Feastrex vs. Fostex Ultimate Showdown

rjbond3rd · 18th January 2009, 02:53 AM

Today was my lucky day. Mssr. Phil Townsend held a listening party at his house, and several diyAudio members attended (along with a lot of smart and friendly audio folks).

Phil set up super-systems in every part of his house. In the "Japanese" room were his Maiko Feastrex D5nf with hand-built everything except the Macbook streaming lossless audio. A spectacular sound in an experimental nearfield setup (last summer I heard them far-field in his huge living room and they were even more exciting and sonically life-sized).

An FE108E-Sigma BiB room, the Frugel-Horns with digital Darling, a state-of-the-art headphone rig were some of the other systems. (We didn't get to hear the Frugels due to so many systems -- a happy dilemma).

In another part of Phil's house were his Harvey's with FE126eN (planet10 eNaBLed drivers). They were positioned in perfect corners and the room was much longer (shoebox-shaped) than the "Japanese" room. The bass was thunderous. Not "blaring amounts of 50Hz bass". More like clean pure deep-down 30-something subwoofer bass.

The pluck and snap of guitar strings was absolutely lifelike to my ears. I think this is what people call a "fast" sound -- lively, clear, snappy, unlike a typical speaker. Some more experienced folks gave the edge to the Feastrex in the midrange -- okay, fair enough!

But in Phil's vast audio laboratory masquerading as his house, I have to say the most astonishing thing I heard today were the Harveys. Every system sounded great, but the Harveys blew my mind. What part of that was the room, the amp, the source, the eNaBLe / driver mods, I can't separate -- the whole combination was perfect. I can tell you that vino played no role -- I stayed sharp for the experience!

Anyway, don't take my word for it -- a lot of fellow forum members were there and no doubt have a different, arguably more astute take on things. But that is my two cents. I feel like I experienced "the perfect system". Thank you Phil and all the good people who attended.

Poindexter · 18th January 2009, 04:50 AM

What's a Harvey?

P

GM · 18th January 2009, 04:57 AM

http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeaker...ey-1v1-map.pdf

doorman · 18th January 2009, 05:52 AM

Thanks,RJ: Quite a feat for the 'lil Fostex's to even compete with the vaunted Feastrex's !
We're you able to compare En vs. untreated?
Don

planet10 · 18th January 2009, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Poindexter
What's a Harvey?

A couple threads

Curved Harveys

Harvey Builder's Thread

dave

planet10 · 18th January 2009, 07:33 AM

Phil had sent me some pictures

rcdaniel · 18th January 2009, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Anyway, don't take my word for it -- a lot of fellow forum members were there and no doubt have a different, arguably more astute take on things.

I'd not blindly accept anyone's ranking of systems; we have unique preferences and contexts. However, I am more likely to weight the sonic descriptions of a (live?) music lover more heavily than those of the experienced 'audiophile'. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

P.S. I have heard others state that they have preferred a Fostex 4.5" 'speaker system to a Feastrex-based system. You are not on your own.

rcdaniel · 18th January 2009, 08:33 AM

Oh, I forgot. What type of system were the Harvey's strapped to?

Also - a little OT - how far does a person need to sit from the Harveys for the sound to integrate? Less than the taller Saburo? A double-mouth that could be enjoyed from a minimum 6-ish feet would be sweet. Apologies if I am covering old ground.

Thanks again

GM · 18th January 2009, 06:01 PM

The way I SWAG it, at 6 ft a ~188 Hz mass corner is required which is about what the published sims show the Harvey designed for, so for good summation it needs the vent acoustic centers to be < ~23" from the driver's center-line, which it does, though there might be some subtle performance improvement by re-thinking the positioning of the vent's 'diaplane' braces to more closely be at their acoustic centers with the downside that they wouldn't be symmetrical due to the lower vent's floor loading. Spacing them up off the floor to get the drivers up to ear height would allow symmetry at the expense of a half octave of floor loading on the one vent, so no 'free lunch'.

GM

rcdaniel · 18th January 2009, 09:20 PM

GM

It always amazes me how prompt and helpful you are on these forums - a big thanks to you (again!).

Cheers

18th January 2009, 02:53 AM	#1
rjbond3rd diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2007	Feastrex vs. Fostex Ultimate Showdown Today was my lucky day. Mssr. Phil Townsend held a listening party at his house, and several diyAudio members attended (along with a lot of smart and friendly audio folks). Phil set up super-systems in every part of his house. In the "Japanese" room were his Maiko Feastrex D5nf with hand-built everything except the Macbook streaming lossless audio. A spectacular sound in an experimental nearfield setup (last summer I heard them far-field in his huge living room and they were even more exciting and sonically life-sized). An FE108E-Sigma BiB room, the Frugel-Horns with digital Darling, a state-of-the-art headphone rig were some of the other systems. (We didn't get to hear the Frugels due to so many systems -- a happy dilemma). In another part of Phil's house were his Harvey's with FE126eN (planet10 eNaBLed drivers). They were positioned in perfect corners and the room was much longer (shoebox-shaped) than the "Japanese" room. The bass was thunderous. Not "blaring amounts of 50Hz bass". More like clean pure deep-down 30-something subwoofer bass. The pluck and snap of guitar strings was absolutely lifelike to my ears. I think this is what people call a "fast" sound -- lively, clear, snappy, unlike a typical speaker. Some more experienced folks gave the edge to the Feastrex in the midrange -- okay, fair enough! But in Phil's vast audio laboratory masquerading as his house, I have to say the most astonishing thing I heard today were the Harveys. Every system sounded great, but the Harveys blew my mind. What part of that was the room, the amp, the source, the eNaBLe / driver mods, I can't separate -- the whole combination was perfect. I can tell you that vino played no role -- I stayed sharp for the experience! Anyway, don't take my word for it -- a lot of fellow forum members were there and no doubt have a different, arguably more astute take on things. But that is my two cents. I feel like I experienced "the perfect system". Thank you Phil and all the good people who attended.

18th January 2009, 04:57 AM	#3
GM diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Chamblee, Ga.	http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeaker...ey-1v1-map.pdf __________________ Loud is Beautiful if it's Clean! As always though, the usual disclaimers apply to this post's contents.

18th January 2009, 06:01 PM	#9
GM diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Chamblee, Ga.	The way I SWAG it, at 6 ft a ~188 Hz mass corner is required which is about what the published sims show the Harvey designed for, so for good summation it needs the vent acoustic centers to be < ~23" from the driver's center-line, which it does, though there might be some subtle performance improvement by re-thinking the positioning of the vent's 'diaplane' braces to more closely be at their acoustic centers with the downside that they wouldn't be symmetrical due to the lower vent's floor loading. Spacing them up off the floor to get the drivers up to ear height would allow symmetry at the expense of a half octave of floor loading on the one vent, so no 'free lunch'. GM __________________ Loud is Beautiful if it's Clean! As always though, the usual disclaimers apply to this post's contents.

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18th January 2009, 04:50 AM	#2
Poindexter diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Maui, Hawai'i, USA	What's a Harvey? P

18th January 2009, 05:52 AM	#4
doorman diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Vancouver Isl. B.C.	Thanks,RJ: Quite a feat for the 'lil Fostex's to even compete with the vaunted Feastrex's ! We're you able to compare En vs. untreated? Don

18th January 2009, 08:33 AM	#8
rcdaniel diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: BrisVegas	Oh, I forgot. What type of system were the Harvey's strapped to? Also - a little OT - how far does a person need to sit from the Harveys for the sound to integrate? Less than the taller Saburo? A double-mouth that could be enjoyed from a minimum 6-ish feet would be sweet. Apologies if I am covering old ground. Thanks again

18th January 2009, 09:20 PM	#10
rcdaniel diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: BrisVegas	GM It always amazes me how prompt and helpful you are on these forums - a big thanks to you (again!). Cheers

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