Can't wait to try it, but I need to become proficient at certain things first, like cutting right angles.
FWIW, this Kanspea is a really nice little nearfield monitor. I'm listening to Björk's "Vespertine" and the bass, tones, textures, voice, depth, and space are all there. It's like there's a mini Björk hanging out on my desk.
Btw, I read a couple white papers on the EnABL process the other night. Is it best to treat the drivers before break-in or after? Does it matter?
FWIW, this Kanspea is a really nice little nearfield monitor. I'm listening to Björk's "Vespertine" and the bass, tones, textures, voice, depth, and space are all there. It's like there's a mini Björk hanging out on my desk.
Btw, I read a couple white papers on the EnABL process the other night. Is it best to treat the drivers before break-in or after? Does it matter?
I don't know. All the drivers i do get 200-300 hrs before i treat them. I can't return them if they are not "right" and i have treated them.
dave
Well, I just snagged the last pair at solen.ca. Thanks for the heads-up Eric!
So far the "better to ask forgiveness than permission" policy is working ok.
Awash in projects for the spring! I'm thinking an open baffle with the SOL and a large woofer at some point, too.
1st time speaker builder, very newbie question here:
I've been looking at plywood around town with my trusty measuring devices. Even the nicer baltic birch plies are available in nominal sizes whose actual sizes vary from the dimensions specified in the various enclosure plans. I can get pretty close to the sizes called for in the plans, but not exact.
For instance, the Woden Baby Labs call for 1/2" material, and I can within 1 or 2mm of that. Is that OK? How much wiggle room do I have?
I've looked at Lowes/Home Depot, M&M Lumber (M&M Lumber Co, Tulsa, Ok), and Woodcraft. Any suggestions on places to look for ply?
I've been looking at plywood around town with my trusty measuring devices. Even the nicer baltic birch plies are available in nominal sizes whose actual sizes vary from the dimensions specified in the various enclosure plans. I can get pretty close to the sizes called for in the plans, but not exact.
For instance, the Woden Baby Labs call for 1/2" material, and I can within 1 or 2mm of that. Is that OK? How much wiggle room do I have?
I've looked at Lowes/Home Depot, M&M Lumber (M&M Lumber Co, Tulsa, Ok), and Woodcraft. Any suggestions on places to look for ply?
Thanks for the reply, Scott. I plan to begin a pair of Falcon or Shrike in the next couple weeks.
Looking around at more enclosure possibilities. Would GM's ML-Voigt work with ff105wk or fe103-sol?
http://frugal-phile.com/boxes-fostex.html#GM-mlv
Looking around at more enclosure possibilities. Would GM's ML-Voigt work with ff105wk or fe103-sol?
http://frugal-phile.com/boxes-fostex.html#GM-mlv
The FE103-SOLs arrived tonight (pretty!), and I wanted to throw them into the Kanspea boxes just to hear how their sound is different from the FF105WK.
I feel silly asking this, but is there a trick for removing the detachable clips from the connection tabs on the driver? I can't get the wires off the FF105WKs and I'm afraid I'll break them if I exert more force.
I feel silly asking this, but is there a trick for removing the detachable clips from the connection tabs on the driver? I can't get the wires off the FF105WKs and I'm afraid I'll break them if I exert more force.
Hmm, I'm 69 and definitely have rolled off HF hearing, but still sensitive enough to sibilance to 'feel' your GF's 'pain', so have always assumed this ancient chart was based on steady state tones.
GM
As you get older, care of your hearing becomes more and more important if you prioritize music appreciation and/or music creation (they are very close, intertwined) and I suspect can be a real problem for those who are more deeply involved with metal or wood working with loud power tools, or work in any high decibel environment.
I recently took an online test tone test and found I can only hear up to 14kHz or so. I am in my 50s. The last time I did such a test was in 1989, 27 yrs ago, and my upper limit then was 16kHz. Nearly 3 decades later I worry to lose that much information in my hearing.
It feels like a shock to read that you are in your 40s and have suffered such a hearing loss. Please take care of yourself. I found overall health and peace of mind - not so easy to maintain in difficult life circumstances, in such a troubled world - help hearing and other losses due to age and stress.
I recently took an online test tone test and found I can only hear up to 14kHz or so. I am in my 50s. The last time I did such a test was in 1989, 27 yrs ago, and my upper limit then was 16kHz. Nearly 3 decades later I worry to lose that much information in my hearing.
It feels like a shock to read that you are in your 40s and have suffered such a hearing loss. Please take care of yourself. I found overall health and peace of mind - not so easy to maintain in difficult life circumstances, in such a troubled world - help hearing and other losses due to age and stress.
This is an 'old school' design, i.e. meant to work with similar size, response range drivers and fine tuned by mostly dialing in the desired output impedance once the stuffing is dialed in; with Dave p10's tweaked 40-1197 working a treat in a semi-4pi space* with an 8 ohm carbon comp resistor in series and coupled to a lovely restored Marantz tube receiver, which had a published 1/8 ohm, so plenty of tuning flexibility for other drivers.
* setting on top of a large Goodmans console out in the middle of a large, reverberant room, using inverted, unopened, coffee creamer cups to space it up since there hadn't been time to make the 'stand' in the drawing, though has the same gap IIRC.
In retrospect, the success of this configuration gives one pause as to how we might should be supporting speakers as I spent my time focused on how well the cups were working while others enjoyed its lively [mid] bass performance with surprisingly clear mids, even after factoring in the modpoge? damping and custom phase plug.
Anyway, not a small speaker by today's standards, but you could do a lot worse judging by how well received it was at two Atlanta DIY Meets some years apart in its unfinished, cobbled together from scraps 'ugliness'.
GM
Thanks. Unfortunately, pulling at it with needle pliers didn't work either. The clip has a raised portion that fits in a gap on the speaker's connection tab that clicks into place and prevents it from coming out. I used a small jeweller's flathead screwdriver to push that raised bit out, which allowed me to remove it from the tab. I then had to push it from the other side to bend it back into place before sliding it onto the FE103-SOL tab, otherwise it wouldn't stay on.
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Thanks, GM. I'm intrigued by the design and will try it with the two 4" Fostex drivers I've got, once I make a couple of simpler builds to get my woodworking up to snuff.
You mention dialing in the stuffing: how do you do that with this particular enclosure? Hold it together with clamps so that a panel can be removed to make stuffing adjustments?
Jeff
The FE103-SOLs are breaking in. For the first 10 hours they sounded awful -- I mean actively bad -- with shrill, nasal tone and very narrow sweetspot. Now at 30 hours they are starting to open up and sound more musical.
I know it's not fair to assess them so early, but initial impressions are that the FE103-SOLs sound drier and more rolled off than the FF105WK. Vintage was a term I read in reviews and that seems to be the case here. The FF105WK by contrast sounds liquid, forward, detailed, with greater bass and treble extension, plus a wider and deeper imaging effect.
My sense is that the -SOLs will take significantly longer to break in then the -WKs.
But of course the Kanspea 1000 boxes might be less optimal for the -SOL, as indeed probably for the -WK. With the driver-specific box designs I'm sure they'll sound much better.
Looking forward to hearing how these drivers develop over the next several hundred hours.
The current system for these is the iMac --> Fostex AP05 mini 5 watt amp --> Kanspea 1000s, listening to lounge/jazz/funk/easy listening from luxuriamusic.com via iTunes. I picked up some speaker wire and am planning to connect them to my 300B SET amp later today.
I know it's not fair to assess them so early, but initial impressions are that the FE103-SOLs sound drier and more rolled off than the FF105WK. Vintage was a term I read in reviews and that seems to be the case here. The FF105WK by contrast sounds liquid, forward, detailed, with greater bass and treble extension, plus a wider and deeper imaging effect.
My sense is that the -SOLs will take significantly longer to break in then the -WKs.
But of course the Kanspea 1000 boxes might be less optimal for the -SOL, as indeed probably for the -WK. With the driver-specific box designs I'm sure they'll sound much better.
Looking forward to hearing how these drivers develop over the next several hundred hours.
The current system for these is the iMac --> Fostex AP05 mini 5 watt amp --> Kanspea 1000s, listening to lounge/jazz/funk/easy listening from luxuriamusic.com via iTunes. I picked up some speaker wire and am planning to connect them to my 300B SET amp later today.
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And less than optimal construction. Good for what they are thou.
The FE103 SOL fits the same miniOnkens as the FF105wk (with adjustment of tuning). 5 litre is optimum for this kind of alignment.
dave
HM: What an interesting design. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. I'll be starting with simpler builds first, but I'm keeping the Kornett in mind for a little later once my woodworking skills are up to it. Would you say the Kornett is a good speaker for romantic symphony such as Beethoven?
Dave, thanks for the info the miniOnken. Would that be the trapezoidal style you're referring to?
Our spring break is coming up in three weeks and I'm planning to start (and I hope complete) a L'Stylo 105 build as my first project. I'd like to build a pair of Shrike for the -SOL, too, but will let those break in a while longer.
Dave, thanks for the info the miniOnken. Would that be the trapezoidal style you're referring to?
Our spring break is coming up in three weeks and I'm planning to start (and I hope complete) a L'Stylo 105 build as my first project. I'd like to build a pair of Shrike for the -SOL, too, but will let those break in a while longer.
thanks,
if you get a good recording, classic has a super soundstage by the indirect driver,
at ~95 db 1m is the end, if you want original sinfonic SPL take a biggger one
like SAXOPHON or RDH20
Attachments
There is a trapezoid, rectangular, & CGR versions of the 5 litre box, a smaller 3.6 L CGR and the standard 4.7 L millSize box.
dave
Is there an actual dimension drawing of the 5 liter CGR FF105 ?
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