The Headcase Stax thread

[chinsettawong]

When I look at the back cover of 4070 the first thing that comes to mind is the cover of a butter plate.    

 

[eggil]

There is a Canadian guy at headfi who did this. Can't remember his name.

It may have been ujamerstand

Edited June 23, 2014 by eggil

[complin]

I presume the covers are molded plastic rather than wood?

[n3rdling]

There is a Canadian guy at headfi who did this. Can't remember his name.

It may have been ujamerstand

 

You're probably thinking of jaycalgary.  He did the Sigmas though

[rx79ez08]

Me thinks a diy 4070 I've got a pair of spare 404 drivers. Is it possible to replicate the housing design with a wooden cup?

3D printing?

 

If you can draw up the model, some commerical place can print them for you.

 

I saw jaycalgary creation and thought the housing can probably be printer if you got the exact dimension etc.

[kevin gilmore]

Wow!  That looks so much better than mine.  Plexiglass can't stand the heat from solder gun, I think.  I use bakelite though.  Teflon is nice, but will it grip to the pins well?

that stuff grips the pins very tight. no glue required. what the Teflon does, I do not know.

also have to try delrin and nylon. I made the first one just to make sure I got the machine code

right and in the right order.

 

turns out I made the first one from kel-f.  Not what I was intending on

Edited June 23, 2014 by kevin gilmore

[spritzer]

There are some slightly different versions of Teflon so some might work better than others.  Delrin would also work well... 

 

I presume the covers are molded plastic rather than wood?

 

I honestly can't remember, it's been a while since I had a 4070 here.  The walls are very thin and that shape is hard to make from wood.  Could be some resin filled wood though.  That shape is just so awesome though, somebody really knew their electrostatic dispersion theory. 

[eggil]

You're probably thinking of jaycalgary.  He did the Sigmas though

You are quite right. I remember now

[forbigger]

a late congrats Wachara. You know I dont know squat about technical aspect so for what you did, you're like Thomas Edison to me......better than slice bread for sure

[spritzer]

This was posted on the other side, HAD AudioLab Maestral 4STAX...

 

http://www.had-audiolab.com/products/power/maestral-4stax

 

Has to be the crappiest name ever and that amp design also has to be the worst anybody has ever thought of.  Why do all the Euro amps have to be shit? 

[mschneider]

This was posted on the other side, HAD AudioLab Maestral 4STAX...

 

http://www.had-audiolab.com/products/power/maestral-4stax

 

Has to be the crappiest name ever and that amp design also has to be the worst anybody has ever thought of.  Why do all the Euro amps have to be shit? 

 

don;t know how it sounds, but I wouldn't want an amp that needs tampons once per month

[DefQon]

I liked there other dynamic amps but I'm not so sure about them moving towards a Stax amp, that amp looks like it is from the same clothe the Electra is made from.

[THX28]

This was posted on the other side, HAD AudioLab Maestral 4STAX...

 

http://www.had-audiolab.com/products/power/maestral-4stax

 

Has to be the crappiest name ever and that amp design also has to be the worst anybody has ever thought of.  Why do all the Euro amps have to be shit? 

 

Hello spritzer!

 

I very much appreciate your opinions about STAX. I have been following with great respect your postings in different forums. I was close to the decision whether to buy a tubeamp or not. I'm really satisfied, but the curiosity! ;-) My current setup: STAX SR-407 / SRM-323 mk2.

Can you explain in detail your opinion about the "Maestral 4STAX"? Are these the technical data (for example, 150Vrms)? Not enough power for SR-407? What is your recommendation (SS or tubes) to the 407?

Thanks and excuse for my poor english! Is not my native language.

Regards,

Robert

[Sherwood]

Got my SR-007A last Friday, set them up last Friday driven through Al's SRD-7 and a Firstwatt F5 I have here.  Far from ideal, but Al was very generous to send me his SRD-7, and I was not about to let them sit around unlistened to.

 

~20 hours over 5 days is hardly enough to make any sort of claim, except that these are a lot more comfortable than they seem for the first five minutes at meets.  They're a real joy to leave on for a few hours.  When I first subbed them out for my HD800s, I felt like they would not last in my setup very long.  Now they've certainly earned the chance to get some proper amplification. 

 

The sound is the kind of thing that wears well over time.

[spritzer]

Hello spritzer!

 

I very much appreciate your opinions about STAX. I have been following with great respect your postings in different forums. I was close to the decision whether to buy a tubeamp or not. I'm really satisfied, but the curiosity! ;-) My current setup: STAX SR-407 / SRM-323 mk2.

Can you explain in detail your opinion about the "Maestral 4STAX"? Are these the technical data (for example, 150Vrms)? Not enough power for SR-407? What is your recommendation (SS or tubes) to the 407?

Thanks and excuse for my poor english! Is not my native language.

Regards,

Robert

 

The output voltage is a problem but it's just goes hand in hand with the bad engineering.  This amp has a total of 6 triodes to generate a four phase output at a gain of at least 500.  This really isn't enough and you would need a bunch of transformers to help out.  That brings its own problems and adds to cost which could be avoided with good engineering.  Not enough voltage swing, clearly very high distortion so hardly fitting for a transducer that runs at about 0.1%THD. 

 

About the simplest tube amp there is would need 8 triodes even if it was single ended only.  Now the output tubes are max 300V units hence the low output voltage swing but why not use 6SN7GTB's which can take 450V and run off +600VDC?  Much more voltage swing which is actually usable. 

 

As for amps for the 407, they are not the nicest sounding set Stax have ever made so even something like the 006t would work.  Should help with that glaring top end. 

[THX28]

Thanks! Now I understand!

[kevin gilmore]

i really like Teflon

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxmale2.jpg

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxmale3.jpg

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/staxmale4.jpg

 

will knurl the end of the plug just for fun.

setscrews are 0-80

 

the production versions will be white delrin i think.

 

staxmafia personnel will get the Teflon versions.

Edited June 26, 2014 by kevin gilmore

[spritzer]

That's how we roll... 

[DefQon]

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Stax-Kopfhorer-und-Driver-Unit-mit-Equalizer-/331238299982?pt=DE_Elektronik_Computer_TV_Video_Elektronik_Verstärker&hash=item4d1f57594e

 

Was the SRM-Monitor special in any way or was it just a Stax defuse field eq + SRM1 MK2 in one package?

[spritzer]

Yeah, it's just those two boxes glued together as they don't even share a power transformer.  Also the XLR inputs on the back aren't balanced at all so bone stock ED-1 and SRM-1 Mk2. 

[deepak]

But those have imbalance issues

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seriously, Stax haven't sorted this out? Or is this a joke that went over my head...

[spritzer]

Nothing to sort out, short of discontinuing the 009. 

[ALSO]

Nothing to sort out, short of discontinuing the 009. 

Are the imbalance issues unique to the 009s, and if so a design flaw?

[eggil]

Mine has no imbalance. 

[rx79ez08]

Nothing to sort out, short of discontinuing the 009. 

 

Spritzer do you know what is causing the imbalance? Something inherent in the design?