The ultimate DIY? A Stax SRM-T2!

[kevin gilmore]

Friggin awesome. What's it sound like!?

Lets just say that if this was a commercial product, and priced at $18k it would be

worth it.

Edited March 22, 2010 by kevin gilmore

[digger945]

Lets just say that if this was a commercial product, and priced at $18k it would be

worth it.

You would have to say that...

[kevin gilmore]

updated bom with at least the screws and nuts correct

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/t2parts3.xls

if you use all stainless steel for the screws, there would be absolutely NO

magnetic parts in the amplifier or power supply except for the transformers.

It does not look good for me getting any sleep tonight.

[justin]

Lets just say that if this was a commercial product, and priced at $18k it would be

worth it.

ok but is that with black gates, double vcap mods, wood knob, and fun section? if not, i dont want it

[spritzer]

Well for 30K we could put in BG's and V-caps which seems to be all the rage now in upgrading the SRM-007t's and ship it with some burn in adapters so you don't have to wear out your headphones.

[n3rdling]

But then you'd be putting your headphone cables into a cooling period which would cause bond stress due to the varying temperatures between "burn in" mode and "cool out" mode. The only way to do this correctly is to warm up the cables for a good half hour before putting normal signals through them. You wouldn't sprint a mile once you woke up, so why torture your cables in this fashion? They're made out of atoms just like you and I.

[spritzer]

Hmmm that's a good point. For 5k$ more I can supply a small oven to cook the headphone before use for the ultimate burn in accessory.

[kevin gilmore]

I can get it to $30k real easy.

Its already designed for an additional power supply for dual mono power supplies.

And its designed for a quad fully regulated filament supply.

In addtion in the same size box i'm pretty sure i can replace the standard power

supply board with a shunt regulator board.

So 4 chassis seriously maxed out amplifier.

Not sure where you would put the black gates, there are no output or coupling caps

anywhere, and the 450 volt black gates are way to big for the box unless you cut

holes in the top.

Will look to see if any of the V-caps would be suitable for power supply use.

But you could always use them as brilliant stones and sprinkle them around the listening

area.

[spritzer]

Not sure where you would put the black gates, there are no output or coupling caps

anywhere, and the 450 volt black gates are way to big for the box unless you cut

holes in the top.

Will look to see if any of the V-caps would be suitable for power supply use.

But you could always use them as brilliant stones and sprinkle them around the listening

area.

Seems like somebody had the same idea

[Voltron]

So, did you listen all night as anticipated, KG? How does the sound compare to the Stax T2 or to the BH/BHSE? Pedestrian questions, but I am curious and now wish I had bought Birgir's T2 so I could have heard it before flipping it.

Hmm, dual mono power supplies does sound cool...

[luvdunhill]

But you could always use them as brilliant stones and sprinkle them around the listening

area.

Kevin, I think the term you are looking for is "cap garden"...

[n_maher]

Hmm, dual mono power supplies does sound cool...

No it doesn't.

Looking good Kevin, can't wait to see what the polished and finished panels look like.

[Voltron]

No it doesn't.

Less time to "mill" around?

[n_maher]

Less time to "mill" around?

You'd be quiet if you knew what was good for you.

No custom knobs for you, come back two weeks.

[Voltron]

D'oh! The Mill Nazi strikes again!

[kevin gilmore]

I listened for no more than 15 minutes, then kind of crashed.

then the dogs started making noise... etc...

I'm going to do serious listening over the weekend after cleaning up some of the mess.

I have a KGSS, Aristaeus, KGBH, KGBHSE prototype and the T2 to listen to.

And omega's, omega2's,sr-003, sr-404 headphones and the koss esp950.

And some low bias stax phones which at the moment can't be used because

i never planned on that. Although its a trivial fix thats on the list.

[spritzer]

If you have a SR-Sigma normal bias kicking about, try it. No wonder the old man liked them so much as they come alive with some power.

That reminds me, I need to bug Justin about some Aristaeus PCB's because I clearly need more amps...

[kevin gilmore]

I only have the 5 pin stax jacks at the moment....

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/t2burnin.jpg

its my new home office system...

So it turns out that the servo has a wiring error. Which is REAL simple to fix...

Remove and cross R81 and R82...

The schematic is right, and the board is wrong...

Which is why i was hearing some pumping last night.

All gone now...

Going to add troubleshooting voltages to the schematic in a few minutes.

Got to find some decent tubes

(well something reasonably priced before i put $600 of real mullards in there)

The dynamics of this amplifier really shines.

Edited March 23, 2010 by kevin gilmore

[Knuckledragger]

Kevin, as a photographer, I humbly suggest you either open up the aperture (two full stops would be good) or crank up the ISO. That latter option is probably better, as the Nikon D3 is the best high ISO performer in the DSLR market, except for the new D3S (which is largely vaporware at this point.) I also think I see a box for a monopod in the background there. [/photo nerd]

[justin]

I listened for no more than 15 minutes, then kind of crashed.

then the dogs started making noise... etc...

I'm going to do serious listening over the weekend after cleaning up some of the mess.

I have a KGSS, Aristaeus, KGBH, KGBHSE prototype and the T2 to listen to.

And omega's, omega2's,sr-003, sr-404 headphones and the koss esp950.

And some low bias stax phones which at the moment can't be used because

i never planned on that. Although its a trivial fix thats on the list.

This is how it goes at Kevin's house

*bark*..

BARK ARBAKR BARK BARK BAR BARK BARK

BARK BARK BARK

SHUTTUP!!!!!!!!!!

....

..

..*bark*

[kevin gilmore]

Kevin, as a photographer, I humbly suggest

...

When i shoot with the lens wide open then other people complain about the lousy depth of field.

When i shoot with the lens at maxium depth of field for that lens, people complain about color et all.

No matter what i do, everyone is a critic.

I have a number of tripods. including the one from the rca tk706. (my favorite 3 TUBE ntsc studio camera) (sadly toast) (and useless anyway)

If people think they can do a better job taking pictures at CJ, then they are welcome to borrow my camera.

(after they sign over everything they own)

There is also a big difference between doing something handheld in the dark, and setting up the tripod and

using the remote trigger. I'M LAZY OK...

I decided to skip dinner and listen to new music instead.

Listening to 11:11 (rodrigo y gabriela) just came in today, wow...

The amplifier has stablilized temperature wise, to a very friendly warm. The power supply runs much cooler.

I left the infrared temperature meter at work will make sure to put it in my pocket first thing tomorrow.

Still, its nowhere near as hot as the original.

It is going to be a tight squeeze in my corvette for CJ010

T2 amplifier and power supply

sony sacd player

cables and power strip

stack of music

Camera with 2 lenses, tripod, regular and tripple ring flash

35+ bottles of booze

clothes for 3 days

If i have to, i'll give up the extra clothes

And yes i have 4 yorkies. They are yappy. Isolde passed away.

Giovanni has cataracts and is mostly blind.

carmen is the barker.

Insert massive pile of rampant burnin bullshit here.

The punch and dynamics of this thing blows me away. That 1900 VPPSS really

does wonders for the transients.

Edited March 23, 2010 by kevin gilmore

[spritzer]

Pffft clothes are just a burden

[kevin gilmore]

OK, for those of you going to CJ and wanting specific music, do this

Download Music Collector, the CD cataloging software from Collectorz.com

download the trial version of music collector.

Then download my two databases.

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/sacdmaster.muc

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/cdmaster.muc

If you see something you definitely want to listen to, let me know.

[Knuckledragger]

When i shoot with the lens wide open then other people complain about the lousy depth of field.

When i shoot with the lens at maxium depth of field for that lens, people complain about color et all.

No matter what i do, everyone is a critic.

Indeed they are. I still say push your camera to ISO3200 or even 6400 (you're currently using 400 it looks like.) The performance of the D3 at ISO6400 is better than many DSLRs @1600. I'll shut up about this now.

If people think they can do a better job taking pictures at CJ, then they are welcome to borrow my camera.

(after they sign over everything they own)

I wish I were going to CanJam precisely so I could take pictures of all the equipment. With my camera or any other. From what I've gathered, meets are really not a good venue to get to listen to equipment but man could I get some gear porn.

It is going to be a tight squeeze in my corvette for CJ010

T2 amplifier and power supply

sony sacd player

cables and power strip

stack of music

Camera with 2 lenses, tripod, regular and tripple ring flash

35+ bottles of booze

clothes for 3 days

Something stands out about that, I'm not sure what.

[kevin gilmore]

After about 4 hours i figure it to be about 110F. Not quite as hot as my krell can get.

What a wonderful thing for a cold winter night.

As it is, it has raised the room temp about 5F.