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The Headcase Stax thread


thrice

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Are the drivers farther from the ear?

could not tell you now, I don't own lamdbas and did not pay much attention (have smallish head / ears so seldom a pbm for me). I might recall though that this was more shallow the omega 2 or sr009.

What happened to your BHSE?

not sure exactly. At the moment, we know the iec connector somehow overheated to the point the block is no longer conductive for the hot pin.

 

The power cord looks intact and it was basic hospital grade cord, not one of those expensive fat snakes that barely can sit in place (not my kind of audio trickery).

Justin thinks the iec block might have been defective from the beginning and poor contact eventual made it melt.

Am waiting for a replacement input module from Justing and crossing my fingers there's no damage beyond this...

arnaud

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Too expensive.

Anyway I recently repaired a Micro Seiki MX-2 package composed of the MS-1 headphone and its adaptor and I have to say despite the flatened pads it has more balls, bass, speed and less coloration to the mids and mid bass compared to my 4 pairs of SR-3/New and 3N even though it is made by Stax for Micro with evident design cues taken from the SR-3 range. The bias and stator supply and wiring is a weird one as it has 4 pins a`la electret fashion but is a full blown electrostat. It has 1 wire for per channel for the stators divided by a resistor network and 1 wire per channel for bias supply which I`m not exactly sure at this stage. Now the step up current through the transformers via the speaker terminals provides enough volume even with the adaptor powered off which is just some diodes and 5M resistors for each channel from the 100vac AC (the Japan export models utilised a battery pack) to supply the bias but of course when the adaptor is powered by the power outlet, volume gain increases, early bass distortion is cancelled out and all other weird anomalies to the sound is mitigated and the sound output is what I would rate over the SR-3 ranges sound quality by a notch and almost SR-5 territory.  And my pair have flattened pads so the seal is broken for 100% bass output.

I am really interested in how you chose to do this repair,

i have a pair ox mx-2s an am going to attempt a repair tonight!

i have some 1 micron Mylar and am going to try graphite coating the diaphragms.

I will glue them with superglue

and heat tension them.

I have considered uhu por contact cement, pre-tensioning the diaphragms in a frame, and using anti static fluid but I thought I would try old-school techniques first.

 

the one thing that worries me is how to ensure the diaphragms make good contact to the support ring without resorting to conductive glue.

if you have any advice I would love to hear it.

 

-steve

 

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Superglue for this is not a great idea.  Polyurethane based glue is what most ESL manufacturers use as it bonds the two pieces properly together.  Don't use graphite coating either, just get some LCD cleaning kit and spray the solution from there.  Most work a treat. 

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Don`t use superglue its not going to work, hold the diaphragm and will get messy to clean up and the ring will not sit flush in the bottom plastic housing grooves if super glue builds up on the side, I tried this the first time and did not work out.

The original adhesive on the ring is strong thin double sided 3m tape which is what I used after 6 attempts. There is a tension built into the drivers no need to tension them before assembly. Just cut a big square piece of mylar and lay it flat on a clean clear surface. Tape one side of the mylar and then stretch the otherside out with little force until there is no wrinkles left in the mylar. Then tape that end down. Cut out the adhesives for the rings after you`ve cleaned it and then stick the rings on top of the square mylar piece. Push it down so it sticks. Remove one side of tape and use a soldering gun to clean excess mylar. Now its time to coat them.

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Got my hands on some LNS, said to be the most neutral Lambda out there, but all I can find about them is 4 to 8 years old...when Stax's thread on HF was useful, hosting most of you guys. Looks like I'm several years late in the hobby...I may jump into DIY amps and such things within the next years :ph34r:

BTW, they look quite rare, less than 2 years of production, that may explain the scarce reviews. No comments on sound so far, I got them on vacation and brought only cheap SMSL SA-50 amp + SRD7/SBmk2 to test them. So details are not very impressive, and low-end is quite short compared to what I'm used to @ home through modded 727 or SRM-1/mk2 pro...Interested in comparison beetween LNS and L700 anyway, the latter is said to be really well balanced by some folks.

Ali

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i have an 007A that had a channel imbalance where vocals would focus at around 1:00. i put them in a ziplock with dessicants for about 2 weeks and it didn't help. i just had them running continuously for the last 8 hours and i put them on and now there is no sound out of the L channel. fuck.

any suggestions as to the best course of action? would stax japan repair these and if so, any idea how much that might cost? i can ask my cousin in japan to send them in on my behalf for repairs...

or, am i just fucked?

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Are yours out of warranty and where were they purchased?

I had a new pair shipped directly from Japan via EMS present an imbalance problem earlier this year.  Had to return them to where I purched them from (fromjapan) and force an exchange.  Since they're an intermediary it was a bit of  PITA (the true seller looks to have been a bit challenging), but in the end I leaned on them via my credit card company and received a new pair that has presented no such problem.

HS

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Try one thing first, try to hit the offending driver with some force and see if that fixes anything.  Also ground the pins on the plug.  Just touching them helps dissipate the charge. 

didn't exactly work, but when i fiddled around with the left ear cup, every now and again the sound would come on, leading me to believe there is some connection issue with the left cup. or, can messing with the cup/pad also affect the driver such that it will intermittently work? should i open her up?

Are yours out of warranty and where were they purchased?

I had a new pair shipped directly from Japan via EMS present an imbalance problem earlier this year.  Had to return them to where I purched them from (fromjapan) and force an exchange.  Since they're an intermediary it was a bit of  PITA (the true seller looks to have been a bit challenging), but in the end I leaned on them via my credit card company and received a new pair that has presented no such problem.

HS

i got them used from a guy in japan...so not under warranty. wondering if stax japan will still agree to do repairs, and how much that might cost. hmmm...

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I had momentary joy firmly popping the earcup in question but then it went back to the inbalance within a moment.  

Suggest you get a quote on the repair after you've looked at the wiring as spritzer suggested.  If the cost is stupid, purchase another pair and sell what you have as is transparently and recover what you can.  Price of admission on this stuff can leave a mark but it sure is good when it all comes together...

HS

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It won't be cheap so well worth opening them up and see if the thin wires that go from the cable to the drivers are intact. 

I had momentary joy firmly popping the earcup in question but then it went back to the inbalance within a moment.  

Suggest you get a quote on the repair after you've looked at the wiring as spritzer suggested.  If the cost is stupid, purchase another pair and sell what you have as is transparently and recover what you can.  Price of admission on this stuff can leave a mark but it sure is good when it all comes together...

HS

thanks guys. i'll give it a go later this weekend...geoff also sent me some info about checking the wires that go into the driver as well, so i'll take a look. will report what i find...

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