Are there speakers after Stax?

TWL, your points are well taken and I believe that I will ultimately have both speaker- and headphone-based reference sysetms; and will be able to enjoy each for what they do best.

A while back, I also owned the SRA-12S, but with the original Lambda phones (I know the Sigmas are somewhat different sounding). For me, the original Lambdas lacked bass and were overly bright with a lot of material. These new 404s are better balanced, i.e., not as hyped-up in the treble and have MUCH better bass extension and articulation. I think you'd be surprised at the improvement if you have a chance to use them in your system.

Megasam, I can appreciate your sentiments, and I agree that headphones cannot physically vibrate your body the way that speakers with bass extension and slam can. However, the 404s do have their diaphrams angled to the ear in such a way that they provide expansive soundstaging effects and even a sense of depth and layering. Athough the soundstage is a little different than what you get from speakers, it is interesting and aurally satisfying in that regard, at least to me. And it's nice to finally hear all the nuances and fine details that get "swept under the carpet" with speakers. It does add depth and meaning to the musical program...

anybody ever heard of the older 250k stax amps. i would love to hear a pair of those. stax headphones are awsome as well. i feel the same way that most of you do. i prefer the impact of a speaker. you may want to try sound lab speakers i think they are far better then any stat i have ever heard.

Before I listened to my first Stax system I found it increddible that some one would pay the money just for headphone - I told the saleman as much. I bought them on the spot and never regretted it, for all the reasons you have described. However, as with Twl, I missed the impact of good dynamic speakers, and to some degree I found a lot of recordings that just didn't sound as good (imaging/staging) in your head. I don't use them as much now but I still enjoy them for late night listening.

Kirk,

Sound Lab does make some great-sounding electrostats, but they are quite large and expensive. They are a possibility, but I'll have to wait and see how large my new listening room will be.

I bought electrostatic STAX 30 years ago, I don't remember the model. They has their own solid state amplifier. I had them for about 20 years. The GOOD: superb sensitivity and sweet sound. Can play as loud as you can stand. The Opposite of good: Makes your ears sweat (until the plastic coating fell off of the ear peices), the wire is like a leash, other noises comes through the back of the earphone, the sound stage was like a rainbow over one's head not in front, and no base. I think that because there is no base they sound overly bright. A trick to getting base is to play the speaker and listen to the headphone at the same time. I did not use them much after I got Maggies since the Maggies had surperb sensitivity.

I was recently thinking of purchasing another pair (to cure room reflection) but after doing some research, I concluded that many of the above problems have not been solved.

How would you address some of the problems? I arranged some mini-monitors close to my easy chair, like earphones to overcome room reflections. Try it. I thought the image would still be infront, it wasn't. So I moved the speakers slightly forward of the chair. I could not trick my ears. The sound stage remained between the speakers. Everdently, there was still enough room reflection for the ears to gauge the distance to the speakers. I walked around the room listen to the reflection. I no longer believe in transparent speakers, only strong room reflection. (You might have sumised that I like transparent type speakers with Maggies and Ohm Walsh 4+). It would be interesting to try to design an arbor or speakers that you sit in. The arbor would do some phase trickery that would make you think it was surround sound. The base would be below the chair seat to provide not only sound but feel. I do not know if this could also be the solution to surround sound problem, room reflection. (The only impressionable surround sound I heard was in a large commerical movie theater.)