spritzer

That's it there. Cheap and cheerful silver wire which sounds great when wound around a center core and well damped like the VH audio DIY silver design.

It's also required to send it back at least once to have something fixed that should have been done correctly the first time...

...and why wouldn't you just get some Jupiter silver wire and make your own for a lot less then that? You could even make them spaced and thus copy one of the old Stax tweaks, just look at the internal wiring of a SRM-T1...

It looks like my SR-007A is going up for sale too as I just can't see any reason to keep them. The midrange is still too honky, cold and harsh and I have 3 other different yet very good Omegas to choose from. I will be sad to see them go though and the other phones I never use... I would start off with a 717 and see if you like it. I'm going to get one too for my computer rig and to make it easier to answer all those damn 717 related questions. I haven't heard the Dared but the SRD's can't feed the Omega lineup with enough power, no matter the amp. No filaments man!!!

Not that I've heard.

I'd love to get his take on them as he's one of us but who knows...

The 3rd only has the Daughter of the Beast but not the full blown 845 equipped monster which he designed for ESL duty but would work well on headphones.

It is still cold and slightly strident but also more forward then the Mk1. Next step is to try Mk1 earpads to try and isolate the problem. Dunno when I'll have the time though... The springs can be manipulated and modded but I'm also going to see if I can get them manufactured to my specs. There is less wire in the Mk2 units so it will never able to be a full circle after mods. There is no downturn of the Omega's as the SR-007 Mk1 is the best headphone ever made from a design standpoint. Stax made some bad calls with the Mk2/A IMO and most other Stax enthusiast feel the same way but that doesn't mean it is a bad headphone, just not as good as it should be. I'm not looking for perfection and newer isn't always better when it comes to Stax. I much prefer the SR-1 and SR-3 to the rest of the SR-# range, SR-Lambda and Lambda Signature to all of the other Lambdas and the SR-Sigma to the Sigma Pro. I would rather buy a used Mk1 for less dough. You might like Mk2/A but even the mods don't make them as good as the Mk1. The A/mk2 faults bother me as much as the issues I had with the He90 and when not trying to fix them they sit unused in my display case.

Stuff like this makes me wonder if anybody at SP bothers to hook the amps up and listen for a minute or two. Many of the ES amps were shipped out with the channels switched on the HE90 jacks which a 30 second test would have brought to light.

Great book that. I would also track down the second edition of his "Valve Amplifiers" book if you want an ESP amp project...

The silver ribbons breaking is also a known fault so they just killed two birds with one stone. The old entry wouldn't have worked as a port either as the transfer of air isn't as direct. I don't think so. The older springs are tough to properly insert into the pads due to their size and they grasp the sides firmly if properly installed. That means the bend on the center piece will control how tall the pads will be, even under full pressure. The new springs are very loose inside the pads (either version as they are basically the same) but they sit much higher. One thing to note is that the material in the springs is very strong so it takes quite a bit of force to compress them. It will take even more to change the shape so I'll have to check with Stax to see if I can buy a small stock of the Mk1 model.

The Mk1 cable entry is fixed in place by the small cover as it is secured by 2 screws into the black mounting plate. Far from perfect though but I've been talking to a few Stax dealers and the issue was with the very stiff cable entry. It doesn't flex at all so if the cable is pulled then it will break eventually. I thought I had some pictures of the inside of the A/mk2 cable entry but I can't find them. They are pretty similar though but Stax may have added two tapered holes to fix the screws. I'll have to check when I swap out the earpads. All of this could be due to poor QC or teething problems with the new design but since others have reported similar audible artifacts I would have to conclude that this was a byproduct of the new design. With the Mk1 springs in place the sound is indeed different, less forward in the midrange and I doesn't bug me like stock unit. That being said they more forward over all then the Mk1 with cymbals and voices closer in the headstage but it isn't annoying... not yet at least. Next step is to mount Mk1 earpads with the Mk1 springs and see what happens.

The only bit that was really necessary is around the brass rings to block the small holes. The rest was for vibration damping of the chassis as it may appear solid but it is very thin. The bass is indeed much more linear but the treble also opened up and the midrange is now very similar to the 007 Mk1. I really like this headphone as it is a pleasant change from the Mk1 but doesn't suck like the stock A/Mk2.

Since I was uploading photos I thought you might like this one. Me going a bit crazy on the blutack... I ended up removing most of it in the end but that's about one normal package in each earcup

Here are the two phones side by side, Mk1 on the left and the A on the right. This matte white is very hard to photograph with my crappy Canon but study it closely and they are identical. Here is the Mk1 driver with the small cover which goes over the cable entry. Better then blutack that's for sure... Here are the two springs side by side, Mk1 on the left and A/Mk2 on the right. Not the difference and how hard it will be to make the A/Mk2 unit bigger... A bad picture showing the same thing as before. Here you can see how different the angle is, with the A/Mk2 units having a noticeably wider angle and thus capable of lifting the pads higher away from the drivers.

Time for an update. I finally got depressed enough to rip open my two SR-007's to figure out what was what. I took some pictures but they will have to wait until later tonight or tomorrow. First off, the drivers in the Mk1 and Mk2/A are identical from the outside and probably are the same. I had never compared them side by side until tonight and it's clear that the only difference is the lack of a small cover over the cable entry on the A/Mk2 due to a different design. I do find it odd that Stax didn't employ said cover on the SR-Omega/007 hybrid as they just left the cable entry wide open... Comparing the rest of the parts then they are all identical between the phones, same chassis, arc assembly and the black base plates for the drivers are also identical. The A/Mk2 still has the mounting holes for the small cable entry cover of the Mk1. The only real difference is in the metal spring which holds the earpads in place and gives them the ability to rotate. At first glance they look quite similar but side by side it's clear that the A/Mk2 unit has a slightly different bend in the center and it is quite a bit smaller. The Mk1 unit is 100.20mm in circumference but the new one is only 92.90mm which means that the pads aren't held as firmly and coupled with the increased bend at the center pin allows the pads to lift more. How much of an effect this has is still unknown but I swapped the springs between the Mk1 and A/Mk2 and I'll report back when I've had some time to do so. First impressions of the A/Mk2 with the Mk1 springs and the ports blocked are favorable but lets see what a few hours will tell me.

Engineers can be deceptively stupid sometimes but Stax has been known to make a lemon or two over the years. The 727 for instance is an abomination compared to the 717 but it has no NFB. Did they intend to make a worse product then the predecessor? Not a chance but it happens but change something and it can all fall apart. It's not all bad as they have finally fixed the SRM-3/313 mess with the 323 which is as good as the SRM-1 if not better. As I covered before, Stax had to fix these issues and they took the route they deemed best. Two of them involved "compromising the design" as I like to say since they had to increase the size of the ear cavity (also position the drivers further way from the head) and get rid of the squealing. Enlarge the ear cavity and you open up a Pandora's box of issues and keeping the drivers sealed off is a needed to make them more linear by keeping the damping a constant. I just worked on the SR-Omega/007 hybrid yesterday and fully sealing off the drivers has brought a very positive change in bass depth and lack of overhang.

78-S6S is the socket 86-71-6S is the plug These are the WPI P/N's so they should work everywhere.

Interesting they are and 400$ is certainly not a bad deal. Out of the 007t they will be pretty midbass heavy and slightly rolled off on top so they are more dependent on the music chosen then anything else. The founder of Stax was a classical music nut and the normal bias Sigma was his favorite of all the phones they made.

The sound is rahter different, the normal bias model has a thicker sound with more slam and attack while the Pro's have a wider soundstage but never "gel" like the normal bias model. Neither will work well from a 007t given the massive power needed to make them shine. Put some SR-404 drivers in that housing and the 007t should be able to drive them. Most just assume that they have Pro gear...

I know where you are coming from with this as they have a similar presentation but the SR-007 can stop being laid back when driven properly and/or the music calls for some balls. This is something the LNS can't do even when driven balls to the wall by a BH.

He may not like it but this is the true high end forum as we don't care about bling gold screws and demand internal pictures.

Nothing wrong with a new take on things.

Ditto!!!

That's about correct.