The Headcase Stax thread

[cclragnarok]

I think this is how it works. For the KGSS:

Power supply: 350V to -350V

Voltage of each stator: 300V to -300V

Output voltage stator to stator: 300V - (-300V) = 600V to -300V - 300V = -600V

If the KGSS was "single ended," its output voltage swing would be 300V to -300V. Since it is push-pull, we get 600V to -600V stator to stator, which gives the 1200V P-P number.

[deepak]

Posting this from the SinglePower thread (didn't want to derail it)

A quick count gives me 12 ES-1's though some could be the same amp that changed hands. The issues are indeed serious and some of the amps have been sent in for repair without any work being done.

Considering that there were 500 SR-Ω's made in two years then 300 SR-007''s seems about right. According to Mikhail they can just stop making the 007t...

There are 500 SR-Omegas out there? Why are they so hard to come by

[spritzer]

There are 500 SR-Omegas out there? Why are they so hard to come by

The highest S/N I've seen is around 480 and I'm not going to assume that is the last set ever made.

As to why they are so hard to come by, they are better then that HE90 crap so the owners won't sell them... All joking aside there are quite a few on HF and here for that matter. Elephas has two and so do I, randerson has one and there are others I'm forgetting.

[guzziguy]

There are 500 SR-Omegas out there? Why are they so hard to come by

The highest S/N I've seen is around 480 and I'm not going to assume that is the last set ever made.

As to why they are so hard to come by, they are better then that HE90 crap so the owners won't sell them... All joking aside there are quite a few on HF and here for that matter. Elephas has two and so do I, randerson has one and there are others I'm forgetting.

It sounds like there are plenty out there. If you haven't been able to obtain one, it sounds like you are not offering enough. If you offer enough, you'll get a pair. Of course, "enough" may be too much for you.

[spritzer]

It sounds like there are plenty out there. If you haven't been able to obtain one, it sounds like you are not offering enough. If you offer enough, you'll get a pair. Of course, "enough" may be too much for you.

Throwing around cash isn't really the best way as I got both of mine for a total of 2000

[deepak]

It sounds like there are plenty out there. If you haven't been able to obtain one, it sounds like you are not offering enough. If you offer enough, you'll get a pair. Of course, "enough" may be too much for you.

I haven't been trying to obtain one. I would have bought Afrikane's one that was very reasonably priced; the driver instability/unavailability is what is keeping me at bay.

[spritzer]

I haven't been trying to obtain one. I would have bought Afrikane's one that was very reasonably priced; the driver instability/unavailability is what is keeping me at bay.

Yeah that is an issue but I couldn't find anything wrong with the drivers I have so it could be a simple fix. Sometimes the drivers just have to be taken apart and reassembled to be good again... The SR-Ω/007 hybrid does sound bloody great, even out of my current meager amplification and an "improvement" over the old units if Stax would have bothered to do the conversion properly.

[deepak]

Yeah that is an issue but I couldn't find anything wrong with the drivers I have so it could be a simple fix. Sometimes the drivers just have to be taken apart and reassembled to be good again... The SR-Ω/007 hybrid does sound bloody great, even out of my current meager amplification and an "improvement" over the old units if Stax would have bothered to do the conversion properly.

What conversion properly? SR-007 drivers in a SR-Omega housing or SR-Omega drivers in a SR-007 housing? If the former I thought the SR-007 housing was far superior?

Actually I thought both the SR-007 drivers and housing even when considered separate were supposed to be better designs. I could be way off base though

[Guest aaron313]

A stock Blue Hawaii is +/-400v so the KGSS is less then that or +/-350v though it can be run at 400v+. I would like to run the BH on 550v+ but capacitors are a problem at this level though I have some huge oil caps that can handle the voltage...

...and here I was thinking he was just a fucktard...

I'm not a MOT so I don't work on stuff for others unless there are some very special circumstances.

Ohhh... okay. Understood.

[deepak]

Ohhh... okay. Understood.

Just get an MK I

All the parts are user replaceable, and Stax will support it for a long time.

[spritzer]

What conversion properly? SR-007 drivers in a SR-Omega housing or SR-Omega drivers in a SR-007 housing? If the former I thought the SR-007 housing was far superior?

Actually I thought both the SR-007 drivers and housing even when considered separate were supposed to be better designs. I could be way off base though

First off the SR-Ω driver will never fit in a SR-007 housing so I was talking about the newer drivers in a SR-Ω housing. Stax didn't bother to tune the drivers and make sure that there wasn't any baffle leak which is IMO very poor performance. I would expect something like this of Yama's but not the factory. Seal off the drivers and they sound very good indeed with a wider soundstage then the stock SR-007 yet the same "ease" with which everything is presented. The bass is a bit more upfront and apparent so it won't win out on neutrality but this might just be my favorite Omega as I can wear them for hours and the focus is stronger then on the SR-Ω. Drive them really hard and the thin aluminum chassis starts to resonate same as if it had the original drivers so that is something I have to work on but other then that I can't wait for the BHSE to take them to their full potential.

The SR-007 is clearly the superior design but it's much more down to earth then the SR-Ω, more sane even. The holy grail has to be a bit nutty and thinking outside the box which the Omega does, like for instance with the dual outside screens which are damped due to their large size and support each other. The plug in cable is also a nice touch and shows that old Stax had some further cable designs cooking or were just thinking ahead.

[Duggeh]

Throwing around cash isn't really the best way as I got both of mine for a total of 2000

[deepak]

First off the SR-Ω driver will never fit in a SR-007 housing so I was talking about the newer drivers in a SR-Ω housing. Stax didn't bother to tune the drivers and make sure that there wasn't any baffle leak which is IMO very poor performance. I would expect something like this of Yama's but not the factory. Seal off the drivers and they sound very good indeed with a wider soundstage then the stock SR-007 yet the same "ease" with which everything is presented. The bass is a bit more upfront and apparent so it won't win out on neutrality but this might just be my favorite Omega as I can wear them for hours and the focus is stronger then on the SR-Ω. Drive them really hard and the thin aluminum chassis starts to resonate same as if it had the original drivers so that is something I have to work on but other then that I can't wait for the BHSE to take them to their full potential.

The SR-007 is clearly the superior design but it's much more down to earth then the SR-Ω, more sane even. The holy grail has to be a bit nutty and thinking outside the box which the Omega does, like for instance with the dual outside screens which are damped due to their large size and support each other. The plug in cable is also a nice touch and shows that old Stax had some further cable designs cooking or were just thinking ahead.

Thanks for that info

[spritzer]

But you've got the SR-Omega, so your new grail has to be an original revision SR-1 now

That is high on the list but the SR-2 tops it as the rarest Stax headphone ever. It isn't even on the history site and the Unofficial page has only the pictures that were included with the only one I've seen for sale. I do have a review of them in a late 60's HFN mag and the specs. I did buy some old Stax phone this week and it could be a SR-2 or a SR-3 as the picture included is so bad. Maybe I got really lucky or just scored a nice example of the original SR-3. The link is here

[catscratch]

x2 what Dan said -- what are you using for amplification? Nearly every amp I've heard Stax on have had perfectly adequate, controlled, deep, extended bass -- not monsters, mind you, but there's certainly enough there there. And that's including the "measly" little SRM-310.

SRD-7 Pro transformer out of a Dared VP-20 speaker amp. Not a terribly great amp mind you, but certainly not a bad one, and the transformer box does a much better job than the SRM-313, which IMO can't drive the O2 worth a damn.

Hmm, I don't doubt this is true for you, but I am a bit puzzled because it isn't my experience.

Regarding the lack of deep bass, you're not the only one with this complaint, I remember spritzer and audiod having the same issue.

Can you list some tracks where the O2Mk2 is lacking deep bass compared to the O2Mk1?

For example, Jennifer Warnes' "Way Down Deep" from The Hunter is a track with some deep bass.

I listen to a lot of electronic music in general and psytrance in particular, and any deficiency in bass performance will quickly become obvious. But even with more common tracks, you can hear it. For instance, "Subterranean Homesick Alien" from Radiohead's OK Computer is an example... the bass guitar in the track should be pretty even in volume and definition across the board, but with the Mk2 the lower down the pitch goes, the quieter it gets and the fuzzier the sound gets with less definition. That's definitely an irregularity in the FR and inability to reproduce the deepest notes quite as well as the mid and upper bass. Thom Yorke's voice is also a bit thinner than usual with a lighter/colder tone to it; a bit different from the way more neutral headphones present it.

With something like Shpongle though, it is painfully evident. Shpongle is the musical equivalent of a sine sweep - it covers pretty much all frequency ranges simultaneously. And, while I wouldn't ordinarily use electronic music to evaluate a headphone's performance, I know Shpongle like the back of my hand and can tell colorations pretty well, just because I've heard it on pretty much every single system I've critically listened to.

These are the three exact reasons why I tore my 007A apart to try and fix it. Plugging the ports does fix the bass issues but they are still a bit shouty. It's clearly not the drivers though as the SR-Omega hybrid sounds great and it uses 007A drivers. The overly emphasized midrange could be caused by a number of things and I'm sure I can "fix" it but working on any one of the Omega's takes a lot of time. A small calibration and then 15 minutes of piecing them back together will get old very quickly.

The bottom line here is that Stax made a bad call IMHO and made a more impressive phone that does sound good for a while but to those that love the Mk1 there is no comparison.

Fuck, that's not what I wanted to hear. But, what the heck, it could spare me money in the long run. I think I'll sell them and get an original Mk1.

I can't stand any midrange issues. At all. If a headphone has a unpleasantly colored midrange (I can take pleasant colorations a-la-K340 but not unpleasant ones) it goes. The Mk2 unfortunately commits one of it's few sins in the one area I can't forgive it for.

I haven't tested it with the McAlister though, who knows what synergy could do. I'm sure that with proper synergy you could, at least to some extent, compensate for its problems, but that's not how I build my systems. I'm in the "transducer first" camp (as long as it is adequately driven, since you can't judge an underdriven transducer), and I want to have a headphone I'm 100% happy with before I upgrade the rest of the system to match.

I'll test the SRD-7/Dared combo with whatever else I have on hand and check out a few other sources too just to be completely sure.

[Edit: is it just me, or did Stax voice this closer to the SR-404 sound than (I would think) it was before? And isn't the SR-404's particular kind of emphasized upper-midrange coloration a little too typical of so many Japanese headphones? A lot of audio-technicas have similar midrange tones. Heck, in the piano business, a lot of Japanese tune their Kawaii's or whatever to 444hz rather than the typical 440, and that results in a tone that's a bit eerily similar to the type of midrange that I'm hearing out of a lot of Japanese cans. If so... that's not good. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but if that's the case, then my hopes for solid future Stax products are... diminished.]

[Tony]

[Edit: is it just me, or did Stax voice this closer to the SR-404 sound than (I would think) it was before? And isn't the SR-404's particular kind of emphasized upper-midrange coloration a little too typical of so many Japanese headphones? A lot of audio-technicas have similar midrange tones.

It's possible. The D5000 are so upper midrange happy that they become disgusting and viscid sounding. I know that also the Sony EX700 have a very pronounced (and sibilant) upper midrange.

The only Japan dynamic headphone I know that doesn't follow this trend is the ATH-ESW9, that in fact has recessed upper mids.

The few headphones to have flat upper mids are a bless. The SR-X MkIII Pro is the best example I have found in all my headphone journey.

The SR-003 do a wonderful job in their softness, but they are not neutral and anyway you know them as much as I do.

[spritzer]

Fuck, that's not what I wanted to hear. But, what the heck, it could spare me money in the long run. I think I'll sell them and get an original Mk1.

I can't stand any midrange issues. At all. If a headphone has a unpleasantly colored midrange (I can take pleasant colorations a-la-K340 but not unpleasant ones) it goes. The Mk2 unfortunately commits one of it's few sins in the one area I can't forgive it for.

I haven't tested it with the McAlister though, who knows what synergy could do. I'm sure that with proper synergy you could, at least to some extent, compensate for its problems, but that's not how I build my systems. I'm in the "transducer first" camp (as long as it is adequately driven, since you can't judge an underdriven transducer), and I want to have a headphone I'm 100% happy with before I upgrade the rest of the system to match.

I'll test the SRD-7/Dared combo with whatever else I have on hand and check out a few other sources too just to be completely sure.

[Edit: is it just me, or did Stax voice this closer to the SR-404 sound than (I would think) it was before? And isn't the SR-404's particular kind of emphasized upper-midrange coloration a little too typical of so many Japanese headphones? A lot of audio-technicas have similar midrange tones. Heck, in the piano business, a lot of Japanese tune their Kawaii's or whatever to 444hz rather than the typical 440, and that results in a tone that's a bit eerily similar to the type of midrange that I'm hearing out of a lot of Japanese cans. If so... that's not good. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but if that's the case, then my hopes for solid future Stax products are... diminished.]

Dumping them for a Mk1 might be the best course of action for now as I'm still not sure that the damage done by Stax can be fixed without some major surgery.

I don't really believe that any synergistic amp will make the Mk2/A sound better (or rather as it should) but I have been thinking about the problem and I have a theory. The only two things that really are different with the Mk2/A is the port and the distance from the drivers to the ear. While the pads are different in shape then the sound should be more similar to the SR-Omega/007 hybrid which isn't the case due to the similar pad design. That only leaves those two factors and with the port plugged it's probably the distance between ear and driver that is causing some unwanted reflections in the larger pads.

One of the complaints about the Mk1 was comfort for weirdos (me included) with large ears so Stax increased the gap. A quick test would be to force the headphones closer to the head by a few mm and a more permanent solution would require modding the spring which holds the earpad. My set is out on loan so I can't test it but please do and report back... just mind the backwave!!!

[Guest aaron313]

Just get an MK I

All the parts are user replaceable, and Stax will support it for a long time.

That's what I'm considering. Because, after all, it was the MkI that made me want Stax so badly.

[The Monkey]

Ugh. The right channel on my Sigs is misbehaving. Intermittent static coming through. Right now, if I had to guess, it sounds like there is some issue with the cable at the earcup because the static problem is occasionally reproducible when I move the that section of the cable. However, the problem occurs on its own also. When I say "static," it sounds like the right channel is making, uh, smooching noises. Sorry, that's the only way to describe it.

Diagnosis (of the phones)?

[grawk]

swap tubes and see if it follows it

[The Monkey]

swap tubes and see if it follows it

I swapped phones instead; no problem on the Lambdas.

[Tachikoma]

Sounds like dust. You're going to have to get your hands dirty and get inside the drivers, get the dust out and re-seal it. There might also be a leak in the protective membrane... I don't think I can recommend using PVC wrap to replace it in your case, since it kinda screws up the coupling of the driver to the enclosure, with the lambdas.

[grawk]

I'd still try swapping tubes

[The Monkey]

Fucking fuck. Ok, thanks guys. Dan, I have a slight suspicion that you are right on the tubes. Since I'll have the 007t opened up, what tubes should I throw in there? And what are my options?

Tachikoma, I also think you're right. Maybe some of the old foam got in there? How do I reseal?

[Tachikoma]

Mmmm, its unlikely that its the tubes, I've heard the same symptoms on most of my vintage staxen (non-lambda, though).

Reseal was a poor choice of words, reassemble more like =P I use a vacuum cleaner (very, very carefully and with the membrane taken out.) to get the dust out of mine... but a weak USB vacuum should do the trick. You can also gently rub the membrane with some PVC wrap, just in case the dust is stuck onto the membrane.