Baffle material in a folded horn

[graykeene]

I am completing the recommended folded horn design for the Fostex FE206 ES-R and need help in determining how much baffle material ( I am using wool) to add to the cavity behind the driver prior to installing. The design information is in japanese, which I don't seem to be able to figure out.. Any help is appreciated.

graykeene@hotmail.com

[chrisb]

Originally posted by graykeene
I am completing the recommended folded horn design for the Fostex FE206 ES-R and need help in determining how much baffle material ( I am using wool) to add to the cavity behind the driver prior to installing. The design information is in japanese, which I don't seem to be able to figure out.. Any help is appreciated.

graykeene@hotmail.com

Gray - you may have satisfied yourself on this question by now, but in any case, what amp(s) / cabling are you using, and how many hours are on the drivers?

With a driver/enclosure system as well matched and revealing as this, the synergy with the electronics is very intimate, and could well affect the overall tonal balance and presentation. These speakers absolutely love a low powered DHT amp.

Furthermore, having shared a buddy's journey with his own 206ESR's, "final" tuning may take at least 500hours of playing time for both the drivers and cabinets to fully settle in.

IIRC, Frank's current level of CC treatment is a single Deflex pad on the rear wall, and some light fluff at the bottom (cotton felt or even open cell wavy foam might be worth a try)

[no xo]

I would agree with chrisb regarding the deflex and stuffing in the CC. I also lightly stuffed the 1st fold, or what some might call the throat, with wool batting. You might consider damping the magnet with felt to reduce reflections. It will depend upon your room, amplifier, and taste before they sound the way YOU like them. I keep looking at the picture you posted on the other thread. Beautiful speakers for a beautiful home.

[graykeene]

O.K. then.

Couldn't wait to test out the new speaker. I used raw wool, provided by my loving and generous wife. Not over packed, filling the upper chamber and sufficiently behind the driver and slightly below.

Mounted the speaker using machined thread, s.s. hex heads. Installed the speaker grill (custom fabricated using Koa wood for the sides and brass rods install between the sides horizontally)- I have a 10 month old boxer that is very jealous of my affection for full range speaker projects and has eaten one new-in-box FE 206 ES-R and two FE165s so far. Madisound gave me a price break to replace the 206- wonderful guys there.

Called in for support and crane services to move the speaker back into the house.


Hooked the speaker up and.....it was wonderful!! Even without any hours on the driver I was blown away by the clarity and accuracy of the sound. My wife was equally thrilled and commented that we are both probably ruined for life- referring to enjoying anyone elses speakers/systems.

She wants the other speaker done by Saturday! Yea right. This one took me two and half months, I suspect I can get the other one done in a month or so now that I have one under my belt.

I will post some picutres in the near future. I am setting up my own web site so I have a place to post them for viewing. Domain name is graykeene.com. Imagine that?

Chrisb and No ox- Thanks for the guidance. Also, as requested- I am using standard monster cable for speaker wires. I am using a Denon Integrated Amp (100w) with a Denon DVD/CD/SACD. My plans are to buy an integrated tube amp, perhaps a DHT, 2A3 or 300b (any help or recommendations welcomed) in the near future- still have one in college!

[chrisb]

Gray - first of all: bad dog!

Secondly, I need to clarify what noxo and I have been attempting to describe, using slightly difference vernacular. I think you'll definitely need to wait until both speakers are finished, and the drivers have at least 300hrs playing time in the cabinets before you can be sure that your CC treatment is "just right" - in your actual listening room.

This will be different for every room/system, and I think it's safe to opine that the switch from virtually any mainstream commercial SS amp to a DHT would require a revisit.

Thirdly, my vote for a great performance/value balance for these particular speakers would be something on the order of a 2A3. My own amps at the moment are virtually stock Bottlehead ParamourII, but the actual owner of the speakers is more than happy with his Welborne Labs DRD45's.

The Bottlehead kit is great value for the money, and a fairly straightforward build. Another ready built tube amp that I've heard sound quite good on familiar systems (but not these) is the Decware Taboo (EL84 SEP).

This is a DIY forum and it could easily get a bewildering variety of recommendations for "personal favorites", commercial or otherwise; a representative cross section of which very few of us will have had the opportunity to compare on speakers such as these.

Synergy is elusive and individual satisfaction can not be guaranteed in advance - so many of the suggestions could be speculative. In addition, if I relied solely on the advice of "expert friends" it wouldn't be the first time I had to deal with the cognitive dissonance of reconciling the difference between what I told to expect and actually felt, or the vertigo in trying to following the moving target of flavor of the week. I swear that one of these gurus derives his sole physical exercise by jumping from one bandwagon to the next.

Finally, at the risk of initiating a flame war, you might want to consider using a smaller gauge speaker wire (i.e. single conductor vs stranded). If you haven't heard "it" yet, I suspect that even a quick experiment with single conductor strand of CAT5 wire per polarity will give you a hint of "why".

[no xo]

I`m glad to see you`re enjoying the sound. Just wait until you have 2 that are well broken in. Fabulous detail, wide and deep sound stage, fatigue free listening. As for electronics, I use an Audible Illusions M3 preamp, with a Audio Electronic Supply AE-25 DJH, that can switch between triode and ultralinear. I use triode for these speakers. Take Chrisb`s recommendation for the Bottlehead and Decware as great amps for the money. I had my electronics before I got involved in DIY, now my choice would be different. I would like to try an OGRE single input preamp, built by a guy here in the burbs, and in my system sounded better than the Audible Illusions, but I like internal switching V.S. changing manually. And for the amp, I would like to try a FirstWatt F4, but I have never heard one, and my current finances will probably keep it this way. Before I started building horns, I was a BBC minimonitor guy for almost 30 yrs, with LS3/5a`s and Proac Response 1SC ( which I still own ). Every so often I put the Proac`s back in the system, but after a day or two, I tire of the sound and back with the horns. If you can, bring home a few different amp designs and try them with YOUR system. It does`nt matter what other people like, unless you`re buying it for them. From my point of view the single ended amps have great midrange, but I like a triode PP amp with a little power.

[planet10]

Originally posted by no xo
BBC minimonitor guy for almost 30 yrs, with LS3/5a`

Just this last week we set a set of Fonkens on some LS3/5As (with miniA)...

dave

[no xo]

Dave, which one sounded better to you? Over time, I have brainwashed myself and 82db/1 watt@ 1meter just does`nt seem logical for anything other than what the LS3/5a was designed for, near field. In 1980 I traded a guy my Dahlquist DQ10`s for a pair of LS3/5a`s with Satterberg woofers. That was my speaker for almost 20 years. Someday soon I will build a pair of fonkens with your modified drivers. Today, that would be more to my liking.

[planet10]

Originally posted by no xo
which one sounded better to you?

After doing the compare i don't even know that it is good for what it was designed for... where it really got killed was the vocal range, the LS3/5A definitly sounding boxy -- i was quite surprised by how much.

It did give a good stimulus for going ahead with the miniFonken. If we can keep the midband in the mFonken close to the full-on Fonken and get the size to comparable to the LS3/5A we could have a superb box to be mated with subs or for use in exacly the same situation as the LS3/5A. We even have someone to test it in the firld for the later purpose.... in a radio station monitoring application.

dave

[no xo]

That`s kind of what I expected. It may not be long before you see my Proac`s on Audiogon. They have been sitting in a closet, and each time I pull them out, they seem worse than the last time I used them. After getting used to the bass of these horns the mini`s sounds real mushy. LS3/5a`s XO are the opposite of my moniker, lot`s going on in there, less coming out.