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Wow. Just wow. Read this thread over on the other site: http://www.head-fi.org/t/593135/returning-to-headfi-electrostatic-rig-suggestions/45 My goodness. I don't know why I even bother to read things over there anymore. Spritzer, I don't always agree with your tastes in sound but I think there you were 100% in the right there. It's a shame the thread got closed down because I'd love to blast Jude for his posts. Bullcrap products and posts can and should be called out for what they are. It's a disservice to newer members to let some of the nut-cases over there run wild. It's sad to see some of those people taken seriously when its pretty clear they do not have a clue what they are talking about. People over the other site don't seem to understand that there are such a thing as bad amp designs, bad products, and hence bad sound. I 100% agree that people unfamiliar with a transducer (like the 009) who listen to it on unfamiliar gear for 5-10 minutes at a meet rarely have worthwhile opinions. I don't even understand how that point can be argued? I usually appreciate Jude for trying to be a nice guy but boy does he come off as being clueless here. For as much time as he spends with this stuff you think he'd bother to learn a thing or two about electronics and amp design. A Woo WES doesn't care what box its in or whether it was made by Woo or not. Also, what is up with NoNoNoNoNoNo? Guy seems like a total d-bag.

Here's an update on what has been happening in the Koss fraud. Probably not too interesting unless you're a legal or accounting geek. Bottom line is that she got 11 years, and they're doing what they can to recover as many of the assets as possible (sold her house; continue to auction off all of the expensive dresses she bought; grabbed whatever was in her retirement account, etc.). Meanwhile, the SEC needed to slap Koss, Jr. on the wrist for allowing all of this to happen under his watch (while he was -- inexplicably -- the CEO, CFO, and COO all at the same time), but for whatever reasons, they haven't done a thing to pursue Grant Thornton (the auditors) who were equally complicit IMO for allowing Koss to operate with such antiquated systems. http://www.apogeeconsulting.biz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=618:update-on-fraud-at-headphone-maker-koss&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=55 http://www3.cfo.com/article/2012/1/regulation_sec-settlements-under-dispute-koss-sachdeva Most telling in this video is the explanation given in terms of falsely building up the cost structure from year to year. This makes a lot of sense to me. In order to slip it by the auditors, what you would have to do is create the illusion that raw materials costs were gradually increasing over time. Nearly everything that auditors do in their testing methodology is based on materiality thresholds, which makes incremental fraud nearly impossible to detect. So she steals $1m the first year (using cashiers checks and wire transfers on the outgoing end, thus bypassing the normal accounts payable system, as well as Koss, Jr.'s review) and hides it on the incoming end (at least as the theory goes) by falsifying some of the documentation concerning raw materials that were purchased during the year. The auditors buy into it. It's a very simple notion: input prices and/or quantities naturally increase over time! Not exactly a "hard sell". But the auditors negligently don't even bother to get confirmations of price/quantity from the vendors. So in year two when she steals $3m, she only has $2 million to explain because the first $1 million was built into the auditors expectations from last year, and is already documented in their work papers as being "reasonable" and within materiality constraints. $1 million more can be passed off as further price/quantity increases in year two, and this is entirely plausible relative to $20-$30m per year in cost of goods sold. She then gets a little braver and fudges some more figures to make it all tie together. Meanwhile, Koss Jr. is out golfing with the Grant Thornton partner.

The specs did confuse me a bit - they really are close. I'm happy to hear you used one with no heat or noise issues. If I can find the right case it might get me away from a top-side-only build a'la Cary Audio style. I do like the style, but already had a faceplate idea in my head that I wanted to work towards. Thanks for posting the picture, Nate. It clarifies your layout and just how close I can venture using this transformer. If I can create good ventilation, I might be in good shape. Breadboarding still might be a good idea before I drop everything in and find out, ah crap.... Cool, thanks!