I'm looking for speaker recommendations using the Fostex FE167E driver to be used in my odd-shaped listening room. It's triangular in shape (the only room my wife let me have) with two sides at around 20 ft. and the short side at 13 ft. One long side has a door and shelves. The other long side has a couch. I'm left with putting the stereo equipment on the short side (shaded on the sketch).
I listen mostly to jazz and female vocals. As such, I really wanted to try out the smaller drivers (4" & 6"). I chose to use the FE167E since I have a 45 tube amp and need all the sensitivity I can get (~2 watts RMS!!).
My experience in speaker building is limited to subwoofers but the plans I've seen so far are pretty doable. I'm fascinated by the Chang line and was thinking of doing the KimChi Chang. What do you think?? Any other recommendations?? I'd like to keep the cabinets skinny since the current ones I have in there kinda crowd the space.
I listen mostly to jazz and female vocals. As such, I really wanted to try out the smaller drivers (4" & 6"). I chose to use the FE167E since I have a 45 tube amp and need all the sensitivity I can get (~2 watts RMS!!).
My experience in speaker building is limited to subwoofers but the plans I've seen so far are pretty doable. I'm fascinated by the Chang line and was thinking of doing the KimChi Chang. What do you think?? Any other recommendations?? I'd like to keep the cabinets skinny since the current ones I have in there kinda crowd the space.
I think your room shape & dimensions might give you some real problems with the imaging from any of the double mouth designs.
It's been my personal experience that small / awkward rooms are where the smaller drivers truly shine. I've experimented several times with the FE167 in my own listening room (an 8.5 x 23ft rectangle) and they easily overload the room.
A buddy of mine has a pair of Welborne DRD45's, and 3 different pairs of Fostex based speakers ( Hornshoppe Horns, C&C Abby, and the FE206ESR in BLH) - in a much larger room than either of ours. Having listened to all combinations of above, there's certainly no argument that the power available from a 45 SET needs all the sensitivity you can muster, and the FE167 is a great choice for the money.
However, if you haven't already acquired the drivers, another option worth considering is the FE126E in a small BLH, such as the Frugelhorn or Ron Clarke's A126. While Fostex's published specs are famously "optimistic", the rated difference in sensitivity between the FE167E and FE126E is 1dB.
Place them straddling the back corner of the room, approx 6 feet apart.
It's been my personal experience that small / awkward rooms are where the smaller drivers truly shine. I've experimented several times with the FE167 in my own listening room (an 8.5 x 23ft rectangle) and they easily overload the room.
A buddy of mine has a pair of Welborne DRD45's, and 3 different pairs of Fostex based speakers ( Hornshoppe Horns, C&C Abby, and the FE206ESR in BLH) - in a much larger room than either of ours. Having listened to all combinations of above, there's certainly no argument that the power available from a 45 SET needs all the sensitivity you can muster, and the FE167 is a great choice for the money.
However, if you haven't already acquired the drivers, another option worth considering is the FE126E in a small BLH, such as the Frugelhorn or Ron Clarke's A126. While Fostex's published specs are famously "optimistic", the rated difference in sensitivity between the FE167E and FE126E is 1dB.
Place them straddling the back corner of the room, approx 6 feet apart.
Ugh, I'd put the cheapest, biggest, loudest system in there until she gave you a better room. I'm sure she can make better use of that space for her hobbies than you for yours.
That said, horns are a really tight fit in there. Perhaps flying them from the ceiling to save floor space might be a thought.
They will have to be small...imaging is pretty much toast unless you get really nearfeild and put some thought into diffusion/absorbtion.
To many compromises for me to want to use horns...my preference would be for a mini-monitor 2.1 system (inwall IB possibly). At least in a room that small, the music will be quite "enveloping". An even off axis response will be important.
That said, horns are a really tight fit in there. Perhaps flying them from the ceiling to save floor space might be a thought.
They will have to be small...imaging is pretty much toast unless you get really nearfeild and put some thought into diffusion/absorbtion.
To many compromises for me to want to use horns...my preference would be for a mini-monitor 2.1 system (inwall IB possibly). At least in a room that small, the music will be quite "enveloping". An even off axis response will be important.
Kumusta, kaibigan ko. I'm strictly a newb but if it were me, I would shove the couch to the left, and put the FE167E's into stand-mounted boxes of some kind for break-in, and experiment with the placement. Hey, you're breaking them in, right?
My space is also non-ideal and I am listening to FE207E's in junky boxes on old Bose 901 stands, in a near-field setup, and it's like sitting in front of a gigantic set of headphones. Mmmm. It's fast and easy to reposition. Mabuting swerte, amigo!
My space is also non-ideal and I am listening to FE207E's in junky boxes on old Bose 901 stands, in a near-field setup, and it's like sitting in front of a gigantic set of headphones. Mmmm. It's fast and easy to reposition. Mabuting swerte, amigo!
Scottmoose said:
In which case, Bob Brine's designs come to mind - if you find that BSC is required, you might want to consider achieving that line level before the amps.
Regards to horns, there are several DIY and one very successful commercial design for BLH for FE126 that have very small footprints ( i.e. 6"x 11" or so) - but they do need some degree of breathing room behind them.
I can attest from the pair of BH-MKI with FE108EZ in my wife's upstairs system that such enclosures can work quite well when placed diagonally straddling a single corner.
If it wasn't for the sensitivity requirement, and the fact that the drivers have already been ordered, I'd have a different suggestion - FE127E in either a floorstanding Fonken tuned or the Brynn (think of her as Half-Chili's "not so baby" sister) . In small rooms, these are great fun. With the FS Fonken's small fooprint, (circa 6"x8") and flexibility to vent the slot port to either the front or rear, placement issues and adjustments for imaging "dial-in" are significantly mitigated.
The short wall where the equipment is actually has its corners cut off such that the equipment occupies the whole length of that wall (two speakers, rack & CD/LP cabinet). The only location for the speakers are in the cut off ends of the wall and are effectively in corners, although not 90° angle ones. Therefore, I can't use rear-vented enclosures and the footprint needs to be small. since the speakers as the door opens towards the equipment and is close enough to the short wall that it hits the right speaker (12" deep) when you fully open the door.
Wall-mounting the speakers would be tough because of the weird angles on the short wall.
I really should take a pic...as they say it's worth a thousand words:
In short, the requirements are:
-high sensitivity
-small footprint
-front vented
-for jazz & female vocals
I'm strongly leaning towards the Half-Chili at this point but wouldn't mind doing a different project using the FE167E or a different driver.
Wall-mounting the speakers would be tough because of the weird angles on the short wall.
I really should take a pic...as they say it's worth a thousand words:
In short, the requirements are:
-high sensitivity
-small footprint
-front vented
-for jazz & female vocals
I'm strongly leaning towards the Half-Chili at this point but wouldn't mind doing a different project using the FE167E or a different driver.
afterglow said:
Well, that last sentence opens up some possibilities..
I'd suggest that you consider the Brynn with FE126E and line level EQ, or a front ported version of the floorstanding Fonken with FE127E.
This latter is one of Dave's designs that's evolved quite a bit over the past few months, mostly in terms of the location of slot port. Indeed between the time I cut material for 2 pairs of these about a month ago and began assembly, at least one other minor change took place.
Anyone interested should contact him directly for the latest plans
Actually, based on what I heard the other night, if you had about 8-10watts, and the appropriate budget, I'd really like to suggest the FX120.
As for the room, I can see what you're talking about - those Klipsch probably don't shine their best in this space, do they?
I have the fonken's with the fostex fe126's. room width back from tv is just over 2 meters, and sound is perfect balance for volume, but VERY directional, ie you MUST sit in the center of the speakers, but maybe better with phaseplug/enable? dunno.
couple of picks:
put together and tested for a few months..
Currently coating with a clear estapol/white spirit mix, then I'll do some beeswax for a nice shine. And fill the bottom void with some mixed res basalt for weight/steadyness.
couple of picks:
put together and tested for a few months..
Currently coating with a clear estapol/white spirit mix, then I'll do some beeswax for a nice shine. And fill the bottom void with some mixed res basalt for weight/steadyness.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. The Brynn is a strong candidate for my next project.
I'm still under "moderation" so I can't email Dave directly. Can anyone ask him about sending me a copy of the latest Fonken front-vented floorstander??
The Klipsch are great speakers but they're crying out for more space....
I'm still under "moderation" so I can't email Dave directly. Can anyone ask him about sending me a copy of the latest Fonken front-vented floorstander??
The Klipsch are great speakers but they're crying out for more space....
afterglow said:
I guess we need to measure that, but never forget that in a room this size/shape your effective listening position won't be much further than 2 meters.
Let's just say your wife won't likely be kicking you out of the house over the volume levels.
Actually could make for some very intimate late night listening, particularly on light acoustic jazz, bluegrass & female vocals - just don't expect concert levels of "Ride of the Valkyries" or "Night on Bald Mountain".
afterglow said:
90 dB if it is back up againt the wall (ie no BSC)... 2 W will be tight (mo keeping the neighbors up).
Now how would you be interested in a version of the FS Fonken for the FE167? Noter that you would be a guinea pig... we have gone thru a couple iterations in paper for the 167 but haven't built anything yet ... or one could morph a Brines or Moose ML-TL into a wider, shallower footprint.
dave
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