Best Pair at approx $100?

[ORNJ]

As the title says, I am looking to get a pair of full range drivers for about $100. I was looking at the Mark Audio CHR-70 but there are also the Alpair 6P and then several different Fostex drivers such as:

FE83En
FF85WK
FE103En
FF105WK
FE126En(top pick currently)

out of all of these I think the 126En and Alpair 6P look to be best so far. They will be used in my office with my Bottlehead Quickie and Adcom 6000 amp which will eventually be switched to another bottlehead amp or maybe something similar or a F5.

I was thinking Pensil, BLH, or Onken enclosures for them and will be crossed to an 8" sub for the lows.

[planet10]

Given the sub, what you want is something that reaches about 100 Hz, and is really good above that.

A6P vrs CHR70. Personally i'd pick A6p. It has a soft top-end (voiced for near-field), so if you prefer something a bit more flamboyant up top maybe the CHR.

FE83 won't go low enuff to meet the sub.

FF85wk will just meet the sub, but ultimate levels will need to be a bit more sedate than A6p (you can read more about that comparison here), A6 has a couple dB on the FF85

FE103En is nice but i'd pick FF105 over it.

FE126 is interesting, the least smooth (and largest) of the bunch, but the most efficient. Would not reach the woofer in anything but a horn, so you are looking at a larger enclosure than any of the rest (FH3 or BK12m)

Some of the worst issues of the FE126/FFxx5 (which decrease with size) can be ameriolated with a little 2-way ZIG glue in the right place.

dave

[Jim Griffin]

The Mark Audio Alpair 10.2 (gray cone) is on sale at Madisound for $80 which is $30 off the normal $110 price. This is a very good drive and adaptable to various enclosures. A real deal!

The Madisound Speaker Store

[planet10]

The A10.2 is indeed a deal, but 2x the OPs budget.

dave

[ORNJ]

Originally Posted by planet10

The A10.2 is indeed a deal, but 2x the OPs budget.

dave

yep, I saw that too and would normaly try to swing it but since this is my first full range driver I wanted to try and start cheaply to see if I prefer the sound of a full range for music compared to what I am used to.

It really is a toss up right now between getting some FR drivers or a SPL mic for measuring my equipment.

[Einric]

Well you did say you looked at the CHR, what about the CHP it looks to be a little lighter in the top end.

What is the application?

I built a Dayton RS100-8 as full range and it crossed to a sub at 80hz quite nicely.
A simple parallel tank circuit will help to smooth out the breakup at the top.
I tried a simple lowpass to try and knock out the breakup and ended up losing a little in the top end as a result.
With the RS100-8 crossed at 80hz to the sub it would handle 50W before I started to notice any stress.
When run full range without the sub it actually takes right up to it's 25W RMS rating before I noticed stress.
I was quite happy with the results, Great imaging & impressive bass in a small room.
Without a sub there is not quite enough oomph to fill my living room (18'x18').
Being my first ever speaker project I wanted to keep it as simple and cheap as possible.
After I finished it I sat in my garage with the biggest S**T eating grin on my face for over an hour.
Now I am planning on using it as a midrange in a 3-way build where I believe it will be better suited.

[rjbond3rd]

Personally, I would say FE103En because it is flat, neutral, correct tone and wide dispersion which easily plays down to its Fs of 83Hz in a simple box, making xover to a sub a breeze. This exact combination is virtually unique in the wideband world, and while it's not for everyone, it's the overall champion out of dozens I've tried (all of which were much more expensive, including some more than $1,000/pair).

For me, at sane SPL's, they are a great match for (.e.g,) the Bottlehead S.E.X. plus a sub in a medium-sized living room. We use them that way in a mini 2.1 home theater, which doubles for hifi. Sound was good out of the box but got much better after 2 months of daily use. If you can high-pass them, you can play louder but it's not strictly required.

Pros: Excellent for jazz, acoustic, small ensembles, vocals. Bang for buck, by far the best I've had. Tone is eerily realistic on soundtracks (e.g., was that our doorbell? my cellphone? or the TV?) Incredible imaging. No harsh peaks and you can sit near them on-axis (unlike FE126En). The FE103En is the first driver I had which instantly told me which amp was connected - so transparent to a fault (but I like that). For example, after hearing the Bottlehead S.E.X. through them, I could not go back to any other amp.

Cons: They struggle with rock and complex passages. Even with a sub, no mid-bass thump. For rock, I'd get the CHR-70's which have more thump and sparkle -- it's not neutral, nor transparent, but really ear-pleasing, robust-sounding, excellent for home theater, pop, electronica but don't press them too hard, probably have to sit a bit further back, and don't expect any of the creepy realistic tone tricks of the FE103En.

Both are solid choices (cheap enough so that you can have both at some point).

P.S. I also bought the Dayton measuring kit, but after hearing the Botthehead and the FE103En, I never got around to measuring (at least not yet) because nothing sounded wrong On the contrary, in terms of tone, imaging, neutrality (but definitely not dynamics) it's the "right-est" system I've had yet, and there's no EQ.

[xrk971]

What about the Betsy 8 inch full range with 95 dB sensitivity for $100/pair?

[Einric]

I was just looking at the BetsyK page 2 seconds ago, LOL.
BetsyK's were designed for a resonant enclosure.

[xrk971]

Betsy regular is for OB.