OK, be gentle- potentially idiotic question ahead. Please don't be offended- I have the people skills of a medium-sized shoebox.

Hey, @spritzer - I understand that the lighting was really difficult and unflattering, but is the case on this intriguing little amp actually as wonky as it looks? It looks like the top plate is a bit short, and the bottom one overhangs a bit:

While I'm sure it wouldn't harm the performance of the unit at all, it is tweaking my slightly obsessive nature.

(Also, on a more useful note, I assume it'd be fine with L500 and L700? Are there any pro-bias Stax, esp current production, that you wouldn't use with it?)

The top plate is fine but the bottom panel is raised a bit to fit the transformer inside.  Nobody could make the necessary transformer smaller than 40mm in height so this one had to be squeezed in at 42mm so the bottom is raised up a bit.  It was annoying but yeah, nothing I could so short of mounting the transformer on the outside which could cost far more in the end. 

This amp will drive any Stax sets out there but it was never designed for the 007's in mind.  Think of it as an upgraded 353X but in a much crazier chassis. 

On a side note, the natural light up here just sucks for taking photo's... I was actually just trying to install more lights in that room to make it easier. 

Isn't natural light more of a theory for you in January!

Yup...it's enough of a theory that half the nation is eating anti-depressants this time of year.  Sun rising at 11am isn't much fun...

Sunrise at 11 Am isn't too bad as long as sunset is at 11Pm on the same day.....

 

No such luck, it's about 4pm so yeah... all hail the darkness!!! 

Hey, @spritzer - do you have an idea of how many watts the Octave 2 draws?

 

On 2/2/2018 at 8:34 AM, spritzer said:

  It was annoying but yeah, nothing I could so short of mounting the transformer on the outside which could cost far more in the end.

You can cut a hole in the bottom plate under the PT and then add a small plate underneath to fill the gap. It will add the thickness of the plate to the interior which appears to be about enough, and it will be hidden.

9 hours ago, Kattefjaes said:

Hey, @spritzer - do you have an idea of how many watts the Octave 2 draws?

 

It's about 15W continuous. 

7 hours ago, dsavitsk said:

You can cut a hole in the bottom plate under the PT and then add a small plate underneath to fill the gap. It will add the thickness of the plate to the interior which appears to be about enough, and it will be hidden.

Yeah, that might work.  This is an R-core though so I could have cut a hole and fitted the bracket underneath the chassis but in the end two washers did the trick.  It's really hard to get HV transformers which don't suck and are less than 40mm tall... 

Thanks - that's nicely modest.

For the record, it sounds surprisingly great with my old Lambdas - no more thin, fragile FR, very easy to listen to. All of that within 15W isn't bad. It's a bit of a bargain.