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The Headcase Stax thread


thrice

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is there any chance anyone here has a woo wee and a referential power amp? i liked using my crown d-75a with my SRD-7 and SR-X MK3 a lot honestly, more than any other am i used it with. my friend who introduced me on to stax wanted to hear my lambdas and my 323S so i brought them over and we tried out our setups, but i preferred the sound of his SRM-1 MKII more than my 323S with my own headphones so i'm leaning towards just selling the 323S and getting a woo wee. the charge to get one normal bias output instead of 2x pro bias is an extra $80, but i hear good things about the woo wee and would be nice to have a solution like the woo wee for the environment i use my staxes in.

 

i was getting excited about building a normal bias circuit for the 323s but now that i know i like the srm-1 better i'm not so tempted to do that mod now...!

Edited by 4tray
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Someone brought his 009's to my place last November to try out with my BHSE, and when used with that amp they were working perfectly, but a couple of months ago or so he posted on the other site he was having problems with those Earspeakers.

He was using a Woo Wee + integrated amp with his 009's but has since sold that Wee and has had his 009's repaired.

I believe he now has a KGST and a Stax amp.

Edited by Dave R
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Nobody here would be stupid enough to touch a Woo Wee.  We don't think it is a good feature to have an adapter destroy our headphones. 

yeah, if you like the sound of the srm1mk2, why would your logic be to get a woo wee?

Thanks for the inputs guys. I had no idea the woo wee was capable of causing damage. glad i didn't buy one. Of course I found out about the woo wee by reading head-fi's stax thread. i don't go there anymore since i found this site... that's why i mentioned it here, i knew i would get an honest opinion.

I'm not sure what my logic was there. I guess it was I liked the sound of the SRD7 with that power amp, so i figured maybe I should stick with separate amp and energizer.

I should just get a SRM1 MK2 though. Thinking more about it, it seems pointless to require a power amp if I am spending that  kind of money regardless. It looks like I might be getting rid of my 323S for a SRM1 then.

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Hmmm, This dude doesn't know the difference between 5pin Pro and 6 pin normal sockets.

Quote follows ebay linkie.....

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stax-Pro-Earspeakers-Headphones-Socket-Jack-Chassis-Panel-Mount-Custom-Made-/181841836386?hash=item2a569e3962

edit.  He has another ad for the 6pin socket here:-

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stax-Normal-Earspeakers-Headphones-Socket-Jack-Chassis-Panel-Mount-Custom-Made-/181843948902?hash=item2a56be7566

 

He only has these 2 postings on ebay.

So I bought one of these off ebay in the 6 pin version because I'm thinking of building another amp which can accept normal bias Stax phones and Justin is no longer making the 6 pin version.  It was ordered on August 22 and arrived today.  The socket as received was too tight to accept my Stax SR-5 jack.  I pulled out my drill set and used the blunt end of the drill starting with #48 (0.078" = 2 mm) drill to gradually expand each pin, working up to #39 (0.099" = 2.5mm), after which the Stax jack fit snugly.  I'm going to let it sit for a few days and see if the socket tightens up or if it stays snug.  The front diameter measures 0.710" = 17.8mm, which also appears to be the distance between the 4 screw holes.  The screw holes will take a #4 screw comfortably.  Workmanship appears to be otherwise good, although not up to Headamp standards, but neither is the price.

Nobody here would be stupid enough to touch a Woo Wee.  We don't think it is a good feature to have an adapter destroy our headphones. 

It's been awhile, so remind me of the reason.  Is this one of those that has a fairly large capacitor on the bias supply that can discharge and fry the diaphragms?

Edited by JimL
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Thanks for the inputs guys. I had no idea the woo wee was capable of causing damage. glad i didn't buy one. Of course I found out about the woo wee by reading head-fi's stax thread. i don't go there anymore since i found this site... that's why i mentioned it here, i knew i would get an honest opinion.

I'm not sure what my logic was there. I guess it was I liked the sound of the SRD7 with that power amp, so i figured maybe I should stick with separate amp and energizer.

I should just get a SRM1 MK2 though. Thinking more about it, it seems pointless to require a power amp if I am spending that  kind of money regardless. It looks like I might be getting rid of my 323S for a SRM1 then.

Just one caveat.  The SRM1 Mk2 was last made in 1995, so they are at least 20 years old, which means at a minimum that their power supply caps are well past their sell-by date and should be replaced with modern equivalents or better.

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Just one caveat.  The SRM1 Mk2 was last made in 1995, so they are at least 20 years old, which means at a minimum that their power supply caps are well past their sell-by date and should be replaced with modern equivalents or better.

No worries and thanks for the heads up. However, if I end up grabbing one I already have all my replacement caps picked out and ready to order ;)

Now I just need to find some dual sided tape and work up the balls to rip off the original SR-X pads.

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In case you rip the SR-X pads and need a new replacement, Audiocubes has replacements for cheap. 

I actually have two pairs of replacement pads ready to go in case I mess one up :)

I'm just worried I'll damage the headphones while trying to remove the old pads. I couldn't care less about how the old pads look when I'm done with them.

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I sold my SRD-7 SB Mk2 with normal and pro bias jacks a while back.  I liked the self-biasing but didn't sound as good as my AC powered SRD-7 pro for some reason, maybe from additional age or wear?

I also have an SRD-7 SB that audiocats modified to add pro-bias to one of the jacks, as well as a 3rd jack with 5-pin XLR where the output selector used to be (for HE-Audio stats that I had at the time). And he wired the transformers directly to a set of vampire banana jacks on the back, so no speaker pass-through & he says the impedance of the box is quite low as frequencies get closer to DC.  This sounds more detailed and efficient than the stock SRD-7 Pro, but presents a challenging load for the amp (unless you add some high power 4 ohm resistors in series which I lost).

 

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