spritzer Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 I wouldn't blame PJ for this, that price has stayed the same well before any refurb units existed. Hell with Stax there are normally no refurb anything... As for the production, based on the interview on HF? Very little of that piece is actually true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwzhan Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 I did not expect this from STAX. They are treading on thin ice here. QC of such low quality is just unacceptable for a $3600~$4500 headphone let along using damaged or possibly refurbed parts on new headphones. I think for most people, if they hear what I heard on the headphone.... they'd probably just send it back without a second thought... Most people wouldn't want to lift up the metal mesh under the ear pad and expose the driver assembly like that (given the stereotype of how fragile the electrostatic drivers are.) I know for sure that all Chinese 009 owners I know will not do that under any circumstances or let anyone other than STAX do that. Sloppiness in a Japanese factory is the last thing I'd expect... I would expect the world to end before that happens... but apparently I'm wrong... I really want to RMA it... but that'd cost $200 and god know how long... and I'm not even sure that I'll get a new one.. maybe I'll just get another refurb unit? Shit... STAX's image and reputation in my mind just went down the drain along with the debris underneath the metal mesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s_r Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 The least I would suggest is sending an angry email letter of concern to stax. Even if things are fine now with your set that's something that shouldn't go unnoticed by them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Just hope your pair doesn't have or develop the channel imbalance issue that's going around. My pair developed it after a little while, I've been waiting 6 weeks for my replacement set. From what I can tell based on limited available info the channel imbalance issue has existed since the 009 were first introduced. They supposedly stopped production a year and half in to "fix" the issue but it clearly still hasn't been fixed. No one really knows what causes it and Stax doesn't say shit about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwzhan Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) Man... I thought that it was resolved... apparently I was misinformed. I guess I will just have to wait and see. If it does, then off to RMA it goes... if not I guess I will just live with the two scratches... I hope you get yours back soon... they sure sound very nice when they are working... Edited October 10, 2013 by jwzhan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Expanding Man Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 My chances for auditions are nil. I'm wanting to improve my office rig. I'm using quite old Lambdas and a newish pair of SR-303's. I'm currently running a T1 of unknown age and background. I'm tossing up between putting new tubes and caps in the T1, or building a KGSS (I have the boards). In terms of DIY, I'm very much a paint-by-numbers type of builder. I've managed an M^3, Crack etc in the past. All prior builds had clear and full instructions. FWIW, my home rig consists of 007 and BHSE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grawk Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 build a kgss-hv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Expanding Man Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 build a kgss-hv I followed the thread. I was a bit overwhelmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwmclean Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 The KGSSHV is pretty straight forward if you've got a Crack and M3 under your belt. Go with the onboard version for simplicity sake, the threads all over the place, it is what it is. Read thouroughly, pay attention to HV building technique/safety and should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwmclean Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) I'm sorry to hear your 009 is not up to snuff, that blows chucks, if it were me I'd be returning them, you have a 007 mk1 to get you by? SN on the top sticker or the sticker under that? Indeed. Edited October 10, 2013 by johnwmclean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnaud Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 I think this is the same discussion we had on HF but, before blaming stax, I'd take a good look at PJ. They specialize in grey market business, totally goes against stax policies so I wonder where they get their stock from (especially for a product in high demand from the authorized resellers and official distributors). I have seen the manufacturing and QC with my own eyes, they go the hard way about taking out the lemons. Now, as birgir mentioned, there are variables that are out of stax control and no matter how much QC goes on within the factory, shit can still happen. Personally, I have a hard time imagining Stax sending refurb units to any of their channels, especially not with the kind of defects reported here. Or that would be a bold move to try to discourage grey market... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spritzer Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 PJ buy from retailers just like everybody else so their fault is the same as of Rinkya, KuboTen or the dozens and dozens of other companies who sell directly from Japan. They clearly have some source for the 009 that values sale volume over unit markup. The lowest markup a store should take is 30% (probably higher) so if somebody decided to charge half of their markup and sell 5 times as many units with nothing ever sitting in stock, then this makes perfect sense. Hell, I'd do the same thing. My chances for auditions are nil. I'm wanting to improve my office rig. I'm using quite old Lambdas and a newish pair of SR-303's. I'm currently running a T1 of unknown age and background. I'm tossing up between putting new tubes and caps in the T1, or building a KGSS (I have the boards). In terms of DIY, I'm very much a paint-by-numbers type of builder. I've managed an M^3, Crack etc in the past. All prior builds had clear and full instructions. FWIW, my home rig consists of 007 and BHSE. If you have the KGSS boards then just build those. There is a thread somewhere in the DIY section with instructions on how to build a KGSS and how to pick the parts. Feel free to bump that thread if you need any help or just PM me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwzhan Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) I'm sorry to hear your 009 is not up to snuff, that blows chucks, if it were me I'd be returning them, you have a 007 mk1 to get you by? Well.... I wasn't planning to return it... but since my KGSSHV just went down... I'll probably just send it back now, since I don't have anything to drive it now. I couldn't keep both the 007mk1 and 009... EDIT: now come to think of it... since I already got rid of the hissing problem... even if I send it back now... they will probably not going to replace it because there are two scratches on the cup..... ehh... the last thing I want is to spend $200 on a round trip and wait 3 4months and have STAX send me back the exact same pair... Edited October 10, 2013 by jwzhan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chinsettawong Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) I don't think your hissing problem comes from those cotton hair on your metal grill though. If anything were to cause a problem, it should to be inside the driver, trapped within the two dust covers. Unfortunately, I think your problem could come back again anytime. Edited October 10, 2013 by chinsettawong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeP Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 ... that hissing sound was LOUD; in fact, it's so loud that I can hear it even when my ear was 5 inches away from the driver (as I was lifting that side of the headphone to determine if the hissing was from an external source.) .... I was wondering the same thing as Wachara. I appreciate the fibres you found were inside the mesh of the very driver that hissed, but you didn't try them out on a different amp just to rule out the amp (particularly given what your amp did quite soon thereafter)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwzhan Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 nope. definately not the amp that's causing it. To be sure it wasn't the amp, I plugged in the esp950 and heard nothing. I've also been using esp950 with it for the past 2 to 3 months with out any problem. I'm also sure that only problems with PSU can cause the fuse to blow.. I'd be surprised if one amp board having problem can cause the fuse to blow.... If it were the PSU... the effect would show up on both channels.I also measured the output off sets and they were all okay. All LEDs are lit and there were no explosion. I also turned the amp on and off several times to hear the effect.. It only went away immediately after I cleaned off the debris... (although the actual cause may not be the debris I cleaned off apparently.)It's either a coincidence or an even larger coincidence.... The only thing I'm sure right now... is that my luck is down right fucked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audiojunkie Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) I was wondering the same thing as Wachara. I appreciate the fibres you found were inside the mesh of the very driver that hissed, but you didn't try them out on a different amp just to rule out the amp (particularly given what your amp did quite soon thereafter)? Good point...FWIW, I don't believe in coincidence. Edited October 10, 2013 by Audiojunkie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefQon Posted October 10, 2013 Report Share Posted October 10, 2013 Sucks about the 009.. Anyway just for brand/manufacturer sakes. Vishay or On Semi 1N4007/1N5408, price is few cents more than the On semi. @spritzer, I think I will go for a bit of safety's sake in case the 1N4007 1a ain't enough for the SRA-3S, so I'll probably opt for the 1N5408's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spritzer Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 The entire SRA-3S draws about 30W so nothing in there goes past 1A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Finally some good news, my replacement 009's are on the way and should arrive on Thursday. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltron Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spritzer Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 About bloody time!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted October 17, 2013 Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 Replacement pair arrived today, I'm still at work so I haven't tried them out yet, but they are at least a different (and newer) serial # then the ones I sent in. This pair is serial sz9-2251. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwzhan Posted October 17, 2013 Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 interesting... yours has a lower serial number than mine.. the one that I'm just about to send back tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted October 18, 2013 Report Share Posted October 18, 2013 More good news, no channel imbalance issue with the replacement pair (for now at least). They are perfect cosmetically as well. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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