The Headcase Stax thread

[Nanoha]

Nanoha, no problem! You'll be in for a pleasant surprise. BTW, what source do you use? I was able to give my dad's Esoteric X-03 SE a good few weeks of usage during the summer hols and the HE60 really opened up. Don't forget to roll in some NOS tubes when you get your T1. I've tried Raytheons and RCA and prefer the more mellow sound of the Raytheons.

Parasound DAC and Krell DAC. Not really particularly spectacular, but definitely the best I've heard $1k and south.

[pabbi1]

With the USD sinking like it is, soon I'll be able to afford a KGBH for the price of a tin of spam and a pencil.

Yeah, my London staff love when I bring them over - they insist everything is half price... but, your premise assumes you will find a BH for sale in the US... a REALLY rare occurrance these days. I do think you can find a KGSS for something less trhan the range you spec'd, and even a predecessor version, similar to the Woo circuit, for <$1.2k, based on sales in the past half of the year.

Even when you get a BH, chasing the tube dragon is gonna hurt.

Regarding the HE60, I now find I can't listen to the Lambdas any more, so they are now expendable - the HE60 needs, and can scale with, a better source. Bye bye E5, Zap filter and all.

[shaizada]

So I keep reading that the first batch of the new SR-007 Omega II MKII have a problem. What is the problem exactly? Is this not a good time to buy a set?

~G

[Jon L]

The K1000 was great and really made me think twice about my HE60 ownership.

What's the problem? Own both

Anyway, I just hooked up my newly arrived 2A3 SET monoblocks to HE60 via SRD7 MkII and can confirm 3 watt/channel SET power is plenty for HE60. I gotta get myself some nice 2A3 tubes, but even with very old Valve Art 2A3 double plates, I can hear the 2A3 SET goodness and purity, to add to my arsenal of EL84 single ended pentode goodness that my Almarro represents so well.

Gawd, I love this SRD7 MkII. Nothing like frequent amp-rolling to annoy your family

[Nanoha]

Anyway, I just hooked up my newly arrived 2A3 SET monoblocks to HE60 via SRD7 MkII and can confirm 3 watt/channel SET power is plenty for HE60. I gotta get myself some nice 2A3 tubes, but even with very old Valve Art 2A3 double plates, I can hear the 2A3 SET goodness and purity, to add to my arsenal of EL84 single ended pentode goodness that my Almarro represents so well.

Great news. Great news.

[mirumu]

What does KGST stand for anyway?

I believe it stands for Kevin Gilmore Solid state/Tube hybrid. That's what it was originally described as when I first saw it mentioned on Head-fi.

[mirumu]

Anyway, I just hooked up my newly arrived 2A3 SET monoblocks to HE60 via SRD7 MkII and can confirm 3 watt/channel SET power is plenty for HE60. I gotta get myself some nice 2A3 tubes, but even with very old Valve Art 2A3 double plates, I can hear the 2A3 SET goodness and purity, to add to my arsenal of EL84 single ended pentode goodness that my Almarro represents so well.

Gawd, I love this SRD7 MkII. Nothing like frequent amp-rolling to annoy your family

Oh wow. Very nice. Only 3wpc needed? I knew there wasn't a lot of power needed but it surprises me 3 watts is enough. Might have to try to obtain a listen from such an amp with my SRD-7 MkII sometime. It's a shame the local dealers never have anything of that calibre in for listening tests.

[spritzer]

Is the T1 still the better amp? I'm thinking of getting a T1 or 007t (maybe the former because it's much cheaper).

I would stick with the 006t and upgrade further to something like a KGSS, KGST or WOO GES. I do prefer the T1 and it's really good when it's been powered on for about 3 days and more.

Oh wow. Very nice. Only 3wpc needed? I knew there wasn't a lot of power needed but it surprises me 3 watts is enough. Might have to try to obtain a listen from such an amp with my SRD-7 MkII sometime. It's a shame the local dealers never have anything of that calibre in for listening tests.

The SRD-7 need so little current that they will be fine with less than a watt but the amp should have more headroom so 3-5w is sufficient. I'll be getting a Dynahi soon and I'll outfit it with Stax transformers just for kicks...

[milkpowder]

Ahh, my amp sounds better after its been left on for a few days too.

[spritzer]

The tubes are so cheap that I can't be bothered to shut it off. I guess I'll be burning through a lot of tubes once I get my tubed CDP...

[milkpowder]

Exactly. NOS 6CG7/6FQ7 are only around 20-40 bucks a pair. Any idea how long a set should last?

[n_maher]

Any idea how long a set should last?

Probably on the order of a couple thousand hours, I don't think that there's any official rating for tube life for most tubes because of the variable nature of the operating points the designer could choose.

[spritzer]

The Stax amps aren't really taxing so it could be well past 10000 hours. I think I'm close to that on one of my sets and they still sound great.

[Nanoha]

I would stick with the 006t and upgrade further to something like a KGSS, KGST or WOO GES. I do prefer the T1 and it's really good when it's been powered on for about 3 days and more.

Oh, so I wasn't crazy when I noticed that the SRM-T1 sounds quite after a few days of being on (versus on the first day after the supposed initial warm-up period).

The SRD-7 need so little current that they will be fine with less than a watt but the amp should have more headroom so 3-5w is sufficient. I'll be getting a Dynahi soon and I'll outfit it with Stax transformers just for kicks...

Nice. It's nice to know that I don't have to worry too much about how much power my amp needs to provide for the SRD-7.

[spritzer]

Oh, so I wasn't crazy when I noticed that the SRM-T1 sounds quite after a few days of being on (versus on the first day after the supposed initial warm-up period).

It is mostly SS so no wonder it needs to warm up. The Blue Hawaii is pretty crummy for the first 3 hours but then begins to shine.

Nice. It's nice to know that I don't have to worry too much about how much power my amp needs to provide for the SRD-7.

It's all about the voltage so it's really the gain that is important. The transformers are so horribly undersized that they don't need all that much current.

[milkpowder]

Two words - Rudistor Coriolan. What do you think? Didn't think you ever liked Rudi's gear, but I wonder if this will change your mind

[pabbi1]

Two words - Rudistor Coriolan. What do you think? Didn't think you ever liked Rudi's gear, but I wonder if this will change your mind

Grendel, er, KG appearance alert...

[milkpowder]

I've never really understood why Rudistor electrostatic amps are so ill-received. Please educate me! I'll do a search too...

A link for the initiated: http://www.rudistor.com/coriolan.htm

[Jon L]

I've never really understood why Rudistor electrostatic amps are so ill-received. Please educate me! I'll do a search too...

A link for the initiated: http://www.rudistor.com/coriolan.htm

Thanks for digging this one out. Unfortunately, if my eyes aren't failing me, I think it says "Price 9.500.00 euro."

On the bright side, "The amp uses basically EL84 (x4) as power drivers and 12AX7 (x2) as signal amplifiers.

.. power supply 5U4 (x2) and solid state capacitance multipliers."

I have a bazillion different SOTA tubes already in EL84/12AX7/5U4, so that would be one good reason for me to at least consider this amp

BTW, I just unhooked HE60 from my 2A3 SET and hooked up K1000 to it. I guess 3 watts is also *enough* for K1000 unless you listen extremely loud. 2A3's 3 watts seems a lot better suited than 45's 2 watts for K1000, it turns out. The good news is this used 2A3 SET monoblocks cost me $275 shipped/paypal'd, including tubes

[milkpowder]

$275 shipped/paypal'd, including tubes?! Compare that to 9 and a half grand... Euros

[mirumu]

On the bright side, "The amp uses basically EL84 (x4) as power drivers and 12AX7 (x2) as signal amplifiers.

Now there's some deja-vu. Instead I'll take the 2A3 SET monoblocks $275 shipped/paypal'd, including tubes thanks.

[Nanoha]

Thanks for digging this one out. Unfortunately, if my eyes aren't failing me, I think it says "Price 9.500.00 euro."

Haha, seriously.

BTW, I just unhooked HE60 from my 2A3 SET and hooked up K1000 to it. I guess 3 watts is also *enough* for K1000 unless you listen extremely loud. 2A3's 3 watts seems a lot better suited than 45's 2 watts for K1000, it turns out. The good news is this used 2A3 SET monoblocks cost me $275 shipped/paypal'd, including tubes

By the way, is the 2 watts enough for the HE60?

[Jon L]

Haha, seriously.By the way, is the 2 watts enough for the HE60?

You know, when I had my 45SET, I unfortunately didn't have HE60 to try.

However, I did buy another 45SET (I know. GOT_To_STOP_BUYING), but it suffered a tragic fate called FEDEX Ground and is now in purgatory.

I literally have amps strewn about my listening room every which way, I have to be careful when I walk in there

[mapstec]

at least this thread has reached HF proportions, you can not even for a few hours without a few new pages to read through

Anyway, just to let you know that I scored the SRM - 1/MK-2 + Lambda Pro from the german ebay auction. Looking forward to having them and comparing them to the STAX SRS-2052 setup.

Now all I need (ok, would like to have) is a SRD7 Pro and a Koss ESP-950 recabled to have a real nice rounded zoo.

Ah, the joys of collecting...

[milkpowder]

Nice. How much did you get your SRM-1/Mk2-LambdaPro set for? And for no particular reason, what is the serial number on your SRM-1? (maybe you can get back to me on that one when it arrives)

Looking forward to your comparison too.