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The Headcase Stax thread


thrice

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I've done pretty well with used. Most people who trade Stax stuff are pretty decent to deal with at the audio sites.

The bad news is all things Stax have been shooting up in price the last couple of years.

I've seen starter rigs like sr-40's going for higher and higher amounts. Take a look at the EBAY stax stuff right now, and there's a number

of things listed at insane prices. And the people selling them there don't know crap, and throw around phrases like "untested" or

"worked last time I used them 5 years ago" and the every popular "returns not accepted". Stay clear of EBAY, and you'll be a lot

happier in the long run.

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The nice thing for beginning Stax buyers is that the used market for amps is seemingly on the verge of being flooded with all the amps people have been using while waiting (in vain?) for Justin's giant BHSE allotment.

Kidding about the vain part, but seriously... most of his buyers seem to have amps currently that they aren't going to see much use for once the BHSE comes around.

If I had any extra Stax amps I'd try and move them now before the surge comes. If I was looking to buy... well... I'd say three, four months from now used prices on amps might bottom out.

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People waiting for the BHSE to finish aren't sitting on entry-level gear, so I doubt that will affect the cost of entry-level stuff very much.

I think the general trend of the market is mediocre stuff going up in price significantly. A lot of used Stax stuff has been a disproportionate bargain for years, and as interest in it goes up it only makes sense for it to go up in value sharply.

I think that as the market becomes more and more mature and starts to emulate the progression of the speaker market, DIY will become that much more important as one of the increasingly fewer ways of getting something good on a budget. So yeah... start building now. I know I will, soon.

I also think that I'm a bit drunk, so ignore everything above.

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I bought and sold mostly used on a fairly reasonable budget. I got into headphones while living in alaska, and I knew of exactly 1 other headphone geek in the town I lived in. I bought and sold a lot of gear, kept an eye out for good deals, and was generally an opportunist with it. Then I found the things I really liked, and hopped off the turnstile.

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I get where most of the criticisms about buying without listening, but sometimes there's just no other alternative, such as in my case. The number of headphone enthusiasts here is really small, and the number of people with actually interesting gear is just insignificant - I only know about 5 people with properly good headphone systems. We do host small meets sometimes, but even then, it's really difficult to gather everyone this being such a vast country and plane tickets being so damn expensive.

Also, buying new is a general no-no, since the only brands with distributors here are Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser and Grado. But as import duties are insane (more than 60%), the products get here at insane prices. So our only hope is to mostly buy blindly from abroad, judging by other's opinions, ask the seller to declare a low value and hope for the best. The upside is that, when you succeed in buying used and don't end up paying crazy taxes, you can sell it here sometimes even at a profit, since you can charge a bit more than you payed but much less than what it would cost if the buyer had it shipped and taxed by customs.

Luckily, this time there's Erico in São Paulo so I can try and listen to his 009, but then it is a 6 1/2 hour drive.

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Large scale meets are indeed useless for any meaningful impressions and only a smaller setting or having something on loan will yield anything of substance. It's also interesting how people are "tricked" at the larger meets with higher volume levels, choice of music etc.

Buying used Stax sets does carry risks but if the sets look to be in good condition then they will work perfectly. I've bought enough to know this isn't a perfect rule but it's true enough. I still can't help myself when I see some truly busted up Stax stuff to try and bring it back to life. Let's just say there is a reason why I have a large stock of single drivers... facepalm.png

Thanks, Spritzer. Keep us posted if you find a track.

When you give the 009s some time try listening more on the quiet end up the spectrum as an experiment and see if they can fight their way to more time in your headphone rotation.

I've done plenty of that but their voicing just irks me a bit. They are just a bit hyper real at times, like a TV with all the post processing turned on.

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So, what would you pay for a perfectly working Omega 2 MK1 in this condition? This is the pair I bought but wasn't told the true extent of the wear... I knew I'd be replacing pads, but the rest is a surprise.

omega2small.jpg

omega2smalla.jpg

omega2bsmall.jpg

5042cf68_IMG_3459.jpeg

Edited by Maxvla
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$1k seems about right - $1500 minus the cost of refurbishing is what I'd pay. Make sure there are no channel balance issues, no squealing or weird noises and no intermittency issues especially as you move the cables. If all that checks out the drivers are probably fine.

The seller should have let you know about the condition, if he didn't, he deserves some choice words in feedback.

I also have to wonder what the hell you have to do to an O2 to get it into that kind of shape.

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Going to return. Feeling misled and I didn't buy a refurbishing project. Thought I'd be replacing pads and be good to go. Apparently the brown arcs are not available anymore. Sent him an email, lets see what happens. Oh and while they were being shipped to me, he's been banned on the other site. Got a message to the staff to see what that's all about.

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Well the brown pads aren't being made anymore either - though you can find NOS ones - so if you're SOL and can't return, you can get Mk2 pads, black headband and arcs and be fine lookswise at least. IIRC Mk2 headband has stiffer elastics and won't be as good for team melonhead.

Edited by catscratch
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Going to return. Feeling misled and I didn't buy a refurbishing project. Thought I'd be replacing pads and be good to go. Apparently the brown arcs are not available anymore. Sent him an email, lets see what happens. Oh and while they were being shipped to me, he's been banned on the other site. Got a message to the staff to see what that's all about.

Who was the seller?

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