Computer speakers out of FE-103A's

[blue lander]

I got a nice pair of Corel Holey Basket-style FE-103a's off of e-bay, and I think I want to use them to build a pair of speakers for my office. My criteria are that they must be small enough to fit on my desk and sound good at very low volume levels. The walls here are pretty thin so I can't really turn them up. The amp I'm using is an old tube amp out of a stereo console, PP with EL84 output tubes.

It looks like my two choices are Tony Gee's Solo 103 and the Fonken103, but as I understand it these are designed for the newer FE-103 and the specs of my drivers might have drifted over the decades, so I don't know if they're suitable.

The Subwoofer DIY Page - Measurements has instructions on how to do measurements on the driver... should I just plug those values into one of those Onken calculators?

[vinylkid58]

Originally Posted by blue lander

It looks like my two choices are Tony Gee's Solo 103 and the Fonken103, but as I understand it these are designed for the newer FE-103 and the specs of my drivers might have drifted over the decades, so I don't know if they're suitable.

Try the Milli-Fonken style box (~5L). I've had P10 FE103 boxes on my desktop before, which were really quite enjoyable.

If you can't measure at least the Fs of your drivers, not sure if there much point in trying to sim them.

jeff

[chrisb]

IINM Dave's Fonken designs didn't rely on use of any of Onken calculator(s)

As Jeff notes, the age of your drivers is probably similar to that of a large sampling of similar driver family iin which a very wide range of TSP (particularly suspension compliance) has been noted over the past decade.

Sometimes I'm a bit of a hack about it, but by the time you took measures and performed all the modeling and second guessing towards optimizing and enclosure design for a specific pair of drivers, you could almost build a pair of the smaller enclosures. Tony's Solo would probably take the best part of a full weekend, but if you eliminate the driver brace, the millis could be ready for a proof of concept listening session in less than a full day. "Finishing" with paint or veneer etc will almost always take more elapsed time than the actual construction.

[picowallspeaker]

Sometimes I'm a bit of a hack about it, but by the time you took measures and performed all the modeling and second guessing towards optimizing and enclosure design for a specific pair of drivers, you could almost build a pair of the smaller enclosures. Tony's Solo would probably take the best part of a full weekend, but if you eliminate the driver brace, the millis could be ready for a proof of concept listening session in less than a full day. "Finishing" with paint or veneer etc will almost always take more elapsed time than the actual construction.

Coincides with my way of thinking !!

[blue lander]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll slap togeather a pair of mFonkens and see how it sounds.

[loninappleton]

Show us a pic when you're finished slapping. :-)

[chrisb]

Originally Posted by loninappleton

Show us a pic when you're finished slapping. :-)

contusions and all

[blue lander]

I guarantee they'll look slap-tastic. Here's a picture of the drivers themselves

[tubesguy]

Try Norm Tracy's Audio Crafters Guild site for his take on 103-style mini boxes. Can't tell you how they sound, but I bought three of them a few years ago (never built them) and the quality of the woodwork and the design are first-rate, including sand-filled front baffles.

[blue lander]

Those look really nice, I especially like the sand filled baffles.