spritzer Posted July 18, 2016 Report Posted July 18, 2016 The Carbon has the same issue as the BHSE and the T2. Ruthlessly revealing and the HE90 are not a good match, especially if you are all too well aware of their shortcomings.
3x0 Posted July 18, 2016 Report Posted July 18, 2016 Any opinions with your other amps like the Octave? I'm still on the fence about grabbing something just for the HE90. My pair is pretty bass-shy even out of the T2 so I'm curious whether some design can ameliorate that glaring weakness.
spritzer Posted July 18, 2016 Report Posted July 18, 2016 Looks like I managed to cure the second channel imbalance of the HE90's. The old coating was probably acting up so I cleaned the mylar and started off with a fresh coat. Now they are rock steady. The same issue seems to plague the HE90 drivers as does the HE60, the coating looses some of its properties and it causes the mylar to collapse into one of the stators. I suspect the majority of the damage to the other driver was caused by the Single Power ES-1 but there the diaphragm would be pushed to one stator even with the smallest of pressure changes. To try and combat this I sprayed that stator with an anti static coating which seems to have helped. A small bit about the glass stators too, what were Sennheiser thinking with these? They are so fragile that just breathing on them causes them to crack but it does make me wonder what can be done with modern glass technology. The tooling costs would probably be massive but I'm still curious. I haven't tried them with the Octave yet but it does differ in some meaningful ways from the HEV90 so it should sound pretty different. You are never getting any usable bass out of the HE90, just look at the measurements Senn posted back in the day.
DefQon Posted July 18, 2016 Report Posted July 18, 2016 38 minutes ago, 3x0 said: Any opinions with your other amps like the Octave? I'm still on the fence about grabbing something just for the HE90. My pair is pretty bass-shy even out of the T2 so I'm curious whether some design can ameliorate that glaring weakness. When did you build/buy a T2?
3x0 Posted July 19, 2016 Report Posted July 19, 2016 Congrats on the successful refurbishment of the HE90. I imagine the collection is quite extensive now especially with the even rarer actually-vintage Stax models. 34 minutes ago, DefQon said: When did you build/buy a T2? Picked one up quite recently, originally (and exquisitely) built by a fine member from here. If you manage to pick up an Omega again you should try them on the T2. The resolution and bass (really top-to-bottom) performance is seriously impressive, even coming after a BHSE. Truly the very pinnacle of what I have heard and I am very grateful for the contributors and builders of the design. 2
DefQon Posted July 19, 2016 Report Posted July 19, 2016 I would be over the moon if I could find and buy another Omega for the price I paid for my original pair. Not going to happen though. Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
purk Posted July 19, 2016 Report Posted July 19, 2016 (edited) 8 hours ago, gepardcv said: Very pretty. So HE90+Carbon is not a good pairing? The Aristaeus just match better with the HE90. Birgir, is it "Ari #19" on yours? I actually prefer the HE90 out of the T2 more than the Aristaeus BTW. Edited July 19, 2016 by purk
Dave R Posted July 19, 2016 Report Posted July 19, 2016 13 hours ago, spritzer said: Look what just showed up. I decided to treat myself for my birthday... Sounds brilliant with the HE90 and is pretty much required to use them. Also the build quality is nothing short of stunning. Now I just need to address some imbalance in the HE90's as now that the left driver is up and running properly the right one is a bit too weak by comparison. I ordered an Aristaeus after getting the BHSE, but had to cancel because of financial reasons, definitely is ( IMO ) a beautiful looking amp though.
DefQon Posted July 19, 2016 Report Posted July 19, 2016 (edited) Any SRD-X schematics? Edited July 19, 2016 by DefQon
purk Posted July 19, 2016 Report Posted July 19, 2016 7 hours ago, Dave R said: I ordered an Aristaeus after getting the BHSE, but had to cancel because of financial reasons, definitely is ( IMO ) a beautiful looking amp though. it is a beautiful looking amp for sure but it doens't have the sheer sense of power as the BHSE. However, the tone can be a little more seductive. I'm running 4 Valvo ECC86s & 2 Mazda 12AXs chrome plate on mine.
Dave R Posted July 19, 2016 Report Posted July 19, 2016 17 minutes ago, purk said: it is a beautiful looking amp for sure but it doens't have the sheer sense of power as the BHSE. However, the tone can be a little more seductive. I'm running 4 Valvo ECC86s & 2 Mazda 12AXs chrome plate on mine. Ended up ordering that Aristaeus several months after getting the BHSE ( 2012 ) because of the way the BHSE made the 009's sound while using the stock Mullards, ( only with certain songs in my collection ) and thought with the Aristaeus being quite a bit less powerful than the BHSE it might solve that problem with those Earspeakers, but as I said I had to cancel that order. Now I am going to be getting another stats amp when I've the spare money, but it's going to be a Carbon because I'm now wanting a solid state. 1
purk Posted July 20, 2016 Report Posted July 20, 2016 Carbon is the right choice for your next amp. However, the Aristaeus is a little sweeter sounding however, it lacks the sense of power compared to the BHSE or Cabon for the SR009 and even more so for a harder to drive SR007.
justin Posted July 20, 2016 Report Posted July 20, 2016 On 7/18/2016 at 11:36 PM, purk said: The Aristaeus just match better with the HE90. Birgir, is it "Ari #19" on yours? I actually prefer the HE90 out of the T2 more than the Aristaeus BTW. he has #23. there were about 5 that i finished and were shipped in no particular serial # order
purk Posted July 20, 2016 Report Posted July 20, 2016 1 hour ago, justin said: he has #23. there were about 5 that i finished and were shipped in no particular serial # order So how many are left now Justin? Get them fast people...this is also a really good amp for the SR009.
3x0 Posted July 21, 2016 Report Posted July 21, 2016 After listening to both the Omega and HE90 out of the BHSE and T2 I have no idea what's what anymore. I'll just see if I can get a listen on the Aristaeus and some other less-than-honest options to judge for myself. 1
DefQon Posted July 21, 2016 Report Posted July 21, 2016 Any internal underside shots on the original HEV90's? Tried searching them online and never found any.
Dave R Posted July 21, 2016 Report Posted July 21, 2016 18 hours ago, purk said: Carbon is the right choice for your next amp. However, the Aristaeus is a little sweeter sounding however, it lacks the sense of power compared to the BHSE or Cabon for the SR009 and even more so for a harder to drive SR007. I've mentioned the reasons why I'm getting a Carbon to use as well as the BHSE, but another reason is after hearing one of the recent 007mk2's, I plan on getting one of those, or at least I'm going to find out if Stax can do something I've also mentioned. Now if I'd known when getting the K-01 ( 2011 ) what I know now, I would've had the money to get both a Carbon and 007 because I wouldn't have bought that Esoteric, at the time getting that K-01 though I believed the more an audio piece cost the better it should sound, however the Yggy has proved to me just how stupid that belief was. I'm mentioning that because in 2011 the K-01 cost me £15,000, whereas the Yggy that I got several months ago cost me £1850, and I'm enjoying the Yggy more than I did the K-01. P.S. In selling the K-01 I lost a very large amount of what I paid for it, so hopefully others won't make the same mistake as me. 3
JonChoivo Posted July 21, 2016 Report Posted July 21, 2016 1 hour ago, Dave R said: I've mentioned the reasons why I'm getting a Carbon to use as well as the BHSE, but another reason is after hearing one of the recent 007mk2's, I plan on getting one of those, or at least I'm going to find out if Stax can do something I've also mentioned. Now if I'd known when getting the K-01 ( 2011 ) what I know now, I would've had the money to get both a Carbon and 007 because I wouldn't have bought that Esoteric, at the time getting that K-01 though I believed the more an audio piece cost the better it should sound, however the Yggy has proved to me just how stupid that belief was. I'm mentioning that because in 2011 the K-01 cost me £15,000, whereas the Yggy that I got several months ago cost me £1850, and I'm enjoying the Yggy more than I did the K-01. P.S. In selling the K-01 I lost a very large amount of what I paid for it, so hopefully others won't make the same mistake as me. That sucks. From experience, DS dac's tend to lose alot more than the average 40-50%.
purk Posted July 21, 2016 Report Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) On 7/20/2016 at 6:30 PM, spritzer said: No it isn't. Actually I do find the pairing very nice overall. The Aristaeus warmth & sweet sounding nature does work very well tonally with the SR009 as well as a more seductive vocal. Yes, it isn't as powerful compared to the KGSSHV, Carbon, BHSE, and T2...but it certainly compete with the KGSSHV in my book. Of course, we all have our preference but I can agree with many here that the Aristaeus doesn't have enough power to properly driven the SR007. Edited July 21, 2016 by purk
spritzer Posted July 22, 2016 Report Posted July 22, 2016 What the 009's need is power delivery in the top end, they don't need amps that just gloss over the top end. 2
Arthrimus Posted July 22, 2016 Report Posted July 22, 2016 So get this, I emailed Yamas about getting the backing foam inserts for Lambda drivers and they quoted me $12 for a pair, and $16 for shipping. So that's definitely not gonna happen. 1 hour ago, spritzer said: What the 009's need is power delivery in the top end, they don't need amps that just gloss over the top end. What do you think about the 009 specifically with the Carbon, I've read a lot of your opinions on the 009 over the years but I somehow failed to catch any updated thoughts from you since the Carbon came into existence. Has the Carbon made them worthy, or does the plugged port Omega 2 mk2.98735 still conquer all?
spritzer Posted July 22, 2016 Report Posted July 22, 2016 I think if you go up to 100$ then the shipping is free. Something to think about... That is a good question as most of the fiddling I did to the Carbon circuit after the common release was to make it work better with the 009. Now this isn't the idiotic audiophile notion of tuning (i.e. put in some different parts) but rather seeing what actually enhances the performance of the transducer. The end result is the best I've heard the 009's but they will never be my go to set. They are just too fucked to be ever taken seriously but the amp does help a lot. Another point of reference are the almost 10 people who own a Carbon and a BHSE. All of them prefer the Carbon with the 009 and that makes perfect sense from a technical point of view. One of them even recently got a brand new BHSE and asked me what he should do with it...the Carbon was much better. Most of this is due to the superior high frequency driving potential. This was a large part of the design process but it naturally works just as well for the 007's. More HF power means they aren't as dark as they used to be. The BHSE will roll off a bit so this is a change to the better. 7
Jon L Posted July 22, 2016 Report Posted July 22, 2016 Has anyone tried a good tube preamp to drive the Carbon, to drive 009, in order to tube-roll the preamp side to tune the final result a bit? Is it an absolute no-no or a possibility?
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