The Headcase Stax thread

[3x0]

39 minutes ago, purk said:

I have been pretty happy with my Yggy and Carbon/BHSE/T2 combo...

Hmm, when you mentioned downsizing amps I thought Carbon, T2 and Aristaeus would be the last ones standing. 

[sorenb]

20 minutes ago, purk said:

My unit has the Golden Reference PSU but the audio boards are of earlier version.

and not different in any way ... you can consider yours as a V6.0 Carbon

[purk]

1 hour ago, 3x0 said:

Hmm, when you mentioned downsizing amps I thought Carbon, T2 and Aristaeus would be the last ones standing. 

Actually, you maybe right.  I love the BHSE so much due to its unsurpassed build quality.  However, I know that Mulveling could really give it a good home for me.  Also, the T2 does get hot and Atlanta can be quite warm in the summer.  I remember having both the T2 & BHSE on together and they did warm up my small listening room.

1 hour ago, sorenb said:

and not different in any way ... you can consider yours as a V6.0 Carbon

Thanks for confirming that.  I really love the Carbon and I hope to be able to keep it too.

Edited July 25, 2016 by purk

[astrostar59]

2 hours ago, purk said:

I hope you will get your KGSSHV Carbon soon.  It is quite a great sounding amplifier.  My unit has the Golden Reference PSU but the audio boards are of earlier version.

I should have it in less than 2 weeks.

[mypasswordis]

[wink]

Your new shopping trolley......?

[spritzer]

So I just got a recent ESP950 and I naturally could not resist taking a peek inside.  Looks like they have finally updated the design of the amp a bit. 

New pot, new PSU board but the amplifier board is still dated 1990...   There are also some clear signs of penny pinching going on.  No name caps, non branded 3296 trimpots and that shitty as all hell volume pot.  Bias is 600V off the main B+ line and through a 10M resistor.  Next to is an "infinite" resistor which can clearly be replaced to trim the bias if they start to squeal.  Not happy about the cap on the bias output but this is 1990 tech. 

The PSU is labeled 1317 so 2013 vintage so they are clearly still building them.  It's quite funny that they didn't go to SMD for this as this is clearly a new layout.  Gotta love Koss, hell they've made the same headphones for almost 50 years so why modernize.  I left the amp alone except that dual section pot had to go.  It can't track in stereo

The headphones still look the same and were quickly modified to a SR-Gamma Pro cable.  There is so much potential in those drivers but lost in the shitty as all hell housing.  The earpads off ebay do help quite a bit but they should be angled to improve the soundstage.

[Arthrimus]

Any plans to do something about that shitty housing?

Edited August 1, 2016 by Arthrimus

[spritzer]

Yes but not to this set.  I want a stock one for the collection (well stock-ish) but if I can find another cheap set then I'm all for a CNC chassis.  Probably plywood like the HE90 if my new CNC likes it. 

[sorenb]

On 7/26/2016 at 6:44 AM, mypasswordis said:

 

On 7/26/2016 at 8:01 AM, wink said:

Your new shopping trolley......?

...look at the hood .... I guess a mutual acquainted owns this veichle, for his one man crusade ...

Edited August 1, 2016 by sorenb

[astrostar59]

21 minutes ago, sorenb said:

 

...look at the hood .... I guess a mutual acquainted owns this veichle, for his one man crusade ...

Actually that IS funny. Like it. But, I am more a Honda kind of guy. Nice graphics though (not).

Here is my effort (not as good). 

On 25 July 2016 at 8:35 PM, purk said:

Actually, you maybe right.  I love the BHSE so much due to its unsurpassed build quality.  However, I know that Mulveling could really give it a good home for me.  Also, the T2 does get hot and Atlanta can be quite warm in the summer.  I remember having both the T2 & BHSE on together and they did warm up my small listening room.

Thanks for confirming that.  I really love the Carbon and I hope to be able to keep it too.

So, which amps are to go? Difficult decision I can imagine.

 

Edited August 1, 2016 by astrostar59

[sorenb]

On 7/25/2016 at 9:35 PM, purk said:

I remember having both the T2 & BHSE on together and they did warm up my small listening room.

Agree, a pair of hot twins in a small room does kick up the temperature ... although I tend to not listen too much in situations like that ...

[purk]

2 hours ago, sorenb said:

Agree, a pair of hot twins in a small room does kick up the temperature ... although I tend to not listen too much in situations like that ...

I prefer a different kind of "hot twins" but yeah, the T2 & BHSE will fulfill my auditory fantasy for now. 

[3x0]

Can't wait to hear what all the fuss is about re: 009+Carbon. I never really cared for the standard KGSSHV or the 009 separately but I'll approach this pairing with open ears.

It will be hard to touch T2+Omega but I'll be curious to try the HE90 out of it. My experience with the latter on BHSE and then T2 was a complete upset from expectations and everything I've read. Too bad I don't have the BHSE lying around anymore to make sure I'm not insane (or deaf).

I have to say I'm really jealous of @HemiSam's Carbon posted a while ago. That build fits my aesthetic tastes well.

[DonkeyBalls]

For those that have experienced PriceJapan going "dark" over the past few weeks, this was just posted on the site:

[Dave R]

It sounds like I'm starting to have the same problem with my 009's that I had with the 007mk1's I once had, which is a break up of SQ in one of the sides.

Now with the 007's this problem was caused by a fault in the cable which occurred around 7 years after getting those Earspeakers, and it's the same problem with my 009's because when moving my head this break up was/is happening in the left ear piece, and to confirm it's the cable I moved it with my hand and that break up was/is happening.

So like with the 007's, I'll have my 009's sent off to have a new cable fitted, which is why I kept hold of my 009's original headband in case something like this happened.

Fortunately I won't be without listening to  Earspeakers because I have my 003mk2's.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Dave R

[HemiSam]

Sorry to see this, Dave.  Best of luck with the repair.

HS

[Dave R]

Thanks HemiSam.

I'm sure the problem will be fixed because like I said I had the same problem with the 007mk1, but to what I recall the cost of having a new cable put on those 007's was I believe £115, and that was in 2007, so I expect a new cable plus it fitted is going to cost a lot more, however I get a lot of pleasure listening to those 009's so the cost will be worth it.

[sorenb]

5 hours ago, Dave R said:

Thanks HemiSam.

I'm sure the problem will be fixed because like I said I had the same problem with the 007mk1, but to what I recall the cost of having a new cable put on those 007's was I believe £115, and that was in 2007, so I expect a new cable plus it fitted is going to cost a lot more, however I get a lot of pleasure listening to those 009's so the cost will be worth it.

...made me speculate for a bit.

I have two 007's (70xxxx and SZ1-xxxx) and some Lambda/Sigma's from way back  ... so far I've only experienced a broken cable on the new'st one - the SZ1-xxxx. I wonder if is change of copper (wasn't the LC-OFC introduced with the 007's?) that causes the wires to be more brittle by aging alone ? 

[Dave R]

4 hours ago, sorenb said:

...made me speculate for a bit.

I have two 007's (70xxxx and SZ1-xxxx) and some Lambda/Sigma's from way back  ... so far I've only experienced a broken cable on the new'st one - the SZ1-xxxx. I wonder if is change of copper (wasn't the LC-OFC introduced with the 007's?) that causes the wires to be more brittle by aging alone ? 

I got those 007mk1's in 2000 and don't know what cable it was, but I've been told that a new cable can be fitted to my 009's without a problem, I just have to wait until after the 20th this month because the guy ( Mark ) doing the repair is on holiday until then.

Now I'm not using my 009's til the new cable is on, so I'll be listening to my 003mk2's while waiting, which I don't mind because those 003's driven by the BHSE do sound ( IMO ) extremely good. ?

[shogo]

Ok, thanks

[spritzer]

They are not SR-404LE's any longer.  Those are probably SR-507 drivers so now they are pretty much horrible.  Peaky treble with crappy bass?  Yup, that's the joy of the 507's. 

[DefQon]

Worth less in value as well. 

[shogo]

4 hours ago, spritzer said:

They are not SR-404LE's any longer.  Those are probably SR-507 drivers so now they are pretty much horrible.  Peaky treble with crappy bass?  Yup, that's the joy of the 507's. 

But my ones are 404LE, look at photo above (gold paint erased), sn 0069. Bought it from other man, didnt notice, maybe he removed protective film, or its replaced driver from other ones definetly?

[spritzer]

The drivers have clearly been replaced so they are no longer 404LE's and worth a lot less too.  You can see that the driver is encased in a housing which only came about with the x07 generation and the 404's never had that.  Not a red ring on the driver, well then it has been replaced. 

I had the same thing happen to 4070's I bought and these x07 drivers (probably 507) sound terrible.