fostex 206E back loaded horn failure

[gerado]

I recently bought the fostex 206 drivers , ran them in over 200hrs and built the fostex 208sigma cabinet. Some believed that these cabinets were superior sounding to the 206 suggested cabinets.
Well what a deflating experience, they sound terrible, no base at all , thin and insipid.
I read an old thread here which suggested the 208sigma enclosure was very good. Does it need any mods to make it work with the 206 driver ?

[Cal Weldon]

Double check your phase (yes, it happens even to us old dogs) and move the cabinets closer to the wall or corner and see if that helps. Make sure you aren't getting wave cancellation at your listening spot.

[Scottmoose]

They should provide acceptable gain in the bass for a cabinet of that size. For e.g., the attached shows the 206 in 3 of the Fostex factory horn designs. Top = 206 cabinet, middle = 208ESigma cabinet, bottom = 206ES-R cabinet. None are especially distinguished, but it could be worse, so if things are as bad as you say, something's obviously wrong somewhere.

[hm]

Hello,

i there not made a measurement and IMP before?

better built real measured horns,
check the phase with 1,5 V.

[brsanko]

Originally posted by hm
Hello,

i there not made a measurement and IMP before?

better built real measured horns,
check the phase with 1,5 V.

was that in english? I didn't understand a word of it.

[Cal Weldon]

hm, I removed your post.

brsanko, the last part refers to using a 1.5V battery to check your phase/polarity.

[Scottmoose]

Agreed about checking the polarity.

Horst, this is getting tedious. These are Fostex Factory designs which are to be found on their website, and the plans which come with their drivers. Surely you have heard of them? Look: they even have measurements.

Here's the FE206E horn http://www.fostexinternational.com/d...6e_enclrev.pdf
Here's the FE208ESigma horn: http://www.fostexinternational.com/d...ez_enclrev.pdf
Sadly, the FE206ES-R plans are no longer available as the driver was a limited edition unit. I added it merely for the sake of completeness.

You will note that the 206 (the driver under discussion) actually performs somewhat better in the Sigma cabinet than it does in the regular 206 box, which really isn't all that great.

[hm]

Hello,

fostex measurements are to much smooth, no IMP,
better make a measurement by yourself, like me.

The SAXOPHON will be a best solution, IMO

[Scottmoose]

fostex measurements are to much smooth, no IMP

Yes, I'm aware of that thank you. You might have noticed that I'm not exactly a fan of these cabinets myself, as I said above. However, I assume you realise that whether we like them or not, they're actually rather popular.

better make a measurement by yourself, like me.

Ever hear tell of something that goes by the term 'modesty'?

The SAXOPHON will be a best solution, IMO

Yeah, I bet it would be in your opinion. Forgive my mentioning it, but I've yet to see you have anything good to say about a speaker that isn't designed by yourself. Very boring you know. I've nothing against your speakers; they appear to be interesting & creatively designed, & I'm sure they sound good. But could you ease off a bit on the advertising?

FWIW, speaking generally, I would regard the 208 cabinet as the pick of the Fostex boxes -I used to regard it as being pretty acceptable, but have slowly revised my views with the march of time. It still should give reasonable results (better than the stock 206 box), especially if a simple build is needed, with no fancy angles, but there are certainly other, far more capable designs out there, such as Ron's DallasII etc.

[planet10]

Originally posted by hm
better make a measurement by yourself

Sample FE206eN impedance.

dave