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This could be a 70s album sung by a 30-40 year old, but it's a 2023 album sung by a 20 something with rich lyrics and a sweet voice. A little Orbison Sounding.

i posted this elsewhere. here is a copy Its all about size (as in core cross sectional area) and maximum flux before saturation. its obvious from the graphs above (posted elsewhere) that the core saturation of the eha5 transformer is about 1.4 tesla indicating the cheapest of core materials. better and much bigger transformers are available from lundahl and edcor. which will both give 20hz to 20khz +0 -1 db and will actually do 1800vpp with a 50 watt amplifier over the full frequency band. without series resistors. without filters. as far as i can tell lundahl does not specify maximum field strength. edcor does and its 2.01 tesla. there are custom c cores with magic materials that can do up to 2.5 tesla. these are a bit expensive. the ll1630 mentioned above (posted elsewhere) will NOT do this. core size is too small. you need a transformer with a minimum of a 30 watt core. The 60 watt edcor are MUCH better. the ifi iesl which is extremely sensitive to power amplifiers is yet another example of a poor design with a tiny transformer. does not matter how carefully you wind the core if you drive the transformer into saturation. the result will be a box about 3 times the size of the eha5. and a weight of about 20 lbs. cost about $600. nope, no cheap way of doing this.

You're the One Rhiannon Giddens 2023 https://album.link/i/1683236541 Example: Continually impressed with Rhiannon. Her ability to adapt to different styles and to do them all so well is amazing to me. This is an album full of solid songs. Each one has purpose and grounding. They were not just going into the studio and see what happens. It is choreographed and executed at a high level.

After a quick trip to get a sheet of 1/4" MDF, and I was off and running. She hasn't seen the results yet. I'm thinking she'll be happy. The painter will paint them in... School Blazer Blue Oh, and I got a nice spiral upcut bit out of it. Win!

So can we add "Expert at giving clients a happy ending" to you list of talents?

And for something a little more positive... The cabinets arrived for the smallish remodel I'm currently working on. Got the kitchen and office cabinetry installed Monday and Tuesday. Was installing two tall Armour cabinets in the bedroom. The client came by this morning, looked at the installation and complimented me on a job well done. But she happened to mention that she was disappointed that the cabinet maker couldn't fulfill the designers request regarding some detail ordered. I wasn't aware of this and asked her about those details. She pulled up a pic and showed me... Basically it's just the arches added to the doors. I asked why he couldn't accommodate that design detail, to which she replied that he told her he didn't have a CNC machine. I explained that if that detail was important to her, I could create that and didn't need a stinking CNC to do so. She brightened up a bit, I called the boss, filled him in, and he told me to go for it and make the client happy.

It looks like they got the fire out. Nobody hurt, no loss of property. My Mother may even be able to sleep in her own bed tonight. I'm hopeful this was the final hit, but still half way expecting a call between now and Tuesday, about an earthquake, lotus swarm or the Black Plague.

I have a good friend who used to work on the security gate of a military airfield. They regularly would get some five star general, having waited in line, saying "Have you any idea who I am" to which the reply from the security team was to announce loudly "Excuse me everyone - this gentleman seems to be confused who he is. Can anyone help him?" At which point they would do a thorough security check on his vehicle "Can you take your luggage out of the boot sir. Can you open them" - you get the drift! Only the foolish fuck with security staff.

I missed this last week.. RIP Gary (Sept 4th) The Dream Weaver Gary Wright 1975 https://album.link/i/321974937 Example: Go listen to Dream Weaver as well. Such a good album of tunes of their time. RIP Gary - Dream Weaving in the sky...

Heartbeat City (2016 Remaster) The Cars 1984 https://album.link/i/1088528654 Example: So I think in the 80s I was really listening to this album, but I was staring at the Candy-O Album Cover (so that stuck in my head). I really liked almost all of these songs. Even found myself singing along to Drive.

That's old news my friend.

Sounds like a purchase request for Otis & Milo's new ping pong table?

BTW, the voices in that video are my Cousin and her Son. No mistaking their Texas roots! They both have done so much for my Mother. I need to come up with a way to thank them!

Hope it was a great one! John McLean

Hoping for the best. Glad they got here out of there and people aren't waiting around to leave. After Paradise, CA and Lahaina, HI I am glad people understand these fires are no joke.

Fuck, this series of events is too bizarre to imagine. I hope the trailer survives but your mom's safety is the only really important thing.

Okay, well, you should give it a listen, it's a great -- if schizophrenic -- album.

I wish you good luck. I can't believe how screwed up Stax as a company is. All they have to do is make the sr007a with spares, support and repair, license the blue hawaii and modern T2 from Kevin and maybe a couple of cheaper energizer designs and they would done.

I posted a Chinese version of this article several months ago and now I translated it and put it here. I guess some people here will be interested. I hope you like it. Actually I have some more articles like this pending but I just don't have the time to write it up. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It all started about a year ago that a second hand sr-omega popped up in the local community. From time to time omegas show up on markets around the world but this one is different: an omega with 007 drivers installed. When the drivers are replaced, such omega drops its value to a fraction of its original. The seller listed it for 48888 RMB initially and sold it for like 20000 + at the end. When I first saw the listing, the first thing that caught my attention are neither the price nor the 007 drivers but one accessory laying aside, which is a pair of dead drivers I have never seen before. At first sight I know that it’s a prototype, a true unicorn that probably only one pair exists in the world. I am so curious on how it sounds and how it compares to 007 or 009 or the original omega. I messaged the seller right away and after some persuasion and explanation that I can give this driver a next life, I got it at a reasonable price. And it has become one of my biggest regret that I didn’t also purchase the omega itself that time, otherwise I can put it back into the place where the drivers belong to. Here is the driver itself. From this driver you can see several innovations made by Stax that has never been seen in other Stax models before it. The diaphragm is identical to a normal omega but the electrode is totally a different creature: copper plate similar to lambda sig etc. but much more refined. Over different regions of the electrode the thickness is different. The thicker copper comprises of the # pattern skeleton to give the rigidity while the thinner copper is perforated. You can see the same topology on 009 and 009s where they claim to have the MLER welding technology employed on the electrode. But this omega prototype electrode is in one piece and just as thick as a credit card. Furthermore, they rounded the edge of the perforation like what Stax does on 009S. Stax even make a sectional view illustration graph on their 009S promotion leaflet. Such treatment helps sound to radiate. To me it’s really impressive to see some characteristics of a flagship model today on a 30-year-old design. But Afterall it’s a prototype. It does have some problems: this electrode is too thin to give enough rigidity and prevent bending. They are curved to 5 o at most. Moreover, the area of attachment between the frame and the electrode is too small. It just peels due to aging. I see such defects in some modern designs too. Although its reasonable to have these issues because its 20+ years old, it does reveal that the one who designed it is not thoughtful enough. Perhaps that’s why it was never released to the market except the one on my desk. Besides the defects the design has, the driver itself is at a very bad condition. The drivers have been exposed to the external environment, so dust gets onto everywhere. The one who does not properly seal the package probably has never imagined that this driver will be repaired. It’s a pain in the ass to make the driver dust free again, especially when they are on the very fragile diaphragm. Normally I don’t accept requests to repair an exposed driver and I will give a new quote to clients who send me an exposed e-stat without telling me in advance . But I own this driver and I can bear the risk so that’s OK. The four electrodes are bent in different direction and magnitude as well as having detachment and failure of epoxy. Taking it apart and bent it manually is the only way out. It takes a lot of skill to bend a bent copper plate. Like you have to apply a certain amount of force on the copper and then you check how you have bent it by eye balling or a ruler, and you repeat this process a dozen times on one plate. You make it worse if you don’t know how. The most challenging part of it is that how much you bend an electrode actually affects the sound pressure on one side of the driver so at this point you just have to guess. I have neither the tool nor the file of the design, its all hiding in somewhere inside Stax’s archive library. At most of the time repairing a e-stat is more challenging and troublesome than making a new one. Aging will just make everything a mess and sometime you have to wipe the ass of someone who does not make the design good enough to withstand usage. Solvent removes dust and grease on the driver. It gets much trickier when it comes to cleaning the diaphragm. Effectiveness of a method to clean the diaphragm is an issue when there is just too much dust, not to mention the risk that you will break a diaphragm by puncture or sketch. At the end I decided to clean the diaphragm with solution. Although it will damage the coating, it means nothing to me as I can recoat it anyway to replace the old one which is probably damaged anyway. Cleaning done. They took away the dust screens so I have to prepare these as well. Last Step: assembly, the most important part of all steps. This several hours of work determines how long a driver can last before imbalance or noise occurs. Its my duty to make sure every edge and surface inside the driver is dust free. If not, dust will eventually get onto the diaphragm at some point in its service life and short the electrode and the diaphragm. Practically if the pollutant is much smaller than DS gap 0.5mm then its fine. All these procedures are done in a dust free environment. Soldering work Omega adopted a spring mechanism to connect the bias supply to the diaphragm. It is shaped like a tuning fork and it is odd (photo credits to audiohobby .pl ). I tried to make one but it just can’t grip firmly. After some days of having this troubling me I figured out a way, using HD600’s spring and I glad that it worked, at least for now. I used 007 cable, lambda sig headband, cnc machined and anodized aluminum casing and tailor made earpad. I am a proud Omega owner and I shipped the earpad for a clone. The result is satisfactory. I took away the back grill for inspection but I am kind of regret because I cannot put it back. The general sound signature of this omega prototype is somewhat identical to the original: natural, airy, transparent and clean. Its free of unnaturalness which can be found on 009 (please forgive me if you find this statement irritating, afterall the perception of sound is subjective). It has a larger soundstage than 009 for sure but I think 009 has more details than this one slightly. To me this prototype takes a midway approach between early-SN omega and Late-SN omega. It has a bit of the sweet coloration of an early omega while having much of the naturalness of a late omega. I found that early omega has a huge, diffused soundstage while a late omega has some in head effect which is unpleasant to me. Luckily this prototype is more on the early side. But still this prototype is different from the two regrading the proportion of width and depth of soundstage. I can’t explain more because I haven’t AB compare yet. What amaze me the most is how the prototype omega differs from the typical omega in the dynamic and bass region. The normal omega gives me an image of mellow, soft and relaxing in the bass region. Although 009 and 007 has better bass and impact I like the stress-free presentation of the original omega. The only thing omega put stress on me while I am wearing it is its price. In the prototype omega, I feel an enhancement on the impact, the speed and the amount of bass. Perhaps it’s the reason why they create this prototype, to improve on what the original is lacking. The density of imaging of sound also improves by a bit. Be caution that I cannot remove the effect of the different earpad and casing on the overall sound comparing to the original so the effect I mentioned above might be due to them. Despite all these merits, there is something lacking in this prototype: The openness of soundstage and the super-revealing details on the original omega. If omega scores 100 and 009 scores 85 in the aspect, I will give a 95 to this prototype. The transition from mesh electrode to plate electrode seems to be a double-sided sword. I remember in one of the Stax staff interviews they explained on Pros and Cons between mesh and plate electrodes. You give up something to exchange for another. Nothing is perfect unless you pay a double.

Until trusted person gives a reliable review here, you might study the interior of the new Stax SR-X9000. I let the pictures speak for themselves.

Stax serial numbers are meaningless so they offer no guide at all. There was never anything wrong with the 007A/Mk2 treble so it's just as it should be. The Mk2.5 had rather nasty treble but that was a decade ago.

I have a very recent 007A and they are very nice, just straight out of the box. Stax have changed the earpads a bit but otherwise they are the same.

Yes. Birgir is a great guy to deal with. No overselling and his recommendations are always appropriate to your use case. And so patient. I discussed with him on and off for about a year before I picked up the Carbon.

That's the back of my Mom's trailer.

My second Cousin just got her and her husband. No time to hook up the trailer. The fire is too close. The trailer is insured anyway. Everyone is being evacuated to the towns civic center. But my Cousin is headed down to get them and take them to her second house 10 miles away. Crazy shit!

I've posted recently about my blind Mother's motorhome repossession with 2 days notice. Her health struggles. And the very recent understanding that she can't do it on her own anymore. So my Brother and his wife are due to arrive Sunday. They'll most likely be on the road to AZ Tuesday morning. 30 minutes ago I got a call from my sainted Cousin Rene. As it happens she just heard on the radio that there's a large brush fire, and it's headed straight for my Mother's RV park, and her newly purchased trailer (scheduled to go to storage Monday). Thankfully she immediately called her son ( my 2nd Cousin) and he is on his way with his truck and ball hitch, to get my Mother and that trailer out of harms way. She called my Mom, asked her if anyone had knocked on their door to inform them? She said that they just did, but she didn't know what she was going to do. Rene told her that Jr. and 3 friends are on their way and 10 minutes out. How much is this elderly woman going to have to endure before getting the hell out of there? Again, thank God for my Cousin! This has to be a sign that leaving is the right thing!

It seems I’m running out of luck. SR-X9000 was the best headphone I’ve listened to only for a couple of days. You better keep your Omega, Andy. Today the Stax have a terrible unbalance. Left side is more than 12dB lower then right side. It was left side I opened, lifted inner stator and flipped as you see on picture a few posts above, removed plastic ring and easily lifted the diaphragm and gently held (didn't touched the membran) it in hand for a short while before I put it back. Could that be the reason or is just an unfortunate coincidence? No worry though. It’s a calculated risk and mostly nothing bad happens. If just had been something cheaper. 😭