The Headcase Stax thread

[kevin gilmore]

not going to happen!

First you have to pay jim what he paid for the thing, something like $5k  (certainly in the range of $4500 to $6500)

then the $800 in parts I threw into it. And then say an additional $2k in labor.

plus shipping the beast.

and with it you get a bag of removed parts, wirenest and dead Russian sockets, trashed digital attenuator boards, fried voltmeter and buttons, various burned up resistors and shorted and stupidly expensive coupling caps (audio note silver)

yes I kept all of that, its in a shopping bag.

The second one birgir ended up with, had even more stupid in it.

And all that is just the amplifier box. The power supply box was also a work of art.  350V caps running at about 475 volts. And no bleeder resistors

But wait there is more.

How about the SS1. I have that too. complete rebuild job.

pay elphas (I think it was him) $14k, then $1500 in parts, and about $1k in labor...

full of holes where STUPID used to be. Gone are the "FUN" knobs, and something we believe was the bias knob

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by kevin gilmore

[luvdunhill]

Stax Mafia: 'Taking the "FUN" out of SinglePower since 2000'

[JimL]

6 hours ago, kevin gilmore said:

its in my basement. unused, as other stuff beats the crap out of it.

I suppose I could remove the resistor current sources and replace with cascaded active sources, but really with the power supply it is bigger and heaver than a T2

And as I recall, with all that weight and bulk it didn't even have a regulated power supply, just caps and resistors.

[wink]

Good thing Mikhail didn't know Edstrelow, or it would have been stuffed with sorbathane to smooth out the mistakes.

[kevin gilmore]

I think that marc is a little off on the dates. Didn't the toaster show up around 2004?

yes the power supply was completely unregulated. except for the couple of units that had gas tube regulated power supplies.

would think that the ultimate single power would be a concerto with the gas tube power supply. Although it would still compete with the SS1 for complete fuckage

[spritzer]

The ES-2 chassis is still in storage after my move but I will get to it some day.  Not a chance I will build is a dual chassis as while the ES-1 size is nutty the ES-2 is an utter monster. 

[wink]

14 hours ago, spritzer said:

The ES-2 chassis is still in storage after my move but I will get to it to ebay.  Not a chance I will build is a dual chassis as while the ES-1 size is nutty the ES-2 is an utter monster. 

FTFY...  

[spritzer]

Nahh... I would never settle somebody else with that clusterfuck.   

[judo]

On 2016. 03. 13. at 11:39 AM, spritzer said:

Someone find me a set of broken 009's and I can figure out what the fuck is going on with the newer Stax.  No way I'm going to rip open my sets.. 

This has to be an issue with the new PEEK diaphragm material though.  Properly heat-treated and high tension mylar as Stax have used is very stable indeed.  They could also have changed the coating materials as PEEK has very different properties compared to mylar. 

I asked then we should start to fear with a new sr-007 too. Unfortunately the answer was yes I have at least 15db imbalance now.The phones were bought from PJ last Christmas so would be under warranty in Japan yet. I heard about the problems with PJ but if Kaneda could accept the phones I would send them probably because I had no problems with PJ myself.

-  Is there any new development can I do (check?) something If I open the phones?

- I remember it was told the UK service accepts any phones for repair including the japanese variations or not ? Any other service option ?

- I have not heard about any positive outcome from this issue were any ?

[DonkeyBalls]

Unless you get prompt responses from Kaneda I would avoid PJ.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I had to launch a PayPal dispute to get my cash back after waiting 5 months for a pair of Takatsuki 300Bs with zero response for the last 4 months of that period. There was no response from PJ to PayPal themselves for my claim - so I won by default. Caveat Emptor and all that.

[judo]

Without response of course not do we know is he alive or dead?

 

-

[DonkeyBalls]

1 hour ago, judo said:

Without response of course not do we know is he alive or dead?

 

-

Unresponsive for months - so either dead or incapacitated in hospital would be my guess. Meantime a lot of unhappy PJ customers.

Even if Kaneda recovers his business might not.

[mtoc]

Folks, is sr407 completely better than 207? thx.

[Laowei]

FWIW, I prefer my SR-207.

[judo]

On 2016. 10. 27. at 2:49 PM, judo said:

I asked then we should start to fear with a new sr-007 too. Unfortunately the answer was yes I have at least 15db imbalance now.The phones were bought from PJ last Christmas so would be under warranty in Japan yet. I heard about the problems with PJ but if Kaneda could accept the phones I would send them probably because I had no problems with PJ myself.

-  Is there any new development can I do (check?) something If I open the phones?

- I remember it was told the UK service accepts any phones for repair including the japanese variations or not ? Any other service option ?

- I have not heard about any positive outcome from this issue were any ?

I took apart the left side until it was easy. Not the driver it is sealed with a sticker. The cable is good the connection to the driver is good, no visible harm. Except a thin white hair under the dustcover on the inner stator and a little dirt. An other piece of hair under the port cover - what about the dustproof room ? Maybe the dirt is the cause but I am not sure. These are almost new headphones so if PJ not answer my first option is a service, an european service beacause I can not send the phones across the customs anywhere. According to Stax the overseas disrtributors are the services the hungarian is definately not, I will write to the UK distributor I think. I would not afraid to inspect the diaphragm or do the recoating only the dust and this PEEK thing bothers me a little we will see.

[GodfatherNiko]

Good evening fellow staxers, after lurking for a while I decided to register. Mainly because I have some questions regarding channel imbalance on my SR-207. 

-What is the "Spritzer thump" and how is it supposed to help with channel imbalance?
-What options do I have for fixing it?

I bought my SRS-2170 about 6 months ago and they were perfect up until about 2 weeks ago when the left channel developed an imbalance with low frequencies. Mids and highs are equal between the channels, but my right ear registers more bass impact than the left ear. Any help is greatly appreciated

[DefQon]

4 hours ago, GodfatherNiko said:

 

-What is the "Spritzer thump" and how is it supposed to help with channel imbalance?
-What options do I have for fixing it?

Birgir can chime in for more on details but this what I have learnt from some of the posts used to eliminate small channel imbalance issues.

Just tap the housing with gentle force as sometimes the diaphragm (mylar) sticks to the stator.

Leave the earspeaker playing music until the channel balance fixes itself (time can vary, one of the Nova Basic's I had took 3 weeks for the balance issue to go away).

While the headphones are unplugged, short the connectors on the plug with your finger (you may hear a slight woosh noise as it discharges it).

Recoat the diaphragm or replace the entire driver (absolute last resort option).

If under warranty, get in contact with your retailers/local distributor.

Use the channel balance pot on your amplifier to balance channel imbalance if none of the above works.

Edited October 28, 2016 by DefQon

[chinsettawong]

Hi!

If you are not afraid to disassemble your drivers, fixing the imbalance problem isn't that difficult.  Most of the times, recoating the diaphragms solve it all.

I can help you guys with any problem you have.  Just let me know.

Wachara C.

 

 

[judo]

You are kind as always .☺I give a little time to PJ and ask some services first maybe Stax itself. The problem can be more serious what do you think I can not replace the membrane and for what if it was some new material?

After that I would ask your help definetly. Have you worked with new staxes can be seen the difference on the drivers between the mylar and the PEEK something diaphragm?

[chinsettawong]

I don't think the diaphragm can go bad that easily.  I have opened up many headphones with the imbalanced issue (including my own DIY sets), and I have never seen a burnt diaphragm just yet.  For some reasons, even a small arc spot on the diaphragm can cause the driver to sound lighter.  The quick and easy fix is to recoat it.  

About the diaphragm material, I don't know what Stax uses.  But, I am quite sure that your diaphragm is still good so there is no need to worry about replacing it.  What you might need to replace could be the dust covers.  They are extremely fragile.

Wachara C.

 

[judo]

Good news☺ As far as I saw the dustcovers are intact you think I can easily ruin them at disassembly?

[chinsettawong]

Just now, judo said:

Good news☺ As far as I saw the dustcovers are intact you think I can easily ruin them at disassembly?

Yes.  Be very careful.

But even if it's broken, you can replace it with Mylar.  I can't hear any difference.  Mylar is a lot stronger too.

[judo]

Thank you very much. We will see what happens.

[DefQon]

If memory serves right you can't disassemble the 207 drivers easily and putting it back together properly like factory new. The drivers epoxied together. Unlike the SR-507 which allows you to disassemble the drivers easily. If it's an old or out of warranty pair just buy another 207 from Japan as they are quite cheap.

[spritzer]

I just checked and the 207 uses the same cradle for the driver as the rest of that lineup.