CSS FR125S ... production units playing now...

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morbo said:
I can't speak to any reasons for the incompatibility, but I have run the WR125s off a 70's Yamaha reciever @ 40wpc, a 90's Carver reciever @ 60wpc, and a brand new Panasonic XR50 digital reciever with very good results.


Those amps are solid state, the amps we were having problems with were the tube ones. ( not all the tube one's )
 
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jleaman said:
the amps we were having problems with were the tube ones. ( not all the tube one's )

They were all single ended tube amps with highish output impedance. The First Watt, for example, current amps may have similar probs.

Dan Wiggins thinks this may well be due to the very high impedance peak at resonance... out of the box the drivers exhibited peak impedances as high as 70 ohms, when i measured the miniO today it was hitting 35 ohms. This dramatic impedance change may well upset the operating point of the SE amps enuff to cause the burps. One option -- certainly not purist -- would be to add an LVR filter to counter the rsonance peak.

dave
 
Many thanks to Chrisb, Dave, Jason, et al. Had a great time at Chris's on Sat. Chris was carring the newly finished mini-towers into the house as I arrived, needless to say, no break-in, but---, once it became clear they didn't like the se amps, and the above amps were swapped in, these speakers sounded like winners right away. Gorgeous female vocals, plenty of bass, not just bass, but bass with all the right textures. Besides their ability to play plenty loud, and image very nicely, there was no fuss over placement, and small enough for domestic harmony. Chris and Dave have done a great job on these! Love to hear them again w/ a few hours on 'em. Looking forward to building the Bhorns, Chris, now it's off to Windsor plywood for some Baltic Birch!! Don
 
I've been listening to the CSS FR125S for a few days. And I am surprised that I do not want to hurry back to my Jordan JX92s. The FR 125S seem to excell at conveying the emotional quality of dynamic nuance--thus I'm drawn into the music. That and a more relaxed treble compared to the Jordan have helped to make thems a welcome guest, perhaps permanent housemate. I expect they will open up in the midrange with time and hopefully come close to the smooth openness of the Jordans in the mids. The bass has a rightness to it--but this is so very much cabinet dependent--I've lucked by putting them in a enlarged Jordan VTL style box, but am planning to try them in a back horn in the near future. I like that these drivers do come across in the least bit flashy or hyper-anything, just relax, easy and right.
 
TomZ

Although for the fanatic purists, the under 100dB efficiency might be a psychological barrier., you'll be answering one of the big questions that came up during our listening session if you're able to test these drivers out in one of your horns.


Anybody in the audience running a Joplin 2A3 integrated? That might be a killer combination for cheap.
 
FR125 impressions

good morning boys and girls
I too was at Chris's for the driver swapping ceremonies. Chris can work the cordless drill and swing a soldering iron like nobodies business. As noted by the other fellows once the drivers had made the rounds between all cabinets and all SE amps. We tried the mini A's things. Those little amps get warm not hot just warm. Chris said we better put them on a piece of plywood to keep the smell of toasted carpet to a minimum.

My first impression was they put out a lot of bass. Not just for small driver either they just plain put out a lot of bass. As the alephs warmed up the sound became more smoth. I did not hear the bipole with the mini A but I suspect it will be great.
As Dave inidicated I have a few presentation ideas for the onken that I hope will look nice. I am thinking about an integrated stand and we were talking about a bipole onken as well.
As Dave noted the onken has a tendency to not sound like a bass reflex it is a lot smoother. It also has a lot of placement options and I think it will have better spousal appeal.
As Don said I am looking forward to hearing these drivers after a few weeks of breakin.
Nuff said for now
 
Glad to hear you boys had a good go at 'er. I'm hoping they will be broken in and on display when we get together later this summer.

Dave, any plans yet? I'm booked on the August 1st long weekend and also on the weekend of the 20th

SCD: You always have a good way of telling a story either in person or in type.

Chris: How's that pump working? ;)

Cal
 
stand and be counted sir!

Cal Weldon said:
Glad to hear you boys had a good go at 'er. I'm hoping they will be broken in and on display when we get together later this summer.

Dave, any plans yet? I'm booked on the August 1st long weekend and also on the weekend of the 20th

SCD: You always have a good way of telling a story either in person or in type.

Chris: How's that pump working? ;)

Cal



just fine thanks - the little dik that could, ( I think I can, I think I can...)

good to hear from you too Cal - hopefully you can make it to Davie's August DIY geekfest and survivalist campout/BBQ at the mountain



hows the little amp sounding?
 
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Re: TomZ

chrisb said:
Dave, any plans yet? I'm booked on the August 1st long weekend and also on the weekend of the 20th

Just on Saturday we nailed the date. 27th of August (dragging over to the 28th for those that stay over). So this is the unofficial announcement -- the official will come in the next day or so.

Tim is coming up from Sattle. Don & Scott will make every effort to come. Cal from the mainland (and anyone who hitches a ride). We are hoping Cal is going to bring his "little" Altecs (don't want to have him having to rent a trailer to bring the larger rig). Be real interesting to hear it outside biamped with some small SE amps.

The FR125 in various flavours (including an MDF/plywood shootout), my (hopefully tweaked by then) $7 OBs, and a number of other frugal-phile(tm) projects, some RH84 & RH34 amps, possibly a mule of the GingerTube/Yves diff amp, miniAs & gainclones.

I'm going to use the opportunity to give away some of my collection of 2-buck drivers and if anyone needs to take out some frustration they can bring their sledge & render some of the "burning pile" smaller.

dave
 
TomekZ said:
I've been listening to the CSS FR125S for a few days. And I am surprised that I do not want to hurry back to my Jordan JX92s. The FR 125S seem to excell at conveying the emotional quality of dynamic nuance--thus I'm drawn into the music. That and a more relaxed treble compared to the Jordan have helped to make thems a welcome guest, perhaps permanent housemate. I expect they will open up in the midrange with time and hopefully come close to the smooth openness of the Jordans in the mids. The bass has a rightness to it--but this is so very much cabinet dependent--I've lucked by putting them in a enlarged Jordan VTL style box, but am planning to try them in a back horn in the near future. I like that these drivers do come across in the least bit flashy or hyper-anything, just relax, easy and right.

Hmm... I noticed today, on my daily visit to see if the FR125s are available yet, that CSS are no longer listing the JX92s. Methinks a coup may be brewing.

Max
 
listen up

Maxro, sorry I forgot to give you the itinerary for the Saturday session - there was certainly room for one more set of ears


If you're not already fully booked, and still want to hear the FR125s, how about another go this long weekend?

send me a private e-mail for details, I'll reply this evening

chris
 
maxro said:
Hmm... I noticed today, on my daily visit to see if the FR125s are available yet, that CSS are no longer listing the JX92s. Methinks a coup may be brewing.

CSS owns the FR125 design. If they no longer sell Jordan, it's not necessarily any kind of quality or value statement, it's more than likely just a business decision. If you ask Creative Sound I''m sure they'll tell you the FR125 is better than a JX92. If you ask Ted Jordan...
 
frugal-phile™
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Jordan no longer has North American distribution. It is not my place to say why.

It is clear that the FR125S aims into exactly the same market niche as the Jordan. It is a worthy competitor, at a better price. It will be very interesting to see the comparisons amoungst those that have both like Tom.

dave

planet10/disclaimer -- i have become a dealer for these speakers
 
When I started the full range quest about 2 years ago my target was not the Jordan but rather the TB W3-871S which sold in good numbers. The WR125S was "incomplete" in certain ways but many people compared it very favourably against the JX92S and so I knew that with the FR125S I would potentially be in a "conflict of interest" situation with Jordan. I would have been happy to continue selling both but Mr Jordan didn't consider that an option.

As Tom, Dave, and Chris are finding out, cabinet/bass alignment issues are critical and I'm certain that all the development work going on around the world right now will give users a wide range of options using a very cost-effective driver.

Regretably, it looks like the labour dispute at the Vancouver port will delay the arrival of the shipment.
 
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