Well it took a while because house remodeling got in the way. The boys wanted to make speakers for their room and one of them wanted them red. So here they are with blood wood veneer. The first time working with veneer that was not paper backed. Just to say it liked to crack a lot. That resulted in a lot of regluing and touching up. I have had the FE127 running for a while now but not sure how many hours. The only thing I like to say is these image like crazy. I think they sound real good for a small speaker. Right now I am running them with the SEX amp but I think they need a little more power. Now I just need to find some time to sit down and listen to my favorite cds.
John
John
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Congrats John, they turned out really nice. Love the dark red veneer.
Hook them up to an old SS receiver for a while to break them in. You can drive them pretty hard, with a bit of extra bass. Lots of hip-hop or dance music to get the cones moving.
Only thing left to do is the EnABL'ing. You'll be shocked at how good they will sound.
Jeff
Hook them up to an old SS receiver for a while to break them in. You can drive them pretty hard, with a bit of extra bass. Lots of hip-hop or dance music to get the cones moving.
Only thing left to do is the EnABL'ing. You'll be shocked at how good they will sound.
Jeff
Welcome to the club, John - I've built a few pairs of these myself, and can certainly appreciate the work.
Yup that non backed veneer can be a paint to work with, particularly around the slots and driver cut outs
As Jeff noted, burn 'em in good for a few hundred hours first if you like, but you haven't heard this speaker until the drivers and phase plugs have been EnABLed
I was wondering about whether the SEX amp would be quite enough power, in my tiny room the Paramour 2A3 and 5w or so class A EL84P/P certainly are.
"Frankly, my dear, I'd rather be Fonken"
Yup that non backed veneer can be a paint to work with, particularly around the slots and driver cut outs
As Jeff noted, burn 'em in good for a few hundred hours first if you like, but you haven't heard this speaker until the drivers and phase plugs have been EnABLed
I was wondering about whether the SEX amp would be quite enough power, in my tiny room the Paramour 2A3 and 5w or so class A EL84P/P certainly are.
"Frankly, my dear, I'd rather be Fonken"
Thanks for all the comments guys. So now I will probably look into the EnAble option. I will play them as they are for now so I can see what the difference is once they are EnAbled. The SEX amp puts out 1.8 watts I believe, but I do think its enough. What I have noticed is that they are loud but I do not notice unless someone tries to talk to me. I really do believe that I need to put them in a different room where they can be farther apart. Right now they are not in the ideal position, too close together.
John
John
Godzilla said:
With a color that intense on pine, you might want to test a sample with stain pre-conditioner, unless you're looking for an intentionally very splotchy finish.
for oil based stains:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
for water based stains:
www.minwax.com/products/woodprep/water-prestain.cfm
P.S. - I don't want to insult your intelligence, but preparation is 90% of the quality of the finish, and application of the product is the remaining 20%
Careful long grain sanding with at least 220g will help a lot - the finer the sanding before preconditionier / sealer, the more even the color penetration. For a color as rich as the pictures, Red Oak stain on pine might not be deep enough. The last cabinets I finished close to that color was with an alcohol based commercial grade product, color named Dark Port Mahogany, followed by several coats of NC lacquer.
I digress.
Godzilla said:
Thanks, but that is not stain. Its actual real wood in a veneer format. Actually I don't know if they sell it in a stain. All I know is you need to be careful with pine because its a soft wood and likes to soak up stain a lot. You could also try a cherry stain to get a red color. An american cherry will give you a dark red color and a european cherry will give you a light red color.
John
http://www.zillaspeak.com/bib-godzillabib.asp
this is the mohagany red i used by minwax on pine. i pre stained. from the swatches it seems to be the strongest red along with red oak stain which i will try for my next project. Thanks for your input.
As for the 1.8 watt amp. I use the Fostex 127e with a SI amp and the combo is grand (about 6 watts i guess from what i have read online). Using a 100 watt SS Onkyo doesnt produce the same sound unfortunately. I bought the Onkyo for connecting my outdoor rock speakers and decided to run the Fostex in the living room too. I dont critically listen in the living room anymore.
http://www.zillaaudio.com/outdoor_speakers.htm
this is the mohagany red i used by minwax on pine. i pre stained. from the swatches it seems to be the strongest red along with red oak stain which i will try for my next project. Thanks for your input.
As for the 1.8 watt amp. I use the Fostex 127e with a SI amp and the combo is grand (about 6 watts i guess from what i have read online). Using a 100 watt SS Onkyo doesnt produce the same sound unfortunately. I bought the Onkyo for connecting my outdoor rock speakers and decided to run the Fostex in the living room too. I dont critically listen in the living room anymore.
http://www.zillaaudio.com/outdoor_speakers.htm
I'm not particularly a fan of the knotty pine look, but yours certainly turned out fine as far as color is concerned. ( I've seen some scaryfuggly examples on 'net posting and in the flesh )
Sorry I missed seeing these before - there's just only so much available.
I haven't seriously listened to the original SI T amp, but the current Trends TA10.1 (even bone stock) plays quite nicely with the FE127 - a bit too thin and forward for my taste with the FE126, but YMMV etc.
care to elaborate, or can I assume you mean it sounds a bit coarse, grainy, 2 dimensional and gives you a headache after about an hour or so? that's certainly my experience with a Denon 5.1 HT receiver that's now sitting in a closet - for sale cheap!
Sorry I missed seeing these before - there's just only so much available.
I haven't seriously listened to the original SI T amp, but the current Trends TA10.1 (even bone stock) plays quite nicely with the FE127 - a bit too thin and forward for my taste with the FE126, but YMMV etc.
care to elaborate, or can I assume you mean it sounds a bit coarse, grainy, 2 dimensional and gives you a headache after about an hour or so? that's certainly my experience with a Denon 5.1 HT receiver that's now sitting in a closet - for sale cheap!
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