Full Range Speaker Photo Gallery

Follow-up

Actually, as a follow-up to previous message and opinion possibly relevant to others: the SET amp using EL-84 may not be the best candidate to achieve synergy with Fostex FE127eN because its power may not be enough to handle speakers with 91dB sensitivity (that is before enabling process, which increases the sound quality but decreases the sensitivity).

I am currently building my second pair of full-range speakers to achieve higher sensitivity and (hopefully) better match with the amp. The second speaker project is not finished and therefore not yet a good candidate for this thread (it uses 10" cast frame fullrange drivers in back-loaded horn arrangement; sensitivity of the driver: 95 dB).
 
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Actually, as a follow-up to previous message and opinion possibly relevant to others: the SET amp using EL-84 may not be the best candidate to achieve synergy with Fostex FE127eN because its power may not be enough to handle speakers with 91dB sensitivity (that is before enabling process, which increases the sound quality but decreases the sensitivity).

I am currently building my second pair of full-range speakers to achieve higher sensitivity and (hopefully) better match with the amp. The second speaker project is not finished and therefore not yet a good candidate for this thread (it uses 10" cast frame fullrange drivers in back-loaded horn arrangement; sensitivity of the driver: 95 dB).



Well here we go again discussing the "suitability" of amps / speaker sensitivity / individual listener preference issue - I guess the parsing of the preceding gives a hint as to my take on it. :rolleyes:


FWIW, I've built and listened to many dozens of enclosures with FE 127E in mono and bi-pole configurations and one of the sweeter sounding amps I've heard them with is a variation on Alex Kitic's RH84 design. (my scribbled schematic attached) This particular project arouse from some dabbling around with spare parts after performing some simple mods to a pair of Zen C and building a matching Bottlehead ForeplayII a few years back - and had approx the same power as the Zen. To my taste, I preferred the triode connected EF86 as driver to a variety of 6922/6N1P/ 6DJ8 etc types that I sampled at the time - the only downside is that it's not a dual section device.

Slightly higher on my preferred amp list for the FE127 is a custom EL34 SET designed by Eddie Vaughn - GZ34/film cap & choke filtered power supply, Raytheon 5842 driver, Bud Purvine OPT. More power than the Carina that a friend of mine had - also a very sweet amp, but quite frankly between the 2, I preferred the EL34.

From the DHTs in my collection, I prefer the Bottlehead Paramour 2A3 (3.?? watts) to the George Wright Mono7 300B for driving the FE127E.

As to any miniscule loss of sensitivity resulting from the EnABL process, I find that the extra depth of information it unmasks more than makes amends for that. As very little of my musical listening is over SPL of 90dB, I can happily enjoy the match of 2 or 3 "tube" watts and 91/92 sensitivity drivers - certainly more so than 20-30watts of SS - including T-amps and a DIY mini-Aleph. If that means my taste is on the "romantic" side - so be it.
 

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My contribution

I thought it was about time I posted my contribution to the Full Range picture thread after being inspired by what other people had done. (mind you most of you know what you are doing....I don't:D)

Mass Loaded Transmission Line (2.2m long TL) approx 20 litres volume, drivers are CSS 125's.

SL270815.jpg


SL270814.jpg


SL270813.jpg


Hope you like;)
 
Well, initially they were a bit bright and base light which I was surprised about given the TL. :eek: However through a comination of running in and adding quite a Bit of stuffing behind the driver and down the start of the TL. I soon got a better balance. Firing them straight ahead also helps. After a week of continous use and playing around with wool/foam I'm quite happy with them now. If you wanted proper bass power a sub would be needed, but this could be to do with the power amp which is a bit bass light (tripath 2020 amp).

Driver link below

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Drivers/CSS-FR125SR/


Nick
 
My fullrange experiments!

Here they are!
As a consequence of moving in a smaller house, I left my beloved JBL Jubal and started the "fullrange-low power" way.
It's not bad at all!!
For you to see my "Pico-Lino" with fe-103 and my Zigmahornet with a strange chinese 4" fullrange I bought on e-bay.
The latter are a sort of fe-103 with loudness on: absolutely recommended as they overcome the limits in freq. response of the fostex.
 

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