Frugel-Horn Mk3

Any suggestions for a removable baffle so I could try the Fostex drivers but go back to the CHP-70's if I don't care for their sound? Since the Fostex are square it poses a challenge. I don't want to re-route the baffle now and not be able to reinstall the CHP-70's. Can anyone point me to a removable baffle that's been used?
 
Hello Tlarwa,

You might be able to find someone near to you whose made a pair with the Fostex's.

Personally I went to Toppsy's and listened to the Fostex's and the CHP's, in separate boxes. I thought the CHP's sounded up front, fat and rounded and the Fostex's rather thin and austere. As Dave says it's a subjective thing.

Cheers - Jim
 
Hello Tlarwa,

You might be able to find someone near to you whose made a pair with the Fostex's.

Personally I went to Toppsy's and listened to the Fostex's and the CHP's, in separate boxes. I thought the CHP's sounded up front, fat and rounded and the Fostex's rather thin and austere. As Dave says it's a subjective thing.

Cheers - Jim

Thanks, Jim. I'm looking to improve efficiency to maximize my current amp power, but not at the expense of sound quality. I'm quite happy with my FH3's as they are now, just wish I had a little more in reserve when I wanted it. Maybe an amp upgrade is a better option...

Tom
 
Any suggestions for a removable baffle so I could try the Fostex drivers but go back to the CHP-70's if I don't care for their sound? Since the Fostex are square it poses a challenge. I don't want to re-route the baffle now and not be able to reinstall the CHP-70's. Can anyone point me to a removable baffle that's been used?

Tom:

If Dave hasn't already contacted you, e-mail him - there is such a product in the Planet10 parts inventory that could easily be modified to work for you. At the very least he could snap some pictures of how it works.

Keep in mind that stuffing below the drive may need to be adjusted, depending on which drivers you're swapping around, and the stock driver mounting hole is a bit of a tight fit. If you're thinking of adding a removable baffle it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to try to enlarge the opening to allow for "free-breathing" behind the driver. Five minutes with a jig saw and shop vac to clean out the debris should be all it takes.

When ordered as kit with this option, the front panel has a large rectangular opening, and is fitted with threaded inserts, and short panels that return around the sides. Gasket with self adhesive weatherstrip tape or similar.

Picture worth a thousand words.

Of course, the down-side to going this route is the finishing options if you want to retain the ability to swap them - I like the Rustoleum Accent Stone spray paint and matte Polyurethane clear top coat for that.


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PS, yes an amp upgrade generally never hurts
 
Would it badly impact the results if one built a "supra baffle" as a removable option? In this case, rather than the supra baffle being larger than the original baffle, I would make it the same size, but just removable, covering perhaps a third or quarter of the original.


I can't see it performing worse than the stock enclosure width, but keep in mind that by the time you remove enough material from full length front panel to allow "breathing room" at rear of driver, there's not a lot of margin at the sides, and sealing could be an issue.

IIRC, our first prototype attempted to inset the removable panel and seal at the bottom with an overlapping dado. The method we ultimately chose was to allow for integration of the option using stock dadoed side panels, as well as by using threaded inserts on the front panel to make the swapping of drivers as convenient as possible.

There are some drawings on the full plan-set, and I hope to follow up with some photos later today

By making the Supra-baffle an additional layer, it even allows for the use of drivers larger than the 4" range originally intended - to date we've tried FE138ESR and TB W5-1611 with mixed results. The Fostex was unlistenable full range, but made a decent enough mid-woofer, I found the TB to be a bit dark and dry in the uppermost range, certainly when compared to Alpair7 or FE126E.
 
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Went with a new amp

Audio Analogue Puccini SE. 50w/channel. Should be more than enough to adequately drive my FH3's. it's a used piece, in keeping with the "frugal" theme. Should be here next week. It's SS to replace my tubes, but the reviews are outstanding so I'm anxious to hear it. I suspect the added headroom will make the CHP-70's sing.
 
Having built a Triska sub (more or less-- I used plywood and added lots of bracing), I would suggest using a different amp than the one they recommend for the project. Their suggested plate amp has a second order filter. I never found a way to properly integrate the sub with any of my speakers when using second order filter. I changed it out for a plate amp with 4th order filter, and it works very well now.

Cheers, Jim
 
Having built a Triska sub (more or less-- I used plywood and added lots of bracing), I would suggest using a different amp than the one they recommend for the project. Their suggested plate amp has a second order filter. I never found a way to properly integrate the sub with any of my speakers when using second order filter. I changed it out for a plate amp with 4th order filter, and it works very well now.

Cheers, Jim

Can I ask which plate amp you ended up going to?
 
Interesting ... I may give this a try. Do you have one that you are using? If so, how do you have it wired into your system, and at what frequency are you crossing it over? Also, how is it placed in your listening space? I'd be using it in a 12'x17' listening room.

I use a two channel Dayton APA150 which I already had to drive the Triska. Since the 8 ohm Triska woofer has dual coils I connected one coil to each channel. Guess I could have bridged the APA150 connecting only one coil for more power but wasn't sure that was safe for the long haul. The APA150 is not recommended for bridging into 4 ohms and paralleling the 8 ohm coils would give 4 ohms.

This small Triska sub integrates well with the Frugals using the Dayton amp aka Emotiva BPA-1. You can feed the signal to the Dayton from a second preamp output or by splitting the source with Y cables.
 
Has anyone with the FH3's noticed a change in sound characteristic with and without feet (outriggers). I tuned dampening material in the speakers before I had them finished and feet put on and was happy with the sound character. After finishing them and now with them on outriggers and spiked feet they sound different.....:confused: Not worse than before just different and I can't put my finger on what is actually different soundwise.
 
I want to make a comment on this and try to be as fair as I can my 9x13' small room has plank flooring sheetrock walls except for wall behind speakers which is all cork. When I took my own built "MDF" frugalhorns with fe126en2 fostexs that are all but EnABLed and raised them off the floor with 1x2"x12" pieces of poplar,something I think made the speaker better. Now was it the fact that the speaker was brought up vertically to a more pleasent listening position,arriving slightly above my ears. Or just less coupling to the floor? I think both. the speaker is only sitting on the pieces of poplar not screwed or glued to the cabinet. In probably the better part of 38 years of seeking audio nirvana. these little speakers are the closest I have gotten period.................
 
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