The Headcase Stax thread

[chinsettawong]

I agree with Spritzer that all you'll have to do is to open it up to clean it.

[n3rdling]

There's too much mysticism surrounding Stax drivers.  It didn't sound like your problem would ever result in "a bad diaphragm that needs replacing".  Open them up in as clean an environment as you can manage and get the dust/hair off the membrane.  You have buzzing so there's something small creating an arc...if you had channel imbalance that'd be a different story. 

[johnwmclean]

There's too much mysticism surrounding Stax drivers.  It didn't sound like your problem would ever result in "a bad diaphragm that needs replacing".  Open them up in as clean an environment as you can manage and get the dust/hair off the membrane.  You have buzzing so there's something small creating an arc...if you had channel imbalance that'd be a different story. 

 

 

x 2

 

 

good luck TMoney!

[DefQon]

Pardon me but my head is ringing, If I read that correctly, you spent for example $3k for a 009 which developed a high pitch noise, you sent it to Yama's for repair. Yama has gotten back and quoted $2950 for a repair or you can buy a new pair straight from them for $3250? So original 009 + new/repaired 009 = nearly $6k?

 

$2000 for a pair of drivers bit excessive me thinks :/

Edited November 20, 2014 by DefQon

[wink]

it's like building a car by buying the parts at retail price.

[spritzer]

Stax always charge way too much for the drivers.  Not as bad as Sennheiser but still...

[TMoney]

Thanks for all the advice, gang.

 

I emailed Yama's back to see if they can't be a little more flexible on the prices they sent me. I will have to ask them about the possibility cleaning the damaged driver as well. Given that they communicate at the speed of a carrier pigeon, I hope to hear back from them in the next 2-4 weeks.

 

It was good to take a night to sleep on it. When I first got the email I was ready to throw something across the room.

[Tachikoma]

What n3rdling said, and use sticky tape to get dust off the stators as well. Just do it yourself imo, if only to save time.

[nopants]

I think mentioned this a few other times, but there's a giotto air blotter which I've used in the past.

 

Is sticky tape reliable? I've been meaning to take my squealing pair apart to deal with some of the debris present. 

Edited November 20, 2014 by nopants

[Tachikoma]

Very. My loudly squealing drivers were dead silent after I went through them with some sticky tape. I washed my membranes in water and recoated them before, though.

 

Disclaimer: I wouldn't recommend washing and recoating the 009 membranes. it took me a great number of tries before I could get them balanced, and now the drivers are normal bias only. Re:cleaning the diaphragm. I did have good results from lightly wiping the membranes with my finger, but again, probably not a good idea with a 009

Edited November 20, 2014 by Tachikoma

[nopants]

This would be for the 007s so I think I'll have to keep it at tape. I was wary of doing this because I figured if I used something silly like packing tape I could end up ripping the dust cover off

[Tachikoma]

Yeah, if you're clumsy the way I am, small strips of tape are the way to go... wouldn't want to accidentally get tape on the membranes/dust cover. Chances are the dust cover has a hole somewhere too, so try to patch that if you can.

[n3rdling]

Re: using tape, I'd recommend a weak tape like scotch. Strong enough to pick up debris and too weak to do any damage.

[Laowei]

Maybe the sticky side of a post it note? That's a fairly mild adhesive.

[nikongod]

Maybe the sticky side of a post it note? That's a fairly mild adhesive.

This.

Or 3M blue-painter's tape.

Both have very gentle adhesive.

I would be worried about scotch tape. Too sticky me thinks.

[DefQon]

Cheap scotch tape is sticky. The better brands such as 3M and others available in professional painter stores do the job too.

[Tachikoma]

I'm not sure why the tape being too sticky would be a big problem, you're applying it on metal stators, not plastic. I felt that the most difficult thing about cleaning out the stators was to not overstress the bias connector that connects the two sides of the drivers.

[spritzer]

I'd never, ever touch the diaphragm with my bare fingers.  Nothing good can come of that. 

 

The tape can leave residue which can arc the drivers.  You need something that is sticky but takes next to no force to remove. 

[nopants]

post it it is, plus points for being able to steal them from the office

[Tachikoma]

I'd never, ever touch the diaphragm with my bare fingers.  Nothing good can come of that. 

 

The tape can leave residue which can arc the drivers.  You need something that is sticky but takes next to no force to remove. 

It was an utterly fubar set of drivers, so I had no qualms doing that - it did solve the problem though. My thinking was that fingers leave no residue (other than a little oil), aren't overly abrasive and are sensitive to boot. There was a surprising amount of dust stuck on the membrane, which I could feel with my finger, that simply would not come off any other way, besides sticking it under running water.

 

Yeah, tapes that leave as little residue as possible would be good.

[Torpedo]

What about the adhesive band in the Post-it paper tags?

[HeadphoneAddict]

I'd never, ever touch the diaphragm with my bare fingers.  Nothing good can come of that. 

 

The tape can leave residue which can arc the drivers.  You need something that is sticky but takes next to no force to remove.

How about one of those washable reusable sticky rollers that you run over an album (LP) to get the dust out of the grooves?

[TMoney]

Sorry to disappoint everyone who wanted to see the 009s dissected, but I'm going to take the easy way out.

 

Yama's ended up negotiating the trade-in price for a new pair down to a number I could stomach. It will be below what a new pair would have cost from PJ, but my wallet is still going to be absolutely crushed for the foreseeable future. Heres hoping for an X-mas bonus at work.

[Torpedo]

It seems a good decision too, so well done

[nopants]

post-its work well but I somehow ended up messing up the left and right channel imbalance, a good 6db difference between the two. I was thinking the dust covers around the driver might be sticking together or something, is this possible? When I press the cups against my head I can hear the balance fixing itself momentarily.

 

Sorry if this sounds a bit repost-y, this is the original condition in which I received the headphones.