Stax SR-3 headphones

[willhowl]

When Worlds Collide.....

Yes,wualta, I'm catching your drift,most definitely. I have spent some time on Head-Fi, @the Staxthread that won't EVER die, and yes indeedy, we're talking some immersed mofos over there. How do you spell nitpicky, again? (not you, the other mofos) Oh,nevermind!

As I repeat (third times the charm), GOTTA dig 'em out!

Yes, I would love to hear the full Stax treatment ie. real Stax amp. Maybe someday..........willhowl:thmbsp:

 

[KingBubba]

I only have one complaint about my 3s, they are not particularly comfortable to wear as they sit on the ear and not over the ear. The sound quality is really amazing. Never turn up a chance to buy a pair.

 

[spritzer]

What did I tell you! Spritzer here is our biggest Staxenista, and now he's broken through the membrane that holds our two universes apart and stands among you. All I can say is: buckle up.


Then you might have to do some fancy footwork to explain the very different bass distortion specs, not to mention the different tolerances for frequency response.

[whispers to audience]You see what I mean?

I've been a lurker here for a long time and checked in regularly. I tried not to become to immersed as the call of electrostatic speakers would be too hard to resist.

The transformers are identical so I guess Stax fudged the figures a little bit as a second socket wouldn't have been enough for most people to pay the difference.

If you can ever find one. Note that he's talking about a dedicated tube direct-drive amplifier, not just a transformer box.

Yup though Stax classified it as an integrated amp (SRA) due to the internal MM phonostage. There were plenty made but I've only seen them in bulk in Japan and Germany. The US wasn't a big market back then.

Speaking of transformer boxes, any of them will work with the garage sale SR-30 because it's an electret type electrostat, but see if you can get hold of an SRD-7.

Anyway-- welcome, Spritzer!

The man has disassembled and restored/modified more 'stats than I will ever own.

Thanks... good to be here.

Yes,wualta, I'm catching your drift,most definitely. I have spent some time on Head-Fi, @the Staxthread that won't EVER die, and yes indeedy, we're talking some immersed mofos over there. How do you spell nitpicky, again? (not you, the other mofos) Oh,nevermind!

As I repeat (third times the charm), GOTTA dig 'em out!

Yes, I would love to hear the full Stax treatment ie. real Stax amp. Maybe someday..........willhowl:thmbsp:

I have to admit I'm very, very picky. Heck, I can't stand the most expensive headphone ever made, the Sennheiser HE90... :thumbsdn:

I only have one complaint about my 3s, they are not particularly comfortable to wear as they sit on the ear and not over the ear. The sound quality is really amazing. Never turn up a chance to buy a pair.

This is also my main complaint with the SR-1 and through 5 line. It's replacement, the Gamma line, is more comfortable but doesn't come close to a Lambda or a Sigma.

 

[wualta]

I have a SR3 - SRD5 pair which I find really useful when assessing speakers (The better the speaker, the more it sounds like the Stax).

Exactly.

It can happen that way. Short story: back in the '70s, an audio mentor whose advice I invariably took was demonstrating a Sony VFET amp (a TA-4650) driving a pair of meticulously set up Dahlquist DQ-10s. Sounded pretty good until I plugged in my Stax SR-X Mk 2, at which point the mighty Dahlquists (and they really were excellent speakers for their time) sounded too much like someone rubbing on a cardboard box to make music. You could hear the boom and tizz very clearly. This is NOT, repeat NOT a knock against one of the prime religious ikons of the glorious Seventies, just a statement of relative satisfaction and a moment of epiphany.

 

[Pknute]

I purchased all of my Stax ear speakers in the early to late 70's - two SR-3's and two SRX- MK 3's. I gave my SRD-5 to a friend many years ago, but did keep the SRD-7 and used it briefly until my dear departed friend, Julius Futternan, had my custom rack mount 4 socket, 6 pin outlet "stax" tube amp assembled. What a sound! Was then and still is today.

 

[wualta]

Do you have 2 SR-X for small-group listening, or is one a spare?

 

[spritzer]

I purchased all of my Stax ear speakers in the early to late 70's - two SR-3's and two SRX- MK 3's. I gave my SRD-5 to a friend many years ago, but did keep the SRD-7 and used it briefly until my dear departed friend, Julius Futternan, had my custom rack mount 4 socket, 6 pin outlet "stax" tube amp assembled. What a sound! Was then and still is today.

One should never be contempt with only a single headphone of each type. Those headphones sound great and you can still get new earpads for them. Now thats service. :thmbsp:

 

[VinylHanger]

Well, I finally got home from the road and hooked them up. After looking for an hour for where I put the headphones. All I can say is very nice. I think I am hooked. I've been letting them play for the last hour or so to get them charged up and loosened up a bit. I'm on my way to listening. Brubeck at Carnegie Hall was the break-in album. Well, I'm off.

One quick question, I have blue-white and red-black wires on the back, not sure how the polarity goes. Which is positive and which is negative?

 

[KHendrix2]

According to the diagram in the SR-3/SRD-5 owner's manual, for the right channel, red is positive, black is negative. For the left channel, white is positive, and blue is negative.

Good luck, and good listening! Oh, and don't forget to let us know how they sound.

Ken

 

[VinylHanger]

Thanks, I had the blue and white wires reversed. I am wondering if it will make a difference. Hopefully I will get a lot of listening done this weekend.