Fostex 167 - 166 question about compatibility

[sippy]

Ive noticed that fostex have chopped some drivers from their linup.....I've long planned to build a pair of spawns (Kim Chi) using the 167 which is no longer with us, is it possible to use the 166 in its place?
I seem to remember that some desighns needed some resistance in series with the driver to twiddle its excursion, would this be valid in the case of the spawn?
Any replies greatfully recived in advance.

[planet10]

It is possible to use FE166 + series R, but i don't find it as good as FE167 without. FE167 should come up fairly regularily on eBay and i'm sure some guys have some stashed in their closests.

I have some few pairs of FE167eN and will be auctioning a pair in a special colour scheme with proceeds going to the forum.

dave

[sippy]

Thanx for that Dave, no doubt anything in the signal path to a full range driver is going to detract from its noise makeing abilities.
Seems like Fostex have chopped lots of drivers from their range - are they going/gone bust?

[planet10]

As i have pieced together from various sources... may be true, partially true, or mostly out to lunch...

Fostex diy speakers is just a very small part of Fostex, which is a tiny part of Foster. During the recent economic downturn, they'd be looking for every opportunity to cost cut. Even us diyers often confuse the FExx7 & FExx6 drivers, after all they look exactly the same from the front, the FExx6 have the big sexy magnets, and who needs shielded drivers in these days of the LCD. FF series was never a big seller (at least in NA). So "it just makes sense" to axe the xx7 and FF. After hue & cry from all the distribs at the loss of all the higher Q drivers and we get "maybe the FFs will be reintroduced as hi-Q drivers". Don't hold your breath. While the giant company tries to respond (i once calculated that Foster makes something like 10 million drivers a month for Apple alone), the agile little mammals are moving in to take the niche away before they can respond. And to make matters worse... most of the really good talent at Fostex diy speakers have fled & are out consulting (ie Matsubari-san is doing rear suspensions for Mark Audio, and the head guy from the Fostex production line has his own factory)

dave