and let’s see how bad it is.

Thanks again for being so prompt to help. It may take a while for me to respond to your instructions above, since I need to find some time to put my 007 Mk1 on the desk and open it up with the required care.

Anyhow, as said in my former post, my first report on the problem (see link) already has some pictures of the exposed sound element = driver (still fully assembled). There one can see the tear in the dust cover closest to the earpad and the mold inside the driver - more precisely, in the inner side of the dust cover, which is as far as I can see without disassembling the driver. Moreover, no wire solder is broken. Thus, as said above, it seems highly unlikely to me that the membrane is unaffected since the unit shows a severe channel imbalance, even though the inner stator won't let me see the diaphragm.

In the meantime, I have the following questions right away:

• Once the driver is disassembled, how can we wipe away the mold from the dust cover(s?), given they are so thin and fragile?
• I assume nothing can be done about the tear in the dust cover, which is an open avenue for future damage to the membrane by dust and mold, even supposing I'll be able to fix the driver with your help. Is it possible to replace the dust cover? If so, removing the mold from it becomes moot; otherwise, any fix is bound to be temporary, it seems to me...

I'll make another post when I'm able to open the driver.

Edited April 10, 2023 by plaurids