spritzer

Breitling is in no way, shape or form better then Rolex and Rolex is now the Bose or B&O of the watch world. A Rolex does hold its value though. If you want something good and cheap get a Tag Heuer or if you want the best, get a Patek.

Why can't he have a bunch of amps at different price levels? I do and I have more electrostatic adapters then I can count. The HA-02 is pretty far from being high end though it is a cute little amp like all the Yamamoto's are.

Speaking of scams the Stax SR-Omega scam is back. I love this part while the last picture clearly says the serial number no.249 and those are owned by Morphschi.

This seems to have been sold already...

I believe it is a single ended amp using a transformer on the output with a center tapped secondary to make it differential.

I guess Carl and I are both a little forgetful so we never finished the deal. \ A brush and lots of water helps to remove the top layer. I spent a few hours on it with the Gamma's Thrice sold me but the end result looks great. So are in good shape though after all these years like my Lambda Spirit. Even the lettering is mostly intact.

The bias supply costs about 20$ to make with MKP caps and other nice things but the transformers are the real problem. The Luhdahl alternative is expensive but you could get Just Real Music to make transformers that are relatively cheap. Another option is to buy any SRD-6 or 7 of ebay and use the transformers. Solder new leads directly to the windings (cut through the paper on each side to reveal the solder connections) and bypass all connectors and switches.

That's them running off 580v bias. The GES clearly has the stock tubes as the yellow lettering on the EH ECC83 tubes is hard to miss.

No, only the SRD-7SB Mk2 can be used with pro earspeakers. You could also convert your SRD-7 by building the Mk2 bias supply. No problem. I think I have this need to spew electrostatic facts around as I'm suffering withdrawals from the usual flood of HF PM's. \

Amen to that brother!

The SB's are more expensive then the AC unit's. A transformer is always more expensive then a AC cord and that is the only difference in the Mk2's. The old SRD-6's used a multiplier without a transformer so you are very dependent on the speaker input level to maintain the bias. I've never had any issues with the SB's but then again I don't listen to a lot of music with quiet passages.

That must mean they have recovered the Predator preorder thread so the site is mostly ready...

I stand corrected. He would have made it huge with some horribly ugly golden bits screwed onto the chassis. It still has the same reliability as a RSA product...

No wonder you preferred the GES as HEV70 is so bad Ray could have made it. Any Stax amp ever made (except maybe the SRM-001) is better then that steaming pile of crap. Do you have any pictures of the Chinese stats?

I'm simply waiting for the right set of Gamma Pro's as I'm a bit particular about the condition so I would be prepared to well over 400$ but not for the set on ebay. One problem with the Gammas is that there are no pads to be had from Stax which really blows and the headpad is the biggest piece of crap ever. It turns into this black powder and since it was meant to be cheaper they are a bitch to remove and clean properly. I sure hope that the Stax hype is over or may God help those poor souls that stand between me and the few phones I'm missing...

There was clearly something wrong with the unit or is was a very early SB as there is enough energy stored in the bias supply to keep the headphones going for at least an hour without any power coming in. The Mk2's used a pretty high ratio transformer coupled with a double zener input so the bias supply would always be fed even if the input voltage was pretty low.

The website is very outdated so I'm sure they are using the better ECC99 tube, though I'm not quite sure

They aren't worth that much but the Stax hype knows no bounds. It was also in terrible condition. An Alpha Excellent would be worth that much but only to us crazy collectors.

First off, the SRD-7 isn't a Mk2, just a normal 70's type SRD-7. SB is in no way inferior to the AC biased designs and they could even sound better with no crappy AC inside the unit. They are the same more or less except there is a small transformer that borrows a bit of AC of the Right+ line. The Mk2's are highly sought after and can go for way more then 200$. That's certainly what I just sold one of mine for but it is NOS.

The APL sure looks nice For those that don't know, everything after comes off the drive is upsampled to 211kHz/32bit and fed to the stacked dacs. The output stage is transformer coupled so the signal only sees a single transformer and the ECC99 tube. There is no muting circuit or anything else to damage the sound quality. Nice to know I'm not alone here...

I'm not crazy, I'm just special! The adapters normally present a fairly benign 8ohm load and while they do require a bit of current it's voltage they need and they get that from the first watt or two. You can continue to push them but I've seen way too many burned up diaphragms in my time to ever do it myself. I fully agree about the passives and while a top level system should be active there are simply too many compromises at lower price levels to consider going active unless you are dealing with impedance issues or long cable runs. TVC's are a clever way of controlling the volume as you gain some current as you lower the voltage but there is a whole lot of wire in the signal path.

There are indeed multiple gain stages but the gain in a preamp is pretty low but even some CDP's aren't operating at 2v and many output 6v differential.

That is my understanding though I have never owned a Gamma Pro... I've also made my own pro driver by converting a normal Mk3 driver with some 0.3mm copper. Worked like a charm but was way too much work and the Pro drivers used 1.5um diaphragms compared to the Mk3's 2um.

Carl had another set but I wasn't prepared to pay his kings ransom for them... One will show up and it will be mine. >

Ok, I'd buy four just so Larry couldn't get his hands on them. I did the world a favor when I rescued the second to last remaining set of NOS SR-Omega earpads from his butcher hands...