The Headcase Stax thread

[Hopstretch]

It isn't working.

[swt61]

Yeah, I discovered that after not being able to understand at least half of what my fictional creation was saying myself.

What's even worse, because of my overzealous posting, I now have to hire an actor to portray him at CJ.

[deepak]

Yeah, I discovered that after not being able to understand at least half of what my fictional creation was saying myself.

What's even worse, because of my overzealous posting, I now have to hire an actor to portray him at CJ.

Have you considered hiring a fictional character to play a fictional character

[mypasswordis]

I got some new 'stats today, they run off 5kV and are 6 feet tall. Any opinions on how to strap them to my head and run them off an iPod?

[spritzer]

Medallion or normal transformers?

[mypasswordis]

Sadly the normal ones. At least I got a pretty good deal. Do you know where to get the Medallions (inexpensively)?

[mypasswordis]

Wait, looking at this set: 2 Acoustat Medallion MK-121-B Transformers for Speakers - eBay (item 390180226827 end time Apr-14-10 14:08:04 PDT)

And comparing to what I saw when I opened up mine yesterday, I'm pretty sure mine are also MK-121 but I think it said 2B. Have to check. The bias board looks very similar (voltage tripler and the 50k resistors) but the bias board on mine is flipped and the box is very cramped compared to mine. And there were three transformers in mine, one for bass panels, one for mid panel, and one for bias iirc.

Edit: Er, scratch the tripler, I meant quintupler. Counting fail. I have to check mine again.

[spritzer]

Sadly the normal ones. At least I got a pretty good deal. Do you know where to get the Medallions (inexpensively)?

I'd check with Mioray James as he knows a lot about these old beasts. I'd also stock up on high voltage caps and diodes.

[mypasswordis]

Yeah I keep coming across his name on diyaudio and stuff, and he's a member here. Maybe I'll start a thread or something. All I can say is, sitting in front of two 6' x 3' black monoliths is actually kind of intimidating.

[spritzer]

Blah, smaller then me...

[Elephas]

Hey, the HE60 is quite good.

I recall seeing someone selling a 404LE and keeping the HE60. I have the Airbow SR-SC1, not the 404LE. I prefer the HE60 a lot more than the SR-SC1.

Man, the HE60 looks so cheap and plasticky, and some people complain about the HD800 materials quality. But the sound, wow, the HE60 sounds great.

The pleather outer surface of the headband of my HE60 is peeling off, I've replaced it with an HD650 foam headband part, it slides right in.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Hey, the HE60 is quite good.

I recall seeing someone selling a 404LE and keeping the HE60. I have the Airbow SR-SC1, not the 404LE. I prefer the HE60 a lot more than the SR-SC1.

Man, the HE60 looks so cheap and plasticky, and some people complain about the HD800 materials quality. But the sound, wow, the HE60 sounds great.

The pleather outer surface of the headband of my HE60 is peeling off, I've replaced it with an HD650 foam headband part, it slides right in.

I sold my SR-404LE after 4 weeks and kept the HE60, so you might be thinking of me. The SR-404LE reminded me more of an electrostatic HD600, while the HE60 are more like an electrostatic HD800. I preferred the HE60, but both are really good though. With my WES amp I use the HE60 more than my SR-007.

I managed to buy the last two sets of earpads/headbands that Sennheiser had a few weeks ago, because I'm in it for the long run (not for sale). Still, it's good to know about the HD650 headband part being a good fit. I just tried some HD280 ear pads yesterday, and they are slightly too small and wont stay on the earcups without bluetak or double sided tape to hold them in place. The sound is not bad with the HD280 pads though, but they feel hotter than the stock pads. I'll keep searching till I find a good replacement pad, and post what I find out.

[n3rdling]

Pretty sure Senn still has earpads and headpads considering I bought both last week

[spritzer]

I also placed a large order for HE60 parts and haven't heard of any issues with sourcing them for me. I know for a fact that Senn will be keeping the Orpheus running indefinitely and they have huge stores of spare parts for every model.

[mypasswordis]

Blah, smaller then me...

Yeah, standing up, you wouldn't even be able to hear much of anything.

They need to bring back the HE60 pronto. Let us know if you ever make a HE60 from scratch/parts and how much it costs.

[Deadneddz]

Hmm, thats an interesting thought. Come to think of it, Sennheiser has almost all the parts needed to assemble the entire phone from scratch. I wonder if Sennheier stocks spare headband assemblies and baffles/grills...

[spritzer]

[HeadphoneAddict]

Senn told me on the phone that the pads were discontinued, and they worked for two days to find me two sets when I called to order. I was told I got the last ones. Weird, but good news if they aren't.

[deepak]

Senn told me on the phone that the pads were discontinued, and they worked for two days to find me two sets when I called to order. I was told I got the last ones. Weird, but good news if they aren't.

Sennheiser USA is a bit clueless about their older product line

They can order replacements from Germany if they are OOS.

[spritzer]

I'm getting my parts directly from Germany and I'll ask him if Senn has any intention to stop supporting the HE60. It would decimate the used market since these are very fragile cans and won't last.

[Deadneddz]

Kuboten

This looks like an interesting diy amp. But it seems that the owner has both a Stax headphone and a random Sony dynamic headphone attached to it. He also has what looks like T2 schematics or something in a catalog.

[manaox2]

Kuboten

This looks like an interesting diy amp. But it seems that the owner has both a Stax headphone and a random Sony dynamic headphone attached to it. He also has what looks like T2 schematics or something in a catalog.

Whats the bet here that its only transformers being used for the headphones?

[spritzer]

The old ad for that amp (which has been up for years) explained it better but basically it is just a simple tube amp with a transformer driving the different headphones.

[charliex]

I haven

[HeadphoneAddict]

I haven’t been here for awhile and thought it was time to update my Stax journey to date, and to thank you guys on behalf of my wallet for emptying the bank account yet bringing me closer to audio nirvana (aka Staxitis). I began my journey on (“cough’cough “) another site 18 months ago after semi-inheriting my Dad’s older Sennheiser 570’s upon his passing. Sennheiserwise, I ended that path with a pair of HD 580’s with the 600 grills 650 cable routine. Then I tried a different road via Grado/Alessandro and went through quite a few models and mods finally ending up with an HF-1 and HF-2 and MS-1000. I took a few off road back streets by way of Jecklin floats, AKG sextetts, ESW10JPN, a number of orthodynamics and Realistic electrostats…..and then after hours of pouring through this and other Stax threads, began my way down the Stax Superhighway – and what a journey it has been so far. The love affair began in the normal bias lane with the SR-5/SRD-6 combo and then the SR-X Mark3 through a Class A amp…..then came the transcendent and unrivalled SR Lambda normal bias – an aural awakening to say the least, especially paired with the SRM-1/MK-2 series ‘C’ driver unit. HeadphoneAddict was good enough to sell me his SRD-7 MK2 to let me try them out with my NewClass ‘A’ amp and also pair that up with my most recent lane change - the recently purchased Signature SR-404’s. I am now anxiously awaiting the SRM-T1 coming in from Japan, my latest wallet emptying venture down the Stax expressway. I think I’ll put it into cruise control for awhile and enjoy the ride, before embarking on the inevitable O2 turnpike.

The advice you'll get here is that next you need a source upgrade, before the inevitable O2. I have to admit that they were right.