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Picked up Stax SR-5/SRD-6(SB)

Raynald

Raynald

Addicted Member
A visit to the Woo room at the Montreal audio show reminded me how much I liked Stax electrostatic phones. When I was selling them over 20 years ago I could not afford the really nice ones but I decided to keep an eye out after the show.

I found a fellow selling the SR-5/SRD-6 set he inherited and had been little used by him or the original owner apparently. From what I could read on the web they seemed worthwhile so I picked them up today. The SRD-6 does not say SB on the from, just in the SN so it is probably an early SB.

Very nice so far, will post further impression and maybe pics soon.

Anyone else use this combo?
 
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What phones are you running with them?

Do you notice any difference between the two boxes in terms of sound quality on the same phones? I have seen a fair amount written about the 7, all positive, and was wondering if it would be worth looking for one. Not many comments one way or the other on the 6 or 6SB but they may be just as good for all I know.
 
I have a sr-40/srd4 and a sr-80/srd-6
The sr-80's sound pretty good.
I also have a set of sr-202's and a hybrid homebrew
amp/energizer. The SR-80's off my Sansui make a lot
of other headphones sound bad.
 
Nice, I remember the 40 and 80 from my retail days. The 202 must be a lot closer to the Lambdas of the era. How do you compare the three you have?
 
The 80's sound a bit better (and fit a whole lot better) than the 40's.
The 202's are a lot smother sounding, using a real energizer
rather than a trnsformer box. But the trade off is the size makes
it feel clunky to wear.
 
Some claim the electrets degrade with time and are impossible to service while others say they are fine if not abused. Have you had any issues with yours?
 
Nope. No balance issues at all. They both work great.
Given their age- that's quite a feat. How many headphones from
the 70's and early 80's are still in use? I'm sure there's more Stax
than any other brand.
 
Time for some impressions, having had the time to do a bit of listening.

They are definitely revealing of recordings and associated equipment. A lot of modern popular recordings sound quite bad, particularly in the vocals. Not sure I agree with some descriptions which say they are very euphonic. I thought there might even be something wrong with them but well engineered recent recording sound fine. Jazz and classical can be stunning. Not a huge amount of bass, there is some response at 31Hz but it is clearly down and they only really kick it at 40Hz but the quality of the bass is excellent. Great definition, speed and the character of instruments really come through. That is true in all frequency ranges. Fairly closed in sounding for sure.

On many recordings I have listened to dozens of times on great systems, things I had never heard before were effortlessly obvious. You hear a lot of things like people moving around in their seats, squeaky piano actions, etc. If you want to hear what was really recorded, whether the engineer intended for you to or not, these will do the trick.

So not something I would want as my only way to listen to my music, but a really great thing to have for the recordings that are magic with them.
 
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