Fostex FE203En-S Special Version 8" Full Range

[Tom V]

Anybody hear about this? It's in the Madisound News Blog.

Here's what they have to say:

"We are taking pre-orders of this special version Fostex driver. This artisan driver is a onetime production and Madisound has been allocated 25 pair for the US market. The FE203En-S posses remarkably high sensitivity and is optimized for use in a folded horn enclosure. It is engineered to deliver effortless sound reproduction with a very dynamic character, and do so even with very low input amplitude. The result is a driver that performs exceptionally well from low to high listening levels. Limit one pair per customer. This driver is a value at $600/pair."

To rich for my blood, but someone here must be interested.

-Tom-

[chazdrumzalot]

Just saw it myself: https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...oducts_id=9075

[Godzilla]

Similar price to the TB 8" drivers at PE... would love to hear them side by side.

[fmena]

Newb question....Would this new Fostex driver work in a front horn... say like a tractrix or even perhaps an open baffle configuration? It would be nice to hear it side by side to the F208E-Sigma as well.

I can't access the Madisound web page as there seems to be some issues for me in getting the web page to load to get the Fostex specs.

Cheers
FM

[DaveCan]

Features:

ES Banana pulp cone with lightweight corrugated cloth surround.

The paper cone and damper has a three-point bonding adhesive in conjunction with the voice coil. The three-point bonding method increases the strength of the cone neck.

Nickel plated copper magnet circuit treatments on top and bottom plates, with copper ring used to reduce current distortion.

Large 180mm diameter low distortion ferrite magnet circuit.

Rigid aluminum die cast chassis

Specifications:

Format: 20cm Full Range (8")
Impedance: 8 ohm
Resonance Frequency (Fs): 43Hz
Frequency Range: F0 to 20kHz
Sensitivity: 99dB @ 1W/1M
Music Power Handling: 100W
Moving Mass (Ms): 12g
Qts: 0.14
Effective Vibration Radius: 8.1cm
Magnet Weight: 1,836g (4.04 pounds)



Crud!!, I just had to spend the amount for a pair of these at the dentist, Ugg!

That sens is awesome, and along with the fabo sound they will most likely produce, wish I could get a pair

[Scottmoose]

Looks to be another interesting SE unit. Even with a typical SET amp though, mass corner is going to be around ~440Hz, so something with an adjustable output impedance / damping factor is likely to be the way forward if you want to get a reasonably balanced bottom end without too much colouration through the lower mids.

[Godzilla]

>>> without too much colouration through the lower mids.

I enjoy coloration thru the lower mids. I think i enjoy coloration in general these days.

[Scottmoose]

YMMV as always. I don't like running back-loaded cabinets up that high though. If it's a horn (likely) you're almost guaranteed to have problems with group delay & two obviously different acoustic sources.

[mp9]

...ok Scott, so no BLH due to a mass corner up at ~440Hz, then what kind of a cabinet or other implementation could (would), you do with them?

[Scottmoose]

I didn't say that, but it would appear to need either some form of Eq, or extremely careful optimising of the driver / amplifier to achieve a suitable balance.