Simple, Inexpensive, yet Decent Full Range/Single Driver system?

[dsavitsk]

Anyone have any thoughts on mating the cabinets from the Madisound BK-16 kits with a Fostex 166E with no tweeter, or with the 207E as compared to the "Singular DIY" cabinets from the BD-Design with the 207E?

I am basically looking for an inexpensive starter project to go with some 300b amps that will sound better than some old B&W's, give me a taste of single driver sound, and not cost too much and not be too much work*. Any better options than these?** The BD cabinets will require me to hire someone to make them as I lack the facilities, so I am guessing that that makes the price high compared to the Madisound kits.

-d


*I have so many amplifier and dac projects waiting to be done that I just don't have time for an extensive speaker project. That will need to wait until next year I'm afraid.

** I also thought about a B200 open baffle project, but I am not willing to put huge baffles in my room and the speakers need to be near the back wall, so it doesn't make sense unless small baffles can be made to work reasonably well.

[DUC985]

Run and buy the Ciare CH250. Recently a diy magazine build a filter for that speaker which performs exeptional well. If have them at home and i know no speaker which performs better for the money. This is only true with the filter, without i would not use them.

Yeah there are better onces like Supravox. But even compared to my Lowthers they are really very very good.

Check it out here ->

http://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/.../dacapo_en.htm

You will need a subwoofer for that setup.

[Klimon]

Hi DUC985,

What does the filter consist of? I took a look and there's an amazing amount of components in the list...

Zobel + notch + high-pass + ... ?

Cheers, Simon

[DUC985]

The filter type is a parallel notch filter. It consists of a
c+l+r in parallel.
There are two versions meantioned :
a) Two filters working at 8khz and forgot the other frequency
b) Three filters working at 2khz & 8khz and forgot the other frequency

they are filtering the peaks in the response. I do not have the magazine available right now, because many of my friends where so impressed that they borrowed the maganzine. But even if i would scan it as PDF it would be in German, but the response charts plotted are pretty impressive and the sound proves them.

I'm currently using the more simple solution a).

[Variac]

It would be very nice to have a schematic of the crossover. Perhaps you could just sketch it and then scan it.

[dsavitsk]

Originally posted by DUC985
Run and buy the Ciare CH250 . . . You will need a subwoofer for that setup.

It looks interesting,but for now, a sub is not an option. So, back to the original question, thoughts?

[planet10]

My 1st choices:

Fostex FE127e (preferably modified) in Fonken of diyAudio ref
Fostex FE126e (same) in RonHorn Austin A126 or Frugel-Horn.

the diyAudio ref is the easiest build.

Other possibilities...
Bob Brines FT1600 with FE167
RonHorn Austin for FE166 (i haven't heard this one -- gets good press and is related to A126 which i have heard & love).

dave

[seanzozo]

I built the BK-16 and stuck a FE-166E in it. It worked kinda OK. I built the RonHorn Austin and dropped the 166E in that. WOW! is all I can say.

My mother-in-law the pipe organist (has a nice one from a small church in her house!) wants a pair after hearing some organ music on it.

ALL commentary below is IN ROOM, I will try to indicate where I can blame the room for certain.

- The BK-16 with the 166 has a significantly rippled bass response with a BIG peak at 240hz (10-12 db) and a big shelf up at 110-150 (+6db from 110-150hz) with an 8db trough (total swing of 20db) on either side of the 240hz bump.
Bass rolls off in room at 3db down at 60hz and 10db Down at 55hz...falls like a rock from there. Its fairly smooth from 450hz up. It needed EQ below this, and some digital EQ did help.

- My Austin's are much smoother basically as smooth as a FE-166E gets from 200hz up (there is a slight issue ca 800-1K that is due to me not yet finishing the baffle). There is a 7db peak around 180hz and a -8db trough at 85 hz - completely due to listener/speaker position. Otherwise its +/-5db IN ROOM from 40hz to 20K. -10 db at 29hz!!!. No EQ necessary and good bass with my tube amps. I highly recommend the extra work that this cabinet takes. 100 bucks of good plywood, 120 bucks of drivers, some binding posts and you won't want a speaker upgrade for a long time.


Sean

[dsavitsk]

Originally posted by planet10
RonHorn Austin for FE166 (i haven't heard this one -- gets good press and is related to A126 which i have heard & love).

Originally posted by seanzozo
I built the RonHorn Austin and dropped the 166E in that. WOW! is all I can say.

Okay, can someone point me to the plans? Google has failed me.

Also, any comments on the BD-Design cabinet?

[Dumbass]

Originally posted by dsavitsk
Okay, can someone point me to the plans? Google has failed me.

http://fullrangedriver.com/gallery/t...ls.php?album=3

Also check out the Dallas II (for FE206E).

Originally posted by dsavitsk
Also, any comments on the BD-Design cabinet?

IIRC it's a multi-chamber vented cabinet.

Other projects you may want to consider are Martin King's project 2 (FE167E is drop-in replacement for FE-164) and project 5 (FE207E).
http://www.quarter-wave.com/Project02/Project02.html
http://www.quarter-wave.com/Project05/Project05.html

If you don't like the shape of project 2, the accompanying whitepaper has a folded version. If you like the tapered shape and want to use FE207E, I believe you can use the FE207E in the project 6 enclosures no problem.