Leaderboard

The Space Station Crosses a Spotless Sun

So my birthday present is finally here, the SRM-T8000. I just quickly plucked it into my computer rig with the Denafrips Ares as a source: Here I can compare directly against the Carbon CC and the as yet unrealesed new KGSSHV, budget edition. Think of this one as the 727 if Stax had any sense. Anyway, back to the T8000. The packaging is classic Stax and no complaints there. I do have some complaints about the casework though, the front panel looks awesome but who decided what to do with the rest of it? Seriously that sparckly silver paint is just horrible. Reminds me of some super cheap Chinese amps. Yeah... not great. I had a quick peek inside to change the voltage to 240V and the procedure in the other thread is correct. This is the same old Stax color setup with a small change (one connector is reversed) to try and trick people. Some notes about the interior: -The person who designed this needs to find something else to do as not a single fuck was given as to how this thing is put together. Boards on top of boards with no reason to be there. I love the volume control where you have three PCB's (one blank) sitting on top of the pot. WHY!!!??? All of this could have been done on the back panel... Also wires everywhere. Bloody Stax living in the 70's... -The volume control (which they try to hide) is a plain old Alps RK27. It's almost impossible to see but I moved the "shield" a bit and there was the classic Alps sticker. For 6K$ I'd expect more... -The PSU is certainly unregulated and the same as in the 727/007t. Same 220uf/400V Elna caps. -Looks like the tubes are running at DC 6.3V. 4700uf/10V filter caps but I'll measure it later. -The amp is certainly just a 727 with the feedback in place and tube input stage. Ohhh and for the tube rollers, not a chance to roll this amp so better just like the stock EH tubes. Either that or somebody builds a special tester for this amp and sells tubes for it. Now for some impressions. I'm a bit pressed for time now so I just grabbed the first headphones that I saw. These are my own DIY units and I've been using them a lot lately as I've been tuning them. The drivers are old SR-X Mk3 units so similar sound signature, the best highs you can find with glorious midrange and extended but super tight bass. I'll go into the living room and grab some of the others over the weekend. Now what can I say about the amp...well I expected more. The top end is the worst part, it's rather uneven and unrefined. Grating even and slightly shouty in nature. Seems to be the Stax house sound these days but it also makes me dread trying the amp with 009's and L700's. I'm listening as I type this and I cringe from time to time, the upper midrange and treble is so bad. The phones are sure as shit not to blame... Now the midrange is ok minus the glare but it also lacks the expansive nature that the really powerful amps give it. It feels closed in... The bass...well it is nothing to write about really. Nowhere near T2/Carbon levels of power but this really isn't the best set to try for bass performance. I'll dig out the modded 007Mk2's to test that when I have time. Here it is all a bit flat and lifeless. Conclusion time I guess, at least for now. There are things I like about this amp, the front panel is pretty and it comes with properly wired XLR sockets but there is a lot I don't like. I fucking hate the blue power led...Stax should be green or orange. On top of everything above I also think this thing is horribly overpriced as it is just a fixed 727 which isn't a particularly great amp to begin with. To charge 6k$ for this...is just not cool. More listening to come... -

Lago de Carezza, Italy. Click for slightly larger.

Alternatively, extreme ironing

I wonder if my '71 Bug is still going strong. RIP BUG And RIP to Justice John Paul Stevens. Badass name for a judge who let his conscience and the law dictate his decisions instead of his political party.

RIP, Justice Stevens. A decent man and a respectable jurist who decided cases with great care and humility. I don’t always agree with his jurisprudence, but I have great respect for him.

At some point I would love to get a Genelec set up.

A fun, short Ilford film...

I bought a Casio AW-571-BM-1T and waiting for it to ship from Japan

The price of these has shot up recently so this will probably just get worse... As for the T8000, just get a 727 instead.

Buddy you got that much budget to consider a T8000. Why not buy a proven design instead like a Blue Hawaii SE or KGSSHV Carbon?

Search is your friend. I take it you are asking about the Stax T8000? https://www.head-case.org/forums/topic/13002-stax-srm-t8000/

This is old news, but I just noticed: Skip Groff of "Skip, we love you!" fame died in February at age 70: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/skip-groff-minor-threat-producer-dead-796631/