Fonkens and 6W - advisable?

[ianc13]

Hi,

I am just finishing off a pair of 6W monoblocks at present and am looking to build a new pair of speakers with that pass WAF.

I really like the look of the Fonkens as a project but I am concerned that I will not be able to get the best out of them with 5-6W.

My room is 15' x 13' and I don't tend to listen particularly loud.

Can anyone share their impressions on the Fonkens at these kind of power levels?

Thanks in advance,

Ian

[gmilitano]

Ironically, that may be too much power! My experience with the FE127E (and other tiny Xmax drivers) in a vented enclosure is that you start getting unpleasant distortion at just a few watts.

[edjosh23]

I have not built the Fonkens, but I do have a pair of FE127s that have seen a couple enclosures and have been powered with a couple of different amplifiers.

My tube amp is 8W and that is plenty, can't even turn the volume up all the way. Currently I have my FE127s in GMs TL enclosures and they are being powered by a SI T-Amp. With this setup (near field) I definately cannot turn the volume up very high, but if I were to listen to music on the other side of my bedroom it would be fine as well.

I forgot... I did build a pair of floorstanding Fonkens for a client. They have a much larger room and the SI T-amp is plenty for them.

What size is your room?
How far away from the speakers will you be?

I think those amps should be okay as long as you are not too far away from the speakers.

Josh

[chrisb]

With the wide range of variables (room/music types/listening habits), there is probably no simple "correct" answer or "best" match.

Dave & my listening rooms are considerably different sizes (his well over 5000ft^3, mine at 2560 & under 1800), and we've played several pairs of FE127E Fonkens with amps ranging from 3W to 25W ( 2A3, EL84 triode SE, EL84 triode P/P, EL34 triode P/P, Trends T-amp to name a few).

At listening levels of 86-90dB SPL and distance of 2-3 meters, I've yet to hear grossly distorted clipping from even the Paramour 2A3 in my small room. At 4meters in the larger one, the small amp will hit the wall, and while the 25W EL34 amp has much more headroom and max SPL, it can overload the drivers at higher levels, but for comfort and hearing safety, I'll turn it down before then.

I hardly ever use the big amp anymore - it's just far outclassed in terms of resolution, subtlety of inner detail, and "intimacy" by the 2A3 and EL83 triode P/P (variant of Eli Duttman's El Cheapo). 2 years ago, I never thought I'd say this, but price difference aside, even the combination of a Trends ClassT amp and the FE127E has charms that the higher powered tube amp lacks.