The Headcase Stax thread

[DonkeyBalls]

A brief word of caution for anyone dealing with PriceJapan for Stax gear... etc. Last update posted on the site was that normal business would be resumed on August 8th. I have had no contact / response regarding an order placed in April, apart from a brief update in early June.

I would urge caution from folks considering ordering from PriceJapan until they show more signs of life than a brief site update. The company has been in business in for 15 years, so it is perhaps unlikely to be a swindle, but if they are not responding to customers or shipping gear then there is no point placing an order with them. All might be well in the coming weeks, but that is quite a chance to take for anyone wanting to order SR-009 / SR-007.... etc. Personally, I would delay until PriceJapan are back in the game.

They appear to be a one man operation, as the accident that hospitalised "Kaneda" stopped the business completely. No contact and no gear shipped for months.

If anyone has had contact or gear shipped from PriceJapan in the last few weeks I would very much like to hear from them.

[catscratch]

I haven't dealt with them recently, but I have had a lot of dealings with Kaneda in the past and he's always been a stand-up guy. I hope once he's back on his feet he'll get his business sorted out.

[DonkeyBalls]

39 minutes ago, catscratch said:

I haven't dealt with them recently, but I have had a lot of dealings with Kaneda in the past and he's always been a stand-up guy. I hope once he's back on his feet he'll get his business sorted out.

+1. My earlier dealings in 2015 went very well. Product shipped and all was good.

However, that has not been the case this year for me and quite a few others. I do hope that Kaneda can get the business working again, but from about June onwards there has been few comms and no product.

 

[Dave R]

I've had my 009's sent off to have what might be a new cable fitted by a Stax specialist in the UK, and while on the phone I asked  him whether it would be possible to have 007 drivers fitted in 009's, to which he couldn't say, however he did say if it was possible it would probably be very expensive to do so, so I'll give up on that idea and start thinking about more sensible things, that's if I can do that. ??

[spritzer]

Find me a cheap, broken set of 009's and I can check it out as I have a few sets of 007 drivers here. 

[chinsettawong]

2 hours ago, Dave R said:

I've had my 009's sent off to have what might be a new cable fitted by a Stax specialist in the UK, and while on the phone I asked  him whether it would be possible to have 007 drivers fitted in 009's, to which he couldn't say, however he did say if it was possible it would probably be very expensive to do so, so I'll give up on that idea and start thinking about more sensible things, that's if I can do that. ??

Why would you want to have 007 drivers in a 009?

[Dave R]

57 minutes ago, chinsettawong said:

Why would you want to have 007 drivers in a 009?

Because with some songs in my collection they sound much better with the 007 ( the most recent 007 that is ) than the 009. ( both Stax driven by the BHSE )

Also with the headband I did for my 009's, to me it not only makes the 009's very nice looking Earspeakers,  but I find it makes them a lot more comfortable than the 007's. 

[sorenb]

16 minutes ago, Dave R said:

Because with some songs in my collection they sound much better with the 007 ( the most recent 007 that is ) than the 009. ( both Stax driven by the BHSE )

Also with the headband I did for my 009's, to me it not only makes the 009's very nice looking Earspeakers,  but I find it makes them a lot more comfortable than the 007's. 

Maybe you can persuade Chinsetta to make a wooden housing that fits the 007 drivers, 009pads and your headband of choise? 

[Dave R]

1 hour ago, spritzer said:

Find me a cheap, broken set of 009's and I can check it out as I have a few sets of 007 drivers here. 

I'd send you my 009's Birgir if I didn't want to get my home improvements done, but they're being sorted out before anything else, after that I'm having a Carbon built by John.

So with what I'm having done to my home, and having the carbon built, then on my income this could take 3 or 4 years maybe longer, however after that time and if you'd still be willing to check this out with 007 drivers, then I'd be more than happy to send you my 009's ?

 

[Dave R]

6 minutes ago, sorenb said:

Maybe you can persuade Chinsetta to make a wooden housing that fits the 007 drivers, 009pads and your headband of choise? 

As I mentioned in my previous post Soren, I need/want to focus on getting my home improvements done.

I only asked Mark ( him sorting out my 009's ) about 007 drivers in a 009 because I was on the phone talking to him about my 009's problem.

 

[chinsettawong]

Whatever your driver problem is, I might be able to help you.

 

 

[Dave R]

26 minutes ago, chinsettawong said:

Whatever your driver problem is, I might be able to help you.

 

 

Thanks Chinsetta, but the problem with my 009's is the cable.

[kugino]

anyone want to take a

shot at repairing an imbalanced 007A? I've given up...after long periods of non-use, it'll sound perfectly fine for about half an hour before the left side starts to go soft. sigh...

[chinsettawong]

I can fix it for you.

[Dave R]

Received a phone call from Mark ( the Guy that did the repair ) saying my 009's have been fitted with a new cable and should be with me tomorrow.

Now I don't know what the cost is because when I asked to pay he said an invoice will be in with the 009's.

When I asked why he didn't want payment straight away, he said before making it he'd prefer I try my 009's out for a week to make sure I'm happy, then if happy make the repair cost.

Very trustworthy policy, IMO.

 

 

[Dave R]

Received my 009's yesterday in which I listened to them for several hours, and I'm pleased to say there's no problem with the sound, in fact I don't know if it's my imagination but they're sounding as good as they've ever done, they have been sounding pretty good though since I started using the Yggy and having NOS Mullard xf4's in the BHSE. ?

Mark didn't want the repair cost until after a week because he said to give them that time to make sure they're still working good, but I decided to pay him straight away.

Now if anyone would like to know how much the repair cost was, and the place Mark has, then I can do so via PM, but it was a lot more than the £115 it cost me to have the 007mk1's done in 2007, which was also for a new cable.

Edited September 3, 2016 by Dave R

[Arthrimus]

Not gonna lie, I wouldn't be thrilled if someone repaired something for me and sent it back with an invoice before quoting me a price or confirming whether I wanted to go through with the repair. Glad to hear you're satisfied, but to me that sounds like something that a shady auto mechanic would pull.

Edited September 3, 2016 by Arthrimus

[Dave R]

5 hours ago, Arthrimus said:

Not gonna lie, I wouldn't be thrilled if someone repaired something for me and sent it back with an invoice before quoting me a price or confirming whether I wanted to go through with the repair. Glad to hear you're satisfied, but to me that sounds like something that a shady auto mechanic would pull.

I agree it's better to know what the cost is before the repair's been done, but even if Mark had and I wasn't happy with it, I'd have still needed him to do it because he's the only one I know of that does Stax repairs in the UK.

I also received a PM from someone in Canada that had more or less the same problem with his 009's, in which he's repair cost worked out very similar to mine.

I might as well say what the repair cost was in case someone else has to have a new cable fitted.

£394.99 is what I had to pay, however £65 of that was VAT. ?

 

[UFN]

Agree that not quoting a price up front can be problematic. However, not wanting payment until the customer as completely satisfied with the work done sounds like a commendable business practice (it's tends to be the other way around - pay up front and then pray that you'll be happy with the work afterwards ).

//UFN

[Dave R]

Mark obviously must be a very trustworthy Guy, because I know of no other place that repairs something, returns it, then asks for the payment after the persons happy with the result, which I am.

[scarlatti]

Does Stax USA provide repair service for items that are out of warranties but bought from pricejapan ?

Are there any third party specialist in US ? 

[insanity]

On 8/22/2016 at 4:37 PM, chinsettawong said:

Whatever your driver problem is, I might be able to help you.

 

 

Just out of curiosity. I know you build your own headphones, but what do you do with stax headphones with an imbalance?

[chinsettawong]

Imbalance problem often comes from a small arc spot on the diaphragm.  First, I would open the driver up and check the diaphragm.  Most of the time, the arc spot is pretty obvious.  You need to check which side of the diaphragm is coated.  A simple way to check is to use your finger to lightly rub the diaphragm.  The side that is coated will leave a trace when you rub.  The arc spot normally only affect the coated side.  Since the coating material stays on the surface of the diaphragm, if the spot isn't too large, you can just wipe the spot off using a lint free cloth.  When you rub, the coating on the diaphragm recoats itself.  

That's how I fix my driver.  However, if it still doesn't work, then I will recoat the diaphragm.  But when I do that I normally recoat the diaphragms on both drivers so that I'll have equal sound.

 

 

 

[mypasswordis]

Could you post some driver pics of your JF clone?

[chinsettawong]

Which part do you like to see?  These are my stator and spacer.

 

Edited September 8, 2016 by chinsettawong