Hi Everyone, just finished finishing my reccomended backhorn enclosures for the FE206e's. Will try and post some pics next weekend, they're high gloss black front with maple veneered sides and top 
I built them a month ago and had a listen, and was pleased with the sound, although a tad bass light. Was using DIY CAT5 cable to them, however am temporarily switched to bellwire until i finish some longer CAT5 cables. This seems to have had the effect to further reduce bass output and i'm now feeling worried.
They are in a room approx 5m wide, and 7m long. They are on the narrow wall. Would I be better off with them in my bedroom (4mx5m)? I'm thinking of adding a sub, but will see how the speaker cable goes (concered about increasing capacitance from my old runs, cos of longer length, and reducing bass output further)
On the plus side, to anybody not hearing this driver or similar, the best thing about it is whereas before (on some mission 780's) i got a solid central image of some1 singing, now they appear to be sitting a set distance away and somehow have a shape and size. It's a bizzarre thing to try and describe, but believe me, its good!
Any comments greatly appreciated. Richard.
BTW prob about 100hrs on them, should i really expect much more change in the sound yet? and if so what?? Thanks.
I built them a month ago and had a listen, and was pleased with the sound, although a tad bass light. Was using DIY CAT5 cable to them, however am temporarily switched to bellwire until i finish some longer CAT5 cables. This seems to have had the effect to further reduce bass output and i'm now feeling worried.
They are in a room approx 5m wide, and 7m long. They are on the narrow wall. Would I be better off with them in my bedroom (4mx5m)? I'm thinking of adding a sub, but will see how the speaker cable goes (concered about increasing capacitance from my old runs, cos of longer length, and reducing bass output further)
On the plus side, to anybody not hearing this driver or similar, the best thing about it is whereas before (on some mission 780's) i got a solid central image of some1 singing, now they appear to be sitting a set distance away and somehow have a shape and size. It's a bizzarre thing to try and describe, but believe me, its good!
Any comments greatly appreciated. Richard.
BTW prob about 100hrs on them, should i really expect much more change in the sound yet? and if so what?? Thanks.
rabw said:Hi Everyone, just finished finishing my reccomended backhorn enclosures for the FE206e's. Will try and post some pics next weekend, they're high gloss black front with maple veneered sides and top
I built them a month ago and had a listen, and was pleased with the sound, although a tad bass light. Was using DIY CAT5 cable to them, however am temporarily switched to bellwire until i finish some longer CAT5 cables. This seems to have had the effect to further reduce bass output and i'm now feeling worried.
What is the effective gauge of the Cat 5 wire compared to the bell wire? Others have found that increased resistance, etheir an actual resistor or thinner wire seems to help by increasing the effective Q which results in more bass.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=436305#post436305
http://www.passdiy.com/pdf/cs-amps-speakers.pdf
Don't forget to post those pictures.
Gio.
The CAT5 Cable is made to Chris Venhaus recipe, with 54 conducters in the cable (27+, and 27-). This is apparently equivilent to approx 10ga. The bellwire (which i picked up when i was in B&Q) appears to be about the thickness of 1 strand from the CAT5 cable. Much to my suprise it is solid core, however i expect its the cheapest junk copper going. Perhaps i felt there was much more bass with CAT5 cable because or the increased clarity, and being able to follow it more easily, or maybe other twinkly things flying around the soundstage took my mind off it. Anyway, it was still bass light with CAT5, but i didnt feel so bad.
I am aware that any sub i use must be very fast, thinking of building some sonotube style things, but would like to chill out a little and listen to my creations some more (and let them break in). How do you feel a REL Stadium (original one 795UKP in 1995 apparently) would integrate???
What also doesnt help me is i find my house sucks bass away much more than any other room/place I have ever heard. I have had my hifi with old speakers in rooms at uni, and friends houses, and the level of bass was almost too much to handle, and required alot of pulling speakers away from walls. At home, it was always a tad light.
Those current source amps seem to improve the bass somehow with efficient speakers. Could you point me in the direction of one of these things for me to look at, and/or some DIY plans?
Thanks, Richard
I am aware that any sub i use must be very fast, thinking of building some sonotube style things, but would like to chill out a little and listen to my creations some more (and let them break in). How do you feel a REL Stadium (original one 795UKP in 1995 apparently) would integrate???
What also doesnt help me is i find my house sucks bass away much more than any other room/place I have ever heard. I have had my hifi with old speakers in rooms at uni, and friends houses, and the level of bass was almost too much to handle, and required alot of pulling speakers away from walls. At home, it was always a tad light.
Those current source amps seem to improve the bass somehow with efficient speakers. Could you point me in the direction of one of these things for me to look at, and/or some DIY plans?
Thanks, Richard
My FE206E
I too have the Fostex BLH and am using an EL34 PP tube amp about 10-12 watts per channel.
I concur with the lack of bass issue. I also have experienced the brightness and shout of this speaker in the higher frequences. After trying all the mods discussed on this newsgroup and others, the ONLY thing that works for me is a compensation network.
Currently I have a 22ohm resistor in series with the +ve of my amp output, then a parallel circuit across the speaker with a (6uF capacitor and 10 ohm resistor) in series.
The first series resistor slightly boosts the bass frequencies and smooths the overall response. The parallel circuit works to taper the high frequencies due to the usual rising reponse of this speaker. In some cases the higher frequencies can be 15db louder than the lower frequencies by looking at the reponse chart. Therefore, this circuit gives a much more even response with only limited effect on overall efficiency.
Experiment and care is required with the values for your system. Too much series resistance can produce a bloated slow bass, and too little can make the bass non existant. Cutting of the high frequencies can reduce some of the 'presence' of these speakers, but to my mind any speaker with such a skewed response curve (without this filter) is not offering real hi-fi.
Personal choice, but these are my impressions, and I would have about 500 hours on the clock.
good luck! Ad.
I too have the Fostex BLH and am using an EL34 PP tube amp about 10-12 watts per channel.
I concur with the lack of bass issue. I also have experienced the brightness and shout of this speaker in the higher frequences. After trying all the mods discussed on this newsgroup and others, the ONLY thing that works for me is a compensation network.
Currently I have a 22ohm resistor in series with the +ve of my amp output, then a parallel circuit across the speaker with a (6uF capacitor and 10 ohm resistor) in series.
The first series resistor slightly boosts the bass frequencies and smooths the overall response. The parallel circuit works to taper the high frequencies due to the usual rising reponse of this speaker. In some cases the higher frequencies can be 15db louder than the lower frequencies by looking at the reponse chart. Therefore, this circuit gives a much more even response with only limited effect on overall efficiency.
Experiment and care is required with the values for your system. Too much series resistance can produce a bloated slow bass, and too little can make the bass non existant. Cutting of the high frequencies can reduce some of the 'presence' of these speakers, but to my mind any speaker with such a skewed response curve (without this filter) is not offering real hi-fi.
Personal choice, but these are my impressions, and I would have about 500 hours on the clock.
good luck! Ad.
Interesting....
I may well try some kind of filter at some point. At the moment I'm just fidding with an old sub (yamaha yst-sw50) I have, and althought it doesnt go that deep, its confirmed my suspicians that its quite a fast sub, although its not the last word in smoothness.
The overall sound seems much more pleasent with the sub brought in at about 80-90Hz, so i think i might buy a 2nd hand REL sub n give it a whirl, can always sell it if i hate it.
Here are some pics like i promised. There are some of the building of the horns and laying out. Sorry about the quality of the final pics, but unfortunately the usb lead to the camera is not around, so these picture have been taken on a P800 (phone). But they'll give u an idea... the fronts are actually quite shiny, and the sides/top are maple veneered.
Hope you like, I'll try and get some better ones done, however as I'm normally at uni and not inclined to take my beasts with me, it is tricky (and makes for an extra-long break in - boring)
I may well try some kind of filter at some point. At the moment I'm just fidding with an old sub (yamaha yst-sw50) I have, and althought it doesnt go that deep, its confirmed my suspicians that its quite a fast sub, although its not the last word in smoothness.
The overall sound seems much more pleasent with the sub brought in at about 80-90Hz, so i think i might buy a 2nd hand REL sub n give it a whirl, can always sell it if i hate it.
Here are some pics like i promised. There are some of the building of the horns and laying out. Sorry about the quality of the final pics, but unfortunately the usb lead to the camera is not around, so these picture have been taken on a P800 (phone). But they'll give u an idea... the fronts are actually quite shiny, and the sides/top are maple veneered.
Hope you like, I'll try and get some better ones done, however as I'm normally at uni and not inclined to take my beasts with me, it is tricky (and makes for an extra-long break in - boring)
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hey rich, seeing those pics brings back memories of last term hehehe
just for everyones info, we built the pair of horns during our spare time at uni, in the carpeted lounge of rich's rented house! using the circular saw and belt sander created rather a lot of dust . .
needless to say the estate agents wernt too impressed when they brought some prespective tenants round to view!
but now its time to build some speakers for me, luckily i have wooden floors in my place, slightly easier to clean up
just for everyones info, we built the pair of horns during our spare time at uni, in the carpeted lounge of rich's rented house! using the circular saw and belt sander created rather a lot of dust . .
needless to say the estate agents wernt too impressed when they brought some prespective tenants round to view!
but now its time to build some speakers for me, luckily i have wooden floors in my place, slightly easier to clean up
Hehe...I used to love guerilla DIY'ing in my flat. I once built an engine for my hot-rod in the kitchen. The only real problem is having to live with the smells from dust and chemicals.
In regards to the CAT5 braid...I built a pair of those and was fairly disappointed, even after a long break in, I tried them with many amplifier/speaker combos, they never impressed my with the sound, look cool though. Now I use twisted 14awg enamelled solid copper wire, just two conductors, sounds good with everything.
I also own a pair of FE206 in BLH, and I like a simple correction network, better but still a tad shy in the bass though. I don't think there is a any other 'solution' other than adding some big woofers. I'm working on a BassZilla type set up now, Fostex FE166ES-R on OB and JBL E-140 in 150L vented cabs. should have results in a week.
In regards to the CAT5 braid...I built a pair of those and was fairly disappointed, even after a long break in, I tried them with many amplifier/speaker combos, they never impressed my with the sound, look cool though. Now I use twisted 14awg enamelled solid copper wire, just two conductors, sounds good with everything.
I also own a pair of FE206 in BLH, and I like a simple correction network, better but still a tad shy in the bass though. I don't think there is a any other 'solution' other than adding some big woofers. I'm working on a BassZilla type set up now, Fostex FE166ES-R on OB and JBL E-140 in 150L vented cabs. should have results in a week.
Layered Mauhorn
Not sure where to start, but I'm a new user; my first layred project was back in 2001 (see thread below). I have built a Mauhorn (courtesy of Andreas Mau). Looking at the design, it's very complex to deal with angle cuts; i'm not a good woodworker and very lazy, so i built one using layered mdf; 1st ever built horn.
- 13 layers of 3/4" mdf (3 sheets of 4'x8')
- 1/4" polycarbonate clear
- 1/4" dowel pins used throughout
- only bought 1 Fostex FE206e to test (about 100 hours now)
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29133&perpage=10&pagenumber=3
Not sure where to start, but I'm a new user; my first layred project was back in 2001 (see thread below). I have built a Mauhorn (courtesy of Andreas Mau). Looking at the design, it's very complex to deal with angle cuts; i'm not a good woodworker and very lazy, so i built one using layered mdf; 1st ever built horn.
- 13 layers of 3/4" mdf (3 sheets of 4'x8')
- 1/4" polycarbonate clear
- 1/4" dowel pins used throughout
- only bought 1 Fostex FE206e to test (about 100 hours now)
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29133&perpage=10&pagenumber=3
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