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ktm

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Everything posted by ktm

  1. Maybe it's time for the new management to offer Web-direct. Given the fact that they completely gutted out North America's dealers in the last two years, this would be a good time to offer this for at least this region.
  2. That's common on just about everything made lately.. One board=cheaper to build. And makes it a paper cup. Use it once and throw it away.
  3. The Chinese could ride out the current product line for 5 years. They don't need R&D anytime soon. They could just be getting the rights to make the gear in the current product line and run with it, and just cut costs. Then take the Stax name and hang it on to whatever new product line they have sitting out there, even traditional headphones. Stax dynamics? Most likely going to happen.
  4. Let's hope that Yama's is the first thing they fix when they take over.
  5. You have a PM. The Pico is a pretty good bang for the buck DAC. If i hadn't of gotten a steal on the NFB3, it would still be in use. I just had a conversation at the Club Polk website about DACS. It's hard to choose one anymore with all the new ones coming out. The reality of the DAC world is higher priced ones sound better(with a few exceptions). You have to just stop when the money runs out!
  6. DMCS414, where are you in the DFW area? If you would like to test out a couple of cheap USB DACs, I've got a Pico DAC only and a Monica USB. I also have an Audio-gd NFB3 that's my prime DAC now. If I ever get off my butt and order a couple parts, I've got most of a pair of Bantams ready to go as well.
  7. The grill pops off and the driver just snaps into place. Its held by fours plastic tabs. So the question becomes, what happened? If it was properly seated, it shouldn't just come loose. The link provided above is a start. Here's another as part of a "de-foaming". http://apuresound.com/hdsennmod.html Hopefully once the grill is removed, the tabs aren't broken. If ok, it should all just snap back together. The whole set of cans is pretty much like that.
  8. Replaced the electrolytics. They tend to be the 1st thing to age in an amp. Higher ESR and drifting values are the result. The elder Stax gurus talk about it. I tried it. It works. They speak the truth!
  9. The Exstata hybrid I built is alright. I like it better than the 313 I have. I've re-capped a SRM1-mkII as well. The Exstata midrange is a bit recessed, but it does kill the "etch". Not too bad of a sound. The sr-313 with 404's and to some extent with 202's is a bit bright, and the "etch" is more pronounced. The re-capped srm1-MKII sounds good all around. The midrange is back, and the sound is good. The 313 is the loser here, with the srm-1 with 202's or the Exstata with the 404's both sounding different, but good. I really need to weed out some stuff and build a KGSS. Overall, a set of 202's with an updated srm-1 MKII would be a very good starting point without breaking the bank. The SRM-1 before the cap update left something to be desired. The sound was very rolled off and a bit lifeless.
  10. ktm

    fakes

    There's a lot of fake boobs and tubes in Dallas, along with fake blondes and fake cowboys! There really isn't a lot of good reasons why there would be that many people who didn't open the box, lost the receipt,or got it as a gift. Add to it all the stupid Chinese ads with nonsense wording all going back to the same web site with different names. I flag their ads and sign up their hotmail accounts to porn sites. That should keep them occupied for a while.
  11. ktm

    fakes

    The local Craigslist is choke full of "NIB" Beats. Somebody must be bringing in truckloads of Chinese knock-offs. We have had a ton of those white van speakers around here, now these. There must be 20 a day listed. Worthless either way, real or not. Is this the case around the other metro areas around the country?
  12. EQ isn't evil. Just worthless in fixing most flaws in sound. Like you, I have tried this with 404's, and in the end found 202's to just work better. Until I can afford the really good Stax stuff, the 202's will have to do.
  13. ktm

    vintage quad

    Well, sound wise not so good. My guess the drivers have seen better days. Good thing they weren't anything but an add on. The guy just tossed them into the deal. I'm going to have to find a way to open them up for a look see. Or just set them out somewhere for eye candy. Maybe there's a reason you don't see much mention of them on the web.
  14. ktm

    vintage quad

    I was out horse trading some gear and came out of it with a set of JBL L100's and a set of these. Sound md-401b quad headphones. This is a stock photo, but my set looks almost new. I haven't had a chance to fire them up yet. It's going to take some thought as to best do it. I could try using two amps, and reverse the two rear channels, which is supposed to sound ok. I unfortunately no longer have the Marantz quad receiver or other gear around to do this right.
  15. I've had old school Paradigm and newer studio 6o v2. The older ones tended to sound bloated in the low end. Even the newer ones had a mid bass hump. But the studio 60's are a pretty good overall speaker. The later versions improved the sound. My biggest surprise as late is the soon to be released Polk flagships. They had them at the Lone Star Audio Fest. It's been decades since Polk had a really high end speaker, and they looked and sounded great. Here in the States, there are so many great speakers to choose from. Used, there's a great set of speakers up on Dallas craigslist, or an audiogon listing within driving distance all the time. Don't get too hung up on tubes. There's a lot of great SS choices out there. I only went tube because I stumbled into a great deal.
  16. Modern Kef's don't do much for me. Somewhere along the line they started tweaking for HT, and like a lot of other speakers companies, they lost that 2 channel music magic. The only Harbeth dealer close by is 240 miles away. I am a big fan of the British sound. I currently have Proac and Rega. Proac and ARC tube gear have a great sound, somewhat on the warm side with a good soundstage.
  17. Most likey in the cans. The contact point for the pins of cable is a small short spring. If the winding of the spring spreads out a little, you get this. You could of course swap the left and right connectors to verify. There was a thread with pictures showing how to fix this. If I find it later, I'll link it.
  18. The price of old 70's receivers is unbelievable. i had a couple of old Marantz units I paid $5 and $20 for. When I got tired of looking at them, I put them up on craigslist And almost got run over by a stampede. There are old units worth the Big $$$, and then there's just old stuff. When did "vintage" replace "tired old crap"? There's some really great old gear out there, but much of this stuff isn't it. At minimum, it's going to need re-capping. The sr40 setup does sound good, with no balance issues at all. The earpads are flat, and it doesn't look like I'll be replacing them anytime soon. I use the extension cord(5 or 6 pin style) and sometimes use the sr40 for testing.
  19. I don't get it. I bought a sr40/srd4 with a 15' extension for about $72 shipped a couple years ago. As of late, I keep seeing these set up go for more and more money. This one doesn't even have the extension. http://cgi.ebay.com/Stax-SR40-headphones-excellent-condition-/200576773266?pt=AU_Hi_Fi_Speakers&hash=item2eb34eac92 Did somebody start stuffing gold into them, or what? Not a bad starter set up at $72, but $243 US?
  20. There's a lot of old Stax still out there. I've got a cheap pair of sr-40's that sound just fine. That's what got me going on the Stax sound. Comfort isn't so great, but 35 year old ear cushions certainly don't help. I was in a lot better shape 35 years ago myself.
  21. I ran it through Proacs with the Audio research amp. Then through headphones. I'd say the whole album is a good example of how not to engineer sound. But it is much worse on speakers than cans. I guess that's why it doesn't get much play time here.
  22. You've got my interest. My speaker system is all tubes, I can go full SS or hybrid on the Stax. If I can avoid working again Monday night, I'll give it a whirl. I believe there was quite of bit of Sabbath that never sounded right on sand amps.
  23. ktm

    Grado again

    I can see why it's well though of. It nails the proper sound of many instruments dead on, and does a pretty good job with female vocals. The Stax kills it in soundstage and separation. But it is a fun headphone to listen to. And I'm all about budget!
  24. ktm

    Grado again

    I recently fell into a deal on Grado sr-100's that I couldn't pass up. No, not the HP drivers. They appear to be pink,white lettering plastic grill. Either way, they seem to sound better than other Grado's I've had around here. Not up to the Stax sound, but pretty good with a Millet minimax. Either way, $30 well spent.
  25. This is good news. Hopefully the whole new product series follows the pattern. I hope Stax sells a bunch of them. Now if they just would open back up U.S. distribution a bit. I know many dealers, including the local one, no longer carry Stax.
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