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The Headcase Stax thread


thrice

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Shweeeet :D Now go find Sony ECR-800 :D

...and you think it isn't on my list? :) I have let one system slip past me and one solo energizer but I will find a set eventually.

Btw. I just realized that the ECR-600 is identical to the 800 but only with a 4 core cable. They are pretty comfortable for a supra and the Stax SR-X earpads are a near perfect replacement. Yay Stax for saving yet another planar.

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...and you think it isn't on my list? :) I have let one system slip past me and one solo energizer but I will find a set eventually.

Btw. I just realized that the ECR-600 is identical to the 800 but only with a 4 core cable. They are pretty comfortable for a supra and the Stax SR-X earpads are a near perfect replacement. Yay Stax for saving yet another planar.

The cable on the 800 should be very good, Sony put a lot of testing into it. Was 600 cable completely decomposed with age? Was it do to mistreatment or is it just not durable enough to survive after 20 years?

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The cable on the 800 should be very good, Sony put a lot of testing into it. Was 600 cable completely decomposed with age? Was it do to mistreatment or is it just not durable enough to survive after 20 years?

It seems to me that longevity wasn't one thing that they thought about. :mad: It had simply decomposed everywhere and turned into liquid form, even inside the phones and the connector. The phones were in horrible condition, every metal bit has a thick layer of oxidation and they were covered in filth so the cable breakdown could be caused by some external source but it had to be airborne to reach the inside of the earcup and the wires inside the molded plug.

Testing them off a SRM-1 I get only a very soft sound at full volume but it isn't much better from the damn adapter box with all of the 3 amps I've tried. Pushing 75w into the damn thing and it won't play so I may have to get drastic and find some 1:100 transformers to play these things.

Btw. I just saw that my Stax SR-1 should be delivered this evening. :dance:Time to see just how good the original is.

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I just opened up the ECR-600 drivers and Sony were indeed nuts. The spacers used to hold the diaphragm are 1.2mm thick!!! :o The stators are slightly recessed so shave 0.3mm off that number but a D/S gap of 0.9mm is unheard off in headphones save for the Jecklin Floats. Stax normal bias uses a 0.3mm gap and Stax Pro bias is 0.5mm so just imagine what it takes to get any volume out of these drivers with an electret film.

Looking at the drivers I just had a crazy idea, how about replacing the electret film with some nice mylar and using an external bias. It is easy to access the diaphragm with an extra wire to feed it bias and with a D/S gap like that it can easily handle a 1000v bias or even well above that while being driven from a Stax amp. :eek:

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I just opened up the ECR-600 drivers and Sony were indeed nuts. The spacers used to hold the diaphragm are 1.2mm thick!!! :o The stators are slightly recessed so shave 0.3mm off that number but a D/S gap of 0.9mm is unheard off in headphones save for the Jecklin Floats. Stax normal bias uses a 0.3mm gap and Stax Pro bias is 0.5mm so just imagine what it takes to get any volume out of these drivers with an electret film.

Looking at the drivers I just had a crazy idea, how about replacing the electret film with some nice mylar and using an external bias. It is easy to access the diaphragm with an extra wire to feed it bias and with a D/S gap like that it can easily handle a 1000v bias or even well above that while being driven from a Stax amp. :eek:

So do you have the original Sony adapter and a big amp to drive it? I bet they would sound nice out of my DNA-1 Deluxe :D

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Spritzer, you know where those 600s really belong :P

I'm sure I could get them singing if you ever decide to part with them. Congrats you lucky bugger! :D

Oh, and hurry up with those pics. I'm drooling at the thought of them. I'm wearing my 500s right now and loving every second.

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So do you have the original Sony adapter and a big amp to drive it? I bet they would sound nice out of my DNA-1 Deluxe :D

The original adapter is included and I have a nice 70's powerhouse to push them. I still don't get any volume to speak off so I have the urge to do some diaphragm work... :o

Spritzer, you know where those 600s really belong :P

I'm sure I could get them singing if you ever decide to part with them. Congrats you lucky bugger! :D

Oh, and hurry up with those pics. I'm drooling at the thought of them. I'm wearing my 500s right now and loving every second.

img1631at6.th.jpg

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Here is some porn for you. :D You know that you are first in line for them if I do sell them. The connector had to go to the scrap bin so I'm using a ECR-400 cable with a Stax socket on the other end.

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Looking at the drivers I just had a crazy idea, how about replacing the electret film with some nice mylar and using an external bias. It is easy to access the diaphragm with an extra wire to feed it bias and with a D/S gap like that it can easily handle a 1000v bias or even well above that while being driven from a Stax amp. :eek:

do it. interesting idea :)

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The original adapter is included and I have a nice 70's powerhouse to push them. I still don't get any volume to speak off so I have the urge to do some diaphragm work... :o

Here is some porn for you. :D You know that you are first in line for them if I do sell them. The connector had to go to the scrap bin so I'm using a ECR-400 cable with a Stax socket on the other end.

Oooh, they is teh precious!! ;D

Very sweet, and nice condition too by the looks of them. My cabling is even more hacked. Gamma cable with the bias wire cut off and bananas on the ends.

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Oooohhhhh Stax SR-1 in the house, cleaned, all glue replaced and fitted with new earpads!!! :o Amazingly there is no imbalance and they sound great for something made in the 60's. This set appears to be S/N: 293 but it's of the later variant though not many of these were made and mostly sold in Japan. I paid a fucking fortune for them but having all this history sitting on my head I don't care... 8)

First impressions are that they are very midrange centric and with surprisingly good HF response but small details and bass depth are lacking compared to the later models, even the SR-3. Certainly better then the "first ESP" Koss ESP6.

Oooh, they is teh precious!! ;D

Very sweet, and nice condition too by the looks of them. My cabling is even more hacked. Gamma cable with the bias wire cut off and bananas on the ends.

A lot of elbow grease, strong cleaners and metal polish made them look like that. The electret cable works like a charm and the stock strain relief isn't fixed to the cable so it was very easy to make it look good.

Wouldn't you be better off trying the mod on the 400s as they already have a bad imbalance?

Well yeah but I just want to use the massive Sony housing. You are also just saying that so I keep my crazy hands off the 600... :D

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A lot of elbow grease, strong cleaners and metal polish made them look like that. The electret cable works like a charm and the stock strain relief isn't fixed to the cable so it was very easy to make it look good.

Well you did a damn nice job of it, they look luvverly 8)

Well yeah but I just want to use the massive Sony housing. You are also just saying that so I keep my crazy hands off the 600... :D

The thought had never even crossed my mind :angel:

;D

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Well you did a damn nice job of it, they look luvverly 8)

Thanks :) Next project are some Lambda Signatures in need of some major TLC...

The thought had never even crossed my mind :angel:

;D

Now that I have the SR-1, my interest in the Sony is dwindling fast... :D

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Here are some pics of the SR-1. It appears that the SR-1 didn't have a white shell like the SR-3 and later phones but this slightly brownish color as it was also on the inside. The baffle was white though. The drivers are very similar to the SR-3 but the stators are smaller and there was some refinement in the later model such as how they are held together.

img1640cu0.th.jpg

img1642uq7.th.jpg

img1643bd0.th.jpg

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Here are some pics of the SR-1. It appears that the SR-1 didn't have a white shell like the SR-3 and later phones but this slightly brownish color as it was also on the inside. The baffle was white though. The drivers are very similar to the SR-3 but the stators are smaller and there was some refinement in the later model such as how they are held together.

img1640cu0.th.jpg

img1642uq7.th.jpg

img1643bd0.th.jpg

OK, so if I send you some 404's, duct tape, and a hooker, you can make me some magical headphones?

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I've been doing some digging and it looks like this is the last version of the SR-1 so I can't really cross it off my list until I've found one of the early ones... :eek:

OK, so if I send you some 404's, duct tape, and a hooker, you can make me some magical headphones?

I have plenty of tape and loose women so send me the phones and I'll see what I can come up with. :P

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$4k? That's insane! I know that Javier paid around $4k for his NOS pair, but second hand ones aren't usually much more than a HE60, assuming you can find one.

John seems intent on driving the price up, and then selling it outside of ebay once he gets an offer he considers is high enough.

Replying year and a half later... I'm just too lazy to go through the whole Stax threads with millions of post. I'm trying my best this time... This can take a while... ;D

Anyway, I paid 4.5K Euros for my NOS pair of SR-Omega, which is quite a bit more than $4K. A bit crazy? Perhaps. I like to think that with such limited offer a can is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The things one will do to justify himself...

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Replying year and a half later... I'm just too lazy to go through the whole Stax threads with millions of post. I'm trying my best this time... This can take a while... ;D

Anyway, I paid 4.5K Euros for my NOS pair of SR-Omega, which is quite a bit more than $4K. A bit crazy? Perhaps. I like to think that with such limited offer a can is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The things one will do to justify himself...

You are indeed nuts but in a good way. :) I will be getting a SR-Ω with SR-007 drivers this week so it will be interesting to compare them. The SR-Ω drivers are also included so I can do an in depth analysis on what goes wrong and try and fix it.

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