spritzer

The LED's are not a good way to troubleshoot the amp. Tubes being lit means nothing, the heaters are just pilot lights really. To actually troubleshoot anything, start checking voltages.

Yeah that helps.

I'm not sure I ever want to become a "brand"... As for the 009, I don't think that they were designed for the amps in mind. In fact that would be very unusual for Stax. It's much more likely that they got caught up in the new toy fever of the diaphragm material. That and their measurement equipment was just not up to snuff.

Did you alter the springs on the headband? I also didn't touch the earpad springs on the new ones which helps minimize the farting...

The difference is quite large. The new ones are ok without the mod, the earlier ones really weren't.

Water and high voltage... yup sounds like a plan...

Yup, that should be 450V.

Not sure yet but this is Stax, they always release a fixed version. I'm half joking but also been burnt enough times to not get a first of anything from them.

We always specify loaded voltage. If it rises much above that (plus line variation) then the caps would be in trouble.

Sure, there are also people who think the WES or the LL are good amps. Doesn't mean that they aren't bad though. The bottom line here is and always will be, what is neutral. That's what Stax have always been about aside from the whole Sigma stuff (though neutral in their own way) but the SR-009 simply isn't. It has a definite sound of its own. This is the same with the HE90 vs. HE60. One is highly colored and limited by design while the other is just limited by design.

Gotta have some Blue Hawaii's...

That would be excellent!!

Gotta be a part of the groupthink, perish the thought of having ones own ideas. Seriously though, Purrin is no better than Jude with his clan mentality and favoritism. As for the Stax, haven't tried the L700 yet (waiting for Stax to release the inevitable fixed version) but many of the older Lambdas are excellent. I've recently bought the SR-SC1, 404LE, 404 (why not) and Lambda Nova Signature. All of these are good to excellent and if you can find a set in good nic then it will last for a long time.

I don't know how Kevin does it. I've left HF for good and couldn't be happier. There is soooooo much misinformation based on no shred of truth. As for the Big Sound, I'm sure Bob and Tyll would have reached the same conclusion with any capable amp. Even the Carbon can't save the 009 being the most powerful and linear amp we can build. Edit: Well Chang2.0 would have to access to some brain matter before anybody would take them seriously. That sadly is lacking...

Thanks guys. It's a nice part of town, right next to the presidents residency. The LNS doesn't care other than the amp is more powerful but it's been a while since I've had a HE60 here and they can be tricky. Perhaps the KGST or KGDT to soften the top end a bit and flesh out the bottom end. I'm just guessing here as I haven't tried the combo.

Voltage and current are inherently linked and I already covered why we use higher voltage. Headroom Other than the new portable amp which is finally something from this century there is little to be excited about from Stax. While on this topic, I checked out the HF Stax thread yesterday and holy shit the retardation is strong over there. I mean seriously, the level of stupid ignorant crap is just astounding. My favorite bit of utter stupidity was Tyll's amp turning the 009 into the 007Mk1 so it's use should be discontinued immediately. It's not like the amp wasn't measured directly against a BHSE using a 009 when Tyll got it with nearly identical graphs (well within the margin or error)...

The Octave is the warmest of the bunch. Traditional tube amp in every sense of the word but with some clever stuff thrown in the mix. The KGDT and KGST are similar as they are based on the same design. The DT is a bit warmer due to lower voltage rails and the tubes used. The ST has this slight warmth to it which suits the 009's to a T. Helps with some of the upper midrange nastiness they are prone to bring.

I'm going to build at least one and see how I like it. It isn't that much of a stretch for me to move from something like the Carbon to a Dynahi as most of the thermal issues have been solved already. Now if somebody would make P-channel SiCfet's for us then we could have some fun.

I like that one a lot and I can confirm that the ebay PCB's are very nice.

The dynamic amps are coming. First off I'll blow out the stuff I had in stock but never got around to finishing so a bunch of Squarewave amps, Dynalo Mk2's and even some Dynahi's for fun. After that I'll probably make one chassis where I can drop in the various designs we've been working on.

Thanks guys. It will be nice to have a proper lab to work in.

Due to my impending move at the end of the month to a new and bigger house it is time to have a moving sale. All the amps I have in stock (so not the KGSSHV Carbon as I can't make enough of them) are included plus all the special items I have as well. They are all discounted by 15% and free shipping worldwide is included. See the News section of my site for a complete list of everything included or just click here. The sale will run from noon today (UTC) to midnight on Sunday the 17th. Everything is in stock and ready to go so shipping is expected a week from final payment. Could be less, just depends on how busy I am. Now I'll get back to packing...

Yes.

There is this thing called headroom. Do you think it is a wise idea to design a car that can only reach 100km/hr? I mean that is the maximum speed in most places so why go any faster than that. Have it running on the redline the entire time.... There is also the issue that this is only at 1kHz, not 20kHz. Yup sounds like a plan and explain to your friend that he's a bit thick.

Maximum DC voltage 315V, no way we could use it.