FE126E + SF Wool Cone Finally Finished!

[musgofasa]

Some of you may remember me saying i was going to build these a long time ago. I got started on the project, destroyed some wood, bought new wood, bought a new motorcycle, tabled the project, broke my wife's leg (long story) and finally got back to them. The idea was to take a known design that sounded good, modify it and see what happened. Someone asked about using this driver with a helper woofer and I wanted to see how this worked.

The review: It took several days of listening to these to adjust myself to them. This morning I realized that they actually sound much better than expected. I have turned my sub completely off for music listening. I would really like to hear these on a good tube amp as right now my weakest link is a very cheap receiver. I will be testing them with my SI amp over the weekend too. For now they sound great. Imaging is good. I did have to move them against the corners to really bring out any LF, but now they are growing on me. There is a bit of a sweet spot in the room now (I had an experimental Omni before that eliminated that) but seperation and image is actually better now. The stage depth seems a bit shallow with them against the wall, but that's a decent trade considering how sweet they sound. I thought they were thin on the bottom end at first, but this morning I went to turn the sub up just a whisker and realized it was actually off! That told me without a doubt that the speakers are performing far beyond what I thought they were. Now if I can just put those pesky grilles together lol.





Let me know if the pics work. I can't see them from my work computer (where I am posting from)

[Trooper46]

pics work fine and they look good!

[loninappleton]

Outstanding workmanship.

Is there any drawing of the complete design?

This not a build I have followed but it is very handsome.

[Godzilla]

Neat! The treatment on top had me looking for some kind of omni thing... Why did you make a 'hat' on top? Overall it looks really cool. The SI amp should sound better than the receiver and a good tube amp will sound even better still. I have had my pair of 127e hooked up to all three types of amps and believe you will hear a different presentation with each amp. I hope the 126e separated from the woofers.

[musgofasa]

Glad to see the pics worked. The design is the Decware HDT which is available as a download from Decware's website.

The only thing I did was cut an extra hole for the 4.5" fostex. I could have chosed the MKII version with two top dispersion plates. There is a transmission line within the enclosure that exits out the top and the plate redirects that sound in a dispersed pattern. I assume it only affects low frequencies. You can do it as a single driver unit using the Fostex 8" and the build is exactly as I have built it (minus grilles and a cutout in the disp. plate) or you can do it as a two way with the Silver Flute driver I have and a ribbon tweeter on top. I am not usually a big fan of tweeters in general, but I have heard the ribbons and liked them. This was really just an experiment. It was never meant to be better in any way. It does sound good though. I have a cap on the fostex for protection and that is all. (100uf)

Thanks Godzilla,
I was kind of figuring it would be very different with each type of amp. something tells me they will sound warmest with tubes and I fully intend to find out. I have to finish the room and get everything ready before I can roll the amps. It is a multi-use room mostly used for HT and these things work absolutely fantastic for that. I need a better center, but I already know how I am going to do that.

Take care guys,
Robert

[DaveCan]

Originally posted by Godzilla
Neat! The treatment on top had me looking for some kind of omni thing... Why did you make a 'hat' on top? Overall it looks really cool. The SI amp should sound better than the receiver and a good tube amp will sound even better still. I have had my pair of 127e hooked up to all three types of amps and believe you will hear a different presentation with each amp. I hope the 126e separated from the woofers.

It's a diffuser and to load the TL

http:
//www.decware.com/HDT/designnotes.htm

Dave

Oops Robert beat me to it

[serenechaos]

interesting.
looks nice too.

What woofer did you use?
The 206?
painted black & cut the whizzer off?
edit: nope, looked @ the pict, obviously something else...

I built a pair of these a few years ago.
Even with the phase plug I never really liked the highs.

Recently built a add-on baffle plate & put FE138ES-Rs in them to break them in.
yet another very different than designed sound...

Robert

[musgofasa]

This is the woofer I used:

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/pro...roducts_id=848

I think these needed some break in because the more I listen to them the better they seem to perform. It is most probably just my adjustment, but they are growing on me tremedously. I am thinking of putting a supertweeter on the back of the cabinet down the road though. The 126 is great, but I think I might be missing just a hair in the really high registers. Not enough to bother me as I like the relaxed sound a lot. Just a thought to see if it might be better or worse.

Thanks for the compliments guys. I have to finish my front wall and the construction gave me some ideas.

Take care,
Robert

[serenechaos]

Originally posted by musgofasa
I am thinking of putting a supertweeter on the back of the cabinet down the road though.

That's one I've never undersood.
It's like asking the sopranos to stand in back and face the back of the building; telling them you can hear the "air," in their voices? & would rather the highs be out of time, delayed, comb-filtered, etc...
I just don't like the extra delay/first reflection added on top of what comes out naturaly.
Every time i've heard it done it just lost detail, etc.

To each his own, that's part of the fun of diy.
We can build to suit our own ears!
r

[musgofasa]

I have to admit, I have the same reservations about doing it. Not unlike the whole project though, it would only be a "see what happens" thing.

If I didn't like it, it would certainly be an easy reverse. I may not even try it. I am liking these too much as is to worry about making changes right now. I have plenty of other things to do that I will definitely consider taking priority over something as trivial as a 10K+ freq boost like that lol.

Can't wait to get on the next project now though.

Take care,
Robert