The Headcase Stax thread

[faust3d]

More cool Stax headphones, when will the madness end?

[Smeggy]

More cool Stax headphones, when will the madness end?

Never!!

[spritzer]

Never!!

Damn right!!

[Tachikoma]

Hmmm... my T1 made some weird noises last night, which went away after a minute or two (volume pot setting didn't affect the noise one bit). Does this mean the tubes are finally on their last legs? I've looked on ebay and the only japanese branded 6CG7s I've found (which were reasonably priced) are NECs, has anyone tried them before?

[spritzer]

Hmmm... my T1 made some weird noises last night, which went away after a minute or two (volume pot setting didn't affect the noise one bit). Does this mean the tubes are finally on their last legs? I've looked on ebay and the only japanese branded 6CG7s I've found (which were reasonably priced) are NECs, has anyone tried them before?

I would at least check the tubes if you have a tester or just replace them. I've never tried NEC branded tubes but I think there were only two manufacturers in Japan and you could get lucky and end up with Toshiba's.

[diebenkorn]

I am now the soul possesor of the headphones mentioned a few posts back . Any recommendations for IC's?

[Tachikoma]

Well, not really I suppose, but japanese tubes supposedly work better with stax amps than tubes manufactured elsewhere.

[spritzer]

do they have to be japanese? i'll have to look, but i think i have some RCA Clear Tops i could send you....

They don't have to be but the Japanese tubes sound great in the Stax amps. The various US made tubes are a clear step back.

[Dusty Chalk]

The various US made tubes are a clear step back.

I see what you did there.

[spritzer]

I just got the fried SRM-007t we talked about earlier in the thread and it is a sick amp indeed. R13 is burning up and I suspect the diode next to it to be going as well. Yama's has apparently made a brilliant repair attempt and fucked it up. They've also replaced the 2SC3381 bipolar on one side only with some two single units and I'd like to revert it back but the 2SC3381's aren't anywhere to be found, at least not locally. So the question its, does anybody have the schematic for the SRM-007t and know of a similar transistor for the two 2SC3381's?

[deepak]

Time to get the marce mods treatment for that amp

[spritzer]

Time to get the marce mods treatment for that amp

That's one option but I don't know where I'd put the massive heatsinks...

[cclragnarok]

I just got the fried SRM-007t we talked about earlier in the thread and it is a sick amp indeed. R13 is burning up and I suspect the diode next to it to be going as well. Yama's has apparently made a brilliant repair attempt and fucked it up. They've also replaced the 2SC3381 bipolar on one side only with some two single units and I'd like to revert it back but the 2SC3381's aren't anywhere to be found, at least not locally. So the question its, does anybody have the schematic for the SRM-007t and know of a similar transistor for the two 2SC3381's?

Once again, I wish you the best of luck for the repairs.

For the 2SC3381, are you going to replace both sides so that it's symmetrical?

[luvdunhill]

That's one option but I don't know where I'd put the massive heatsinks...

I got a boat load of the duallys. I'll trade for futures on a pair of T50 if you find anywhere.

edit: to answer your question, 2sc3381/2sa1149 => 2sc2705/2sa1145

I got the singles too....

[spritzer]

Once again, I wish you the best of luck for the repairs.

For the 2SC3381, are you going to replace both sides so that it's symmetrical?

That's the basic thought. Yama's might have put something instead that requires different biasing and is burning up R13.

I got a boat load of the duallys. I'll trade for futures on a pair of T50 if you find anywhere.

edit: to answer your question, 2sc3381/2sa1149 => 2sc2705/2sa1145

I got the singles too....

Done deal!! I'm going to see if I can't find the 51K resistors locally and replace them tomorrow. Now I'm off to bed...

[The Monkey]

Gang,

What's the price range for Lambda Signatures in very good condition?

[GPH]

Gang,

What's the price range for Lambda Signatures in very good condition?

Bought and sold mine for ~500$. I've searched in the FS threads on H-F when I first purchased them and prices go as low as 250$, but that was two or three years ago. I'm sure Spritzer would know better than me, but I guess 400-600$ is a realist price range.

IMO, you should skip directly to the OII, that's what we all do in the end.

[The Monkey]

Bought and sold mine for ~500$. I've searched in the FS threads on H-F when I first purchased them and prices go as low as 250$, but that was two or three years ago. I'm sure Spritzer would know better than me, but I guess 400-600$ is a realist price range.

IMO, you should skip directly to the OII, that's what we all do in the end.

Thanks for the info. I just did a search and that seems about right to me. And believe me, I am very tempted by the O2, but it seems that part of the Stax fun is working your way there...

[GPH]

Thanks for the info. I just did a search and that seems about right to me. And believe me, I am very tempted by the O2, but it seems that part of the Stax fun is working your way there...

That's true, I probably wouldn't enjoy the OII as I do right now if I hadn't heard the SR-404 and Lambda Signature before. In fact, I auditionned the OII for half an hour at a headfier's house a little more than a month ago out of a SRM-717 and a nice CEC CD player and I wasn't too impressed. When I received the OII a week ago though, I took time to properly A/B them with the Lambda Signature and let's just say they're not even in the same league (and that's coming from a poor man's OII setup). I read a comment somewhere saying that the SR-007 are not meet-friendly and I guess that's right, you need to spend a long time with them to understand what they do.

[The Monkey]

Well, just sent payment for a Lambda Signature. Now for an amp...

[Smeggy]

Ack!

No Omegas in '08

[deepak]

Damn makes waiting for my O2 so hard...

[spritzer]

I replaced the burned up resistor in the 007t with a new one (3 actually in series) but there is still something wrong with the amp. It plays fine but the balance between the output tubes on the left channel is way off as a small change in the pot and I'm up to 300VDC or more with the LED's lit. When it's close to 0V the LED's aren't lit.

Btw. Has anybody ever installed 6SA's in a 007t as per KG's instructions?

I read a comment somewhere saying that the SR-007 are not meet-friendly and I guess that's right, you need to spend a long time with them to understand what they do.

Bingo!! The newer mk2/A is more impressive though as the lower midrange hump is fixed so they seem to have great bass on nearly any amp.

Ack!

No Omegas in '08

Damn... already broke that one...

[saint.panda]

I'm leaving team Stax.

Just put my OII and SRM-717 on ebay a few days ago. Desperate for money at the moment. I was hoping not to do it but I already sold everything that can be sold, too bad.

[Fungi]

Damn, the ESW9 and HD25-1 are that good? (brief comparo please?)

Are there any good ways to DIY a speaker amp or energizer or even Stax amp? I'm thinking the Stax amp thing is going to be kind of dangerous for a noob like me.