Original enclosures for Fostex 103's

[planet10]

Originally posted by HareBrained
the 103 being a niche product within a niche area. If you do decide to use it, there are significant compromises you have to live with

And the CHR isn't also a niche product? I just got in a set of FE103e so that i could do a comparison to CHR & CHReN. The Fostex have a big edge in efficiency, and are 8 ohms for those who's get into trouble with 4 ohms. I suspect that amplifiers used will tend to favour one or the other.

Both are relatively inexpensive drivers, they both have their own set of compromises, and i bet that each will be best under certain situations.

dave

[Andrewbee]

I considered the 103 because of the relatively inexpensive cost but everything I found pointed to the 103 being a niche product within a niche area. If you do decide to use it, there are significant compromises you have to live with.

Is not everything a compromise? It comes down to personal taste.
"Harebrained" (I hate calling you that but I don't know another name for you) Have you ever actually listened to the FE103 and if so in what enclosure?

I think the FE103 in the BK-10 (with a little additional structure) is absolutely "gobsmacking"
but thats just me.

Andrew

[airframe]

Andrewbee, the BS-10's are for the Fostex 103's and that is the cad on Zillas page second last one, is that correct or are BS-10's a driver ??? Whats the BK-10, have a link?

Sorry guys I'm not so fast at catching all the lingo, back in '05 when I frist joined the forum I had researched and read and understood some of the T&S parameters, just getting back into it so you'll have to put stuff in layman's terms for a while !! Bear with me please.

Not really stuck on any driver just needs to be available from a Canadian distributor. What I'm looking for is an easy build that has WAF and best bang for your buck bookshelf size in a fullrange. Can't go crazy with the donairo's either about $160'ish delivered for the drivers.
I'm guessing I may just have opened the flood gate here but so be it, that is what this forum is for right! Information sharing and debate and of course building a set of cabs.

[Andrewbee]

Hi Mark,

Yes the BS-10 is the enclosure, the third one down or second to last on the previous link I provided.

Bk-10 a small BLH (Back Loaded Horn)





Thats a link for the BK-10. There is no cut list. You will have to draw the outline on the wood and make the measurements, its best this way in any case.

For your budget I don't see why you could not get 2 or possibly three different pairs of speakers and a sheet of plywood and make a few different speakers. That way you can start to make choices as to what you prefer and get a feeling for the way a particular enclosure type sounds.

Just have fun..

edit.. actually, for 160 ish you could probably go with bigger speakers in the Fostex line maybe 6-1/2" models (of course then you miss out on the FE-103's) :-)

Of course there are several different driver manufacturers and Ebay as well. Maybe a pair of the new Mark Audio drivers.
It never ends once you begin

[chrisb]

Originally posted by airframe
Andrewbee, the BS-10's are for the Fostex 103's and that is the cad on Zillas page second last one, is that correct or are BS-10's a driver ??? Whats the BK-10, have a link?

Sorry guys I'm not so fast at catching all the lingo, back in '05 when I frist joined the forum I had researched and read and understood some of the T&S parameters, just getting back into it so you'll have to put stuff in layman's terms for a while !! Bear with me please.

Not really stuck on any driver just needs to be available from a Canadian distributor. What I'm looking for is an easy build that has WAF and best bang for your buck bookshelf size in a fullrange. Can't go crazy with the donairo's either about $160'ish delivered for the drivers.
I'm guessing I may just have opened the flood gate here but so be it, that is what this forum is for right! Information sharing and debate and of course building a set of cabs.

At the risk of repeating myself, the FE127 might well be a better candidate for a variety of reasons - wider bandwidth, higher max SPL, and a great range of enclosures well tested by DIYers.

Having built more than a few of each type over the past few years, I think it wouldn't be hard to find any number of DIY designs that handily outperform most of the Fostex "recommended" enclosures. For example there is a highly successful commercial product for the FE126E, that uses a BLH design that would look familiar to a lot of DIYers. It unquestionably embarrasses Fostex's silly little hybrid design for that same driver.

Does it definitely need to be a bookshelf enclosure (i.e. will it really be sitting on a bookshelf or hung from the walls), or could you get away with a small footprint (i.e. less than 1ft square) 40" or so tall floorstander? Either way, there is an excellent diversity of DIY designs for a wide range of drivers, including the FE127E at:

http://www.planet10-hifi.com/boxes.html

Some of these are drop dead simple to build, others a bit more challenging.


The new Alpair CHR70 is another great candidate, although the impedance and sensitivity (4 ohms / 85dB) could be an issue for some systems. I quite liked the sound of them in a little sealed break-in box, but with 7watts of 300B power, the max output was limited.

There are Canadian distributors or resellers for both the Fostex and Mark Audio drivers.

[elac310]

The FE 103 Sigma worked very well in the well-known and somewhat larger speaker "La petite audiophile". Bearing in mind the size of this mini-driver, the results are astonishing, including in the bass if the room is not too large nor the distance too long between the speakers and the listening position. The design is available at different addresses on the net, for instance http://home.hetnet.nl/~a.van.waarde/id3.htm ; usually an equalising RCL cell in series is (and should be) used.

Chris.