At the moment my favorite at about $750 is still the Lowther PM6A with the
ticonal alnico and the 16 ohm silver overhung voice coil. This in an OB
with a suitable woofer below 160 Hz - pretty much as described in the SLOB
article.
Yeah, Yeah, I know the faults of the Lowthers, but this is the least egregious
case and a 2 dB shelf on the top along with a 10 or 15 degree off axis angle,
and it's pretty nice.
Above this price it gets spendy very quickly, I think.
ticonal alnico and the 16 ohm silver overhung voice coil. This in an OB
with a suitable woofer below 160 Hz - pretty much as described in the SLOB
article.
Yeah, Yeah, I know the faults of the Lowthers, but this is the least egregious
case and a 2 dB shelf on the top along with a 10 or 15 degree off axis angle,
and it's pretty nice.
Above this price it gets spendy very quickly, I think.
Hi Nelson,
Which cabinets have you found to work well with the fe108esigmas? Is this in your slot loaded open baffles or in the sealed box you described in your current source article from way back when? Or in something entirely different meant to keep us diyers up at night?
Which cabinets have you found to work well with the fe108esigmas? Is this in your slot loaded open baffles or in the sealed box you described in your current source article from way back when? Or in something entirely different meant to keep us diyers up at night?
Someone would have to ask and create work for me...
I went back through my files. All of these were at least evaluated in open
baffles and with few exceptions I used a woofer crossed in at or below 100 Hz
with a B5 crossover/EQ. If you want the basic setup, check out the
Slot Loaded Open Baffle article for electronics and photos of the OB's that
Jon Ver Halen has at Lowther Home
All the drivers relatively inexpensive, and all of them were "livable", that is to
say that at worst they sound pretty good after a glass of wine. Most of
them require a little screwing around to get them right. I will not bore you
with audiophile descriptions of the sound of each. This is DIY, so write your
own.
In no particular order:
Seas Prestige FA22RCZ and the Pioneer BU20 - both of these are decent,
smooth and reasonably neutral. You can get by without a woofer. The
Pioneers are discontinued, but were about $20 when available. Both work
pretty well on the bottom with a number of common enclosures. Seas
Exotics are priced out of this listing.
Fostex: FE166, the newer FE208ES and FE108ES, FF165WK, FF225WK,
and the older FF165K and FF225K. Not so much the older 208, 204, 206,
which I could not really warm up to. I think the most interesting at the
moment is the FE108ES. And of course there a couple of high priced FR
drivers.
Audio Nirvana: AN8, AN6 and super versions. Every once in a while I
mount these up and get a pleasant surprise. The cast frame versions are
spendier, and I leave it to you to decide about the extra money. The Alnicos
are too high for the list.
Jordan J92: Also great in a little box by itself or in the Kleinhorn. I keep a
pair in boxes on my desk, and I have loaned them to some very fussy people
who liked them a lot. No adjustments needed.
Alpair: The variations on the Jordan (plastic cones) are a safe buy, and they
sound good in a box or OB. I tend to like the larger ones. At BAF we had a
pair of the new paper cone units (which I was told were Peerless, possibly
mistakenly) which were there for evaluation at the next Speaker Camp, and I
think unanimously judged the best of the bunch. I was reminded of that, so
I just ordered the 12P models.
Tang Band: I have the W81772 and 1808 and out of the box they are a
good start, but it's another case of needing a little work. That said, lots
of people like them.
Moth Cicadas. Almost a Lowther, but cheap, and better bottom.
Unfortunately, like the Pioneers, no longer generally available.
There are quite a few not on this list for various reasons, not the least of which
is I do not have them or I haven't done the work to try to bring out their best.
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