Be about that, & since manufacturing costs have significantly increased for all players in the past few months, maybe add another $ to the price. Fostex will sell them for, oh, about $1 - $2 more per unit. Add the shipping, taxes, distribution fees, and the need for suppliers / retailers to make some cash, nobody ultimately makes a whole lot. This is the relatively high-volume, low-margin end of the market.
Let's not forget import duties, brokerage fees, various levels of sales taxes, at each transaction along the way to your workbench, and which can vary significantly by country before the product ever gets to the end seller
As to the cheap stamped baskets - ever take a look at the larger sizes in budget range of musical instrument / PA drivers - Eminence 12LTA, or the Silver Iris for example? Considering how much more motor mass / "torque" is glued / bolted on to the business end of these, if the structural integrity of the basket had significant impact on the performance, these are the class of drivers that would likely suffer far more than a 4-6" Full Ranger.
I've owned & built for several pairs of Fostex and other drivers with very pretty cast and machined baskets / magnet assemblies - unless they're on display in an OB or see-through enclosure, you soon forget about that and concentrate on the sound, and more dollars invested in the frame doesn't guarantee superior performance.
As to the cheap stamped baskets - ever take a look at the larger sizes in budget range of musical instrument / PA drivers - Eminence 12LTA, or the Silver Iris for example? Considering how much more motor mass / "torque" is glued / bolted on to the business end of these, if the structural integrity of the basket had significant impact on the performance, these are the class of drivers that would likely suffer far more than a 4-6" Full Ranger.
I've owned & built for several pairs of Fostex and other drivers with very pretty cast and machined baskets / magnet assemblies - unless they're on display in an OB or see-through enclosure, you soon forget about that and concentrate on the sound, and more dollars invested in the frame doesn't guarantee superior performance.
Yahh Hoo
Dave's 125's drivers found their way here.
Just finished installing them, will be testing them throughout the day
I may be catching up with P10 as far as number of speakers.
Dave generously sent these drivers (only) to me for testing only; they are up-for-sale
.... Yikes! 
(for some that are not aware, the design is a spin-off from the Fonken family - there are many changes)
Dave's 125's drivers found their way here.
Just finished installing them, will be testing them throughout the day
I may be catching up with P10 as far as number of speakers.
Dave generously sent these drivers (only) to me for testing only; they are up-for-sale
.... Yikes! (for some that are not aware, the design is a spin-off from the Fonken family - there are many changes)
Attachments
Dave's 125's drivers found their way here.
Just finished installing them, will be testing them throughout the day
I may be catching up with P10 as far as number of speakers.
Dave generously sent these drivers (only) to me for testing only; they are up-for-sale
(for some that are not aware, the design is a spin-off from the Fonken family - there are many changes)
Even though I know what I think about it, I'm sure there are folks awaiting impressions of performance of the treated drivers.
Catching up with our builds? maybe
Catching up with our builds? maybe
Not even close.
From a year ago. A small sampling of builds to that time. Many more in the last year.
dave
well, all pairs are as closely matched as possible before and after burn-in, and the magic of the dust is in the not random sprinkling, but very carefully calculated and applied patterns - different for each size / shape cone.
how about depth of soundstage / inner detail?
Now that you have the driver to show off the DDR deficiencies of MDF, time to build a proper set of your Fonken-inspired creations.
dave
That's what only 12 pairs, yeah I think I have that many here.
The pattern is planed? Well that helps explain the mystery (a bit) why there is no shouting! It's Gone!
Since the speaker is clearly "flatter" I can hear more detail in the high end; remarkable really.
The depth is great, very nice soundstage. The other sets had a good soundstage, but don't hold a candle to these.
The pattern is planed? Well that helps explain the mystery (a bit) why there is no shouting! It's Gone!
Since the speaker is clearly "flatter" I can hear more detail in the high end; remarkable really.
The depth is great, very nice soundstage. The other sets had a good soundstage, but don't hold a candle to these.
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Yes MDF... I'm just not having a problem with this red pair. Sounds like a HiFi speaker to me. I think with tight joints, extra glue, extend clamp time and 1" backs are a runner up and not far off the mark. Also, it's a small box, only 14-1/4" high.
[for the record - it is MEDEX, not MDF]
It took about 16 hours to build them (shop hours).
Now that said; the bamboo pair...that's eye candy!!!
[for the record - it is MEDEX, not MDF]
It took about 16 hours to build them (shop hours).
Now that said; the bamboo pair...that's eye candy!!!
I count 16 pair. And there came at least that many pair before (note that the family portrait has no original FonkenPrime in it -- and we (by that i mean Chris) built at least that many pair of them. And probably that many since.
???? i suspect some missing letters in that sentence
You'll have trouble keeping up with me at my worst when it comes to bad typing
dave
Medex a foumation similar to medite? Better but it still sufferes from being homogeneous.
You won't know what you are missing till you build a better pair... get yourself a sheet of murphy ply. Or go all out and get some bamboo ply (you arelooking for stranded, the more typically used vertical is good, but not near as good). Be prepared for sticker shock.
Medex, Arreis, and the 4 members of the Medite series, are registered tradenames of Sierra Pine - any of which can get used generically to describe products by other makers that might not meet the exact specifications
SierraPine - Composite Solutions
confused yet?
SierraPine - Composite Solutions
confused yet?
On materials, OK, MDF is not perfect, far from it, but better than a lot of other materials. You mention Murphy board. Can't find any reference. Strand bamboo, any sources? I am looking to step up my next build, even if I do stay dedicated to real tweeters. How about gluing up exotic super hard tropical wood floor staves?
Hardwood Plywood Concrete Forms Veneer
Many manufacturers of bamboo ply do an 18mm strabded, we have used the Plyboo product so far. It comes in 4x6 sheets. We recently did some research and found a supplier of 12mm stranded. But with a minimum order of 10 sheets (4x8 IIRC) @ $220/sheet we likely won't try that soon -- even if it could be afforded you have to store it somehwere and we are already tiptoeing around much of a lift (30-some sheets) of 15mm murphy ply (minimum order for that thickness)
dave
Many manufacturers of bamboo ply do an 18mm strabded, we have used the Plyboo product so far. It comes in 4x6 sheets. We recently did some research and found a supplier of 12mm stranded. But with a minimum order of 10 sheets (4x8 IIRC) @ $220/sheet we likely won't try that soon -- even if it could be afforded you have to store it somehwere and we are already tiptoeing around much of a lift (30-some sheets) of 15mm murphy ply (minimum order for that thickness)
dave
Contact Us
drill down to Peter Madronich for info on closest resellers
As Dave noted above, several - the most recent I used was by Plyboo (Smith & Fong)
PlybooStrand Bamboo Plywood and Veneer | Plyboo, Smith & Fong
Locate a Representative - North America | Plyboo, Smith & Fong
the stranded Plyboo is definitely a harder / fussier material to work with, but can make for a gorgeous enclosure (if I do say so myself
)Many tropical / hardwood flooring materials are in fact engineered products with very thin layer of solids over veneer or composite cores - which make for a very stable and "relatively" affordable material - but if you're talking about true solid tropical hardwoods such as Ipe or Jatoba (the only one of which I've personally dug out slivers
) by all means roll your own - just carefully calculate the total cost of materials and your time, and don't be surprised if the net square foot price is several times that of a quality plywood.Attachments
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