Driving headphones from speaker taps?

I've got my eye on a new amp, but there's a snag. It hasn't got a tape output, and I need one to drive my Stax headphone amp. (The prospective amp hasn't got a standard headphone socket, either).

So....is there some sort of converter box that I can use to take output from the speaker taps and feed into the dual phono sockets on the headphone amp? Or am I looking at Life Without Headphones?

 

I think a stereo DI Box with suitable atenuation (over 20dB) should do the job. Try this - http://www.studiospares.com/mac/pro...style=1&Submit=Submit&cid=&gid=3&hidden1=&p=1



It is unlikly to sound as good as when you had a tape out though.

 

What you could do however, is find a nice chap here willing to modify your amp for you! ..Or at least show you how. Are you any good at soldering?

 

you could also buy soem AKG K1000s which are designed to be driven from speaker outputs...

 

Yeah they are great I had a pair running from a Cayin KT88 valve amp for about a year. Beat any of the STAX I heard by a mile.

Edited to add: No offence to your STAX! The amp and K1000 were over £1400

 

Some earlier STAX headphones also connected to the speaker terminals. I reckon any sonic degradation from a step down device (let alone whether it has the correct load) would be easily audible through a system as transparent as the Stax. I don't know which energiser you use but does it allow you to connect it between the most commonly used source for headphone listening and the amp? If possible this might suit you in the long term rather than compromising on amplifier choice now for the sake of tape out sockets.

 

Cheers for all the advice, chaps.

Tenson - no offence taken re the Stax The AKGs sound tempting, I might well go for them. Does anyone know how long the cable is on these? The documentation on the AKG website doesn't say.

 

Pretty long... 3m maybe.

 

i've always liked 'phones which take the signal from the speaker outs. The Ergo AMTs which I currently use are some of the best sounding 'phones I've used and work this way.

 

Yes they are stunning, are you using them with the little mccormack neil?

 

Yep, AK - it's also driving a small "bedroom system" - 1st rate combo! (Thanks again)

 

was genuinely sorry to see it go, especially the amp, but TBH I never used it enough to justify keeping it, I'm glad it's found a good home.

 

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/index.php?
Go to this headphone forum American based . You will get loads of help and advice from some very learned members of this forum and it is very interesting. You may already know of it. If not join it. Theres much more going n with cans over there.
Malc

 

Head-fi is an excellent site. One member posted a link to a couple of photos of the AKGs scanned from GQ magazine:
http://photo.head-fi.org/data/500/9743akgk1000b.jpg
http://photo.head-fi.org/data/500/9743akgk1000c.jpg
Who doesn't want a pair now??

 

Hmmm.. my headphone stand wasn't quite that sexy but here ya go.