Here's a close up.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
mp9 said:
You can't jusge what new foam will do based on the old stuff we have all seen rot away. The tech & the coatings have improved dramatically. Rubber doesn't have that much better track record & coated cloth can be as equally problematic -- but 30-60 year old cloth, leather, and paper (ie cones continuing into an accordian surround) seem to have the best chance of still being useful today.
dave
Actually I won 2 bucks.
Hi Folks,
I have some big news ! (well...atleast for me...)
Yesterday my pair fe138es-r arrived !!
and in "real" they look even betters than on the photos.
i put them in some old 38-liters-floorstanders with passive radiators
for first testings and breaking-in, i now have them playing for 10 hours
Here´s my first impressions:
I expected them to sound like a cheap kitchen-radio, fresh out of the box
and in an enclosure that doesn´t fit at all. (like it was at the beginning with
my FE168eS ) but i was wrong ! Of course the bass sounds really funny,
and HF has bad colourations, as you expect from a Fostex-Fullranger, but i get
a glimpse of the enormous potential of this driver right from the start.
they are really really fast, with great dynamics, they actually sound louder
than you think with an SPL of 91,5db. and they do some magic with voices.
even with the colourations at this early stage of breaking-in they do voices better
than my FE168eS in their BiB´s, more presence, more lively with more air arond
it.
and what i like most: they really "Play Music" instead of just reproducing sounds.
I was prepared of the "hard work" of breaking-in a driver, you know, like "turn
them on, put in a CD and do something else", but i found myself just sitting there
and listening and enjoing the music...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, now that i have my pair of FE138es-R delivered savely to my home, it´s time
to think about a possible enclosure for them.
i invite you all to discuss this and throw in suggestions. Dave mentioned that this
might by the best speaker that Fostex ever put on sale, and i believe this, too.
so i think that the FE138eS-R deserves the best possilble box.
I think they would fit nicely in the Frugel-Horn, but i can´t put them in the corners of
my room, so LF-response would be not ideal, then the Harvey might be a better
choice and imho the best choice would be a chang or mooseBVR specially designed
for the eS-R, i think of something like a "curved phat Freddie"
as i understand the vast variety of models int the spawn-family, the BVR´s, like
Harvey are designed to match with a variety of drivers, and the changs have a slightly
better performance and are muche easier to build, but needed to be caclulated exactly
for each driver.
but we didn´t have all T/S parameters for the eS-R
i´ve searched for the Vas-value, but found nothin...
so, what should i do ???
cheerio,
Mirko
I have some big news ! (well...atleast for me...)
Yesterday my pair fe138es-r arrived !!
and in "real" they look even betters than on the photos.
i put them in some old 38-liters-floorstanders with passive radiators
for first testings and breaking-in, i now have them playing for 10 hours
Here´s my first impressions:
I expected them to sound like a cheap kitchen-radio, fresh out of the box
and in an enclosure that doesn´t fit at all. (like it was at the beginning with
my FE168eS ) but i was wrong ! Of course the bass sounds really funny,
and HF has bad colourations, as you expect from a Fostex-Fullranger, but i get
a glimpse of the enormous potential of this driver right from the start.
they are really really fast, with great dynamics, they actually sound louder
than you think with an SPL of 91,5db. and they do some magic with voices.
even with the colourations at this early stage of breaking-in they do voices better
than my FE168eS in their BiB´s, more presence, more lively with more air arond
it.
and what i like most: they really "Play Music" instead of just reproducing sounds.
I was prepared of the "hard work" of breaking-in a driver, you know, like "turn
them on, put in a CD and do something else", but i found myself just sitting there
and listening and enjoing the music...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, now that i have my pair of FE138es-R delivered savely to my home, it´s time
to think about a possible enclosure for them.
i invite you all to discuss this and throw in suggestions. Dave mentioned that this
might by the best speaker that Fostex ever put on sale, and i believe this, too.
so i think that the FE138eS-R deserves the best possilble box.
I think they would fit nicely in the Frugel-Horn, but i can´t put them in the corners of
my room, so LF-response would be not ideal, then the Harvey might be a better
choice and imho the best choice would be a chang or mooseBVR specially designed
for the eS-R, i think of something like a "curved phat Freddie"
as i understand the vast variety of models int the spawn-family, the BVR´s, like
Harvey are designed to match with a variety of drivers, and the changs have a slightly
better performance and are muche easier to build, but needed to be caclulated exactly
for each driver.
but we didn´t have all T/S parameters for the eS-R
i´ve searched for the Vas-value, but found nothin...
so, what should i do ???
cheerio,
Mirko
DaveCan said:Mirko, didn't they include a full spec sheet with the speakers? Dave
.....nope, they do ship a spec sheet with them, but there´s the same data on it,
as you see on the Preliminary-Fostex-Datasheet.pdf
...but they print out the complete plan for that ugly swan on that sheet, uaah
------------
Mirko
DaveCan said:Perhaps it would be a good idea to build the recommended Swan enclosure as Fostex suggests, then you would have a good reference cabinet by the manufacturer to compare others too, plus it will be a while for any new enclosures to be developed most likely... Dave
I just came back from Japan, Tokyu Hands (a very popular crafts plus just about everything else store) had those Swan enclosures kitted up in their woodcraft dept.
I can't say I think monopoles are a waste of drivers. Wouldn't that rather depend on the criteria you happen to have? I'd be interested to see these units run OB, with supporting woofers. But I wouldn't write off a monopole. They offer many things a baffle can't. Just as baffles offer things monopoles can't.
crispycircuit said:
well, of course you get a picture, i was planning to do this anyway...
but don´t laugh, my system is qiute a mess...
the amp is a RH 84se i build last year (and again many thanks to Alex Kitic for designing this
wonderful shematic !!)
Preamp is an old Orthophonic Mk III from Raphael
CD-player is a Mission cyrus dAD3 (which I now have for over 10 years )
The Turntable is currently out of order (some ground issues), which is a SEE Revolver
with a Linn Akito arm and a Grado pickup
Attachments
DaveCan said:Perhaps it would be a good idea to build the recommended Swan enclosure as Fostex suggests, then you would have a good reference cabinet by the manufacturer to compare others too, plus it will be a while for any new enclosures to be developed most likely... Dave
yeah, you may be right, DaveCan... to have a reference to compare with, but i don´t
want to build 3 or for boxes, till i get the right one ( i don´t want to offend anyone,
but speaker-building is not my hobby, it´s listening to the music...and i´m not
good at woodworking)
and there´s absolutely no way i´m gonna build the swan, it´s just too ugly and
to complicated, i stared at the Plan for them for over 10 minutes and didn´t
get the slightest clue how the work...
cheers, Mirko