Sorry for changing tack from the original thread - it's interesting how the knowledge you gather makes you look at things differently sometimes.
What I need is 2 sets of speakers for 2 different rooms.
Room 1 is a loft, the 'usable' centre area is 9' x 14', the peak of the roof is only 8' high, this gives a quite small cubic area.
Room 2 is 32' x 14' with a 10.5' ceiling.
In both rooms I will have a tube amp and will listen to (in order of preferance) classical, jazz, and pop.
I am really enjoying my FE206Es in a 45 litre bass reflex box and wish to stick with Fostex full range speakers. I don't want tweeters, crossovers, or subwoofers.
For the small room (1) I am thinking about Fostex FE168EZ Sigma in Fostex recommended enclosure. I'm thinking that a < 8" speaker may be more suited to this room and that the treble and midrange may be smoother than a non-Sigma driver.
For the large room (2) I am thinking about FE206E or FE206ES-R in Fostex recommended FE206ES-R enclosure or in a BIB.
Any comments/advice anybody may have would be very welcome.
Many thanks. ................David
What I need is 2 sets of speakers for 2 different rooms.
Room 1 is a loft, the 'usable' centre area is 9' x 14', the peak of the roof is only 8' high, this gives a quite small cubic area.
Room 2 is 32' x 14' with a 10.5' ceiling.
In both rooms I will have a tube amp and will listen to (in order of preferance) classical, jazz, and pop.
I am really enjoying my FE206Es in a 45 litre bass reflex box and wish to stick with Fostex full range speakers. I don't want tweeters, crossovers, or subwoofers.
For the small room (1) I am thinking about Fostex FE168EZ Sigma in Fostex recommended enclosure. I'm thinking that a < 8" speaker may be more suited to this room and that the treble and midrange may be smoother than a non-Sigma driver.
For the large room (2) I am thinking about FE206E or FE206ES-R in Fostex recommended FE206ES-R enclosure or in a BIB.
Any comments/advice anybody may have would be very welcome.
Many thanks. ................David
A quick note to thank everybody for their advice. I've just finished FE206ES-Rs in the Fostex recommended enclosures. I've only listened to them for about 20 hours so far but I am already staggered by their abilities. Wonderful. I like my FE206Es in bass reflex boxes but these go a lot further. Bass, weight, authority, a certain silkiness to the mids and treble - fantastic ! The main quality that my wife and I have observed is that they are totally fatigue free. It feels like I'm listening to vinyl again ! Thanks again to all who advised.
David, I kinda got lost in this thread, which horn did you build, the one Fostex recommends for the FE206ESR or the 208 horn? I built the recommended horn for the FE206ESR and, at first was not real happy with them, and now I love them. It took lots of break in and some expirimenting with stuffing the CC and throat to get them right in my room. The last thing I have done is put spikes on the bottom and this I should have done right away. I also added a T90AEX with only a .33mfd cap and a dedicated wire. I soldered the speaker wire (Signal Cable), directly to the FE206ESR and elimanated binding posts, which improved the sound even more. I`m late in posting here, and I recommend the Fostex BLH designed for your driver FWIW. I could not be happier. The first thing I do when I get home is power up my system so I can get a couple hours listeneing. They are more musically engaging than any speaker I`ve ever owned, and there have been plenty. Good luck and I hope you are as happy with them as I am now.
Thanks No Xo. I built the 206ES-R cabs. I've stuffed the cc but half-expect to remove it later. Some inmates say that the stuffing may make the speaker sound 'constrained' as it burns in. My wife is Japanese so she can read the Japanese language documentation that Fostex put in with the drivers, Fostex also seem to advise stuffing the cc until the drivers burn in. Like you I love the speakers and want to hear them every night, .....no other speaker has made me feel like this ! It's interesting what you wrote about the spikes, what sort of difference did you think they made ? I'm guessing it 'tightened' the bass ?
DavidLewis2
Bass, weight, authority and totally fatigue free. Amen to that.
Aren't they are revelation. I too put the 206's in a reflex box and thought they sounded good.
I built the 208 cabinet and after some tweaking they blew me away. I finished them just after Christmas and they get better every day. Vinyl is superb. World Machine by Level 42 has some awesome bass, tight and deep enough to knock the walls down.
By the way has anyone built the 208 cab for the 206 and then put a 208 sigma in it. I am looking to the next up-grade and wonder if it is worthe the outlay ?
Bass, weight, authority and totally fatigue free. Amen to that.
Aren't they are revelation. I too put the 206's in a reflex box and thought they sounded good.
I built the 208 cabinet and after some tweaking they blew me away. I finished them just after Christmas and they get better every day. Vinyl is superb. World Machine by Level 42 has some awesome bass, tight and deep enough to knock the walls down.
By the way has anyone built the 208 cab for the 206 and then put a 208 sigma in it. I am looking to the next up-grade and wonder if it is worthe the outlay ?
David, before the speakers were broken in I had a nasty resonance around 200HZ to 300HZ that made some music almost unlistenable. After damping the CC and stuffing the throat, that resonance dropped consideralby, but wasn`t gone. The more they broke in, the less I noticed it, or the more I got used to it. After putting the speaker on spikes, the resonance pretty much dissapeared, and now I wonder if it was the floor resonating along with the speaker. I also plan to reduce some of the stuffing, but at the same time, I feel they sound great and draw me into the music more than any other speakers I`ve had. The other speakers I `ve had were LS3/5A`s and Proac Responce 1SC`s, both with subs. I was a British mini monitor guy for 20 years, until I bought a pair of FE206E`s and initially used a BR box, and then built the recommended horns for those, and I still like them and use them in my HT system. Then Fostex came out with the limited edition FE206ESR, and I had to have them. Back to the spikes, the bass is more even and the imaging and dynamics are a little better. In my room, spikes made an inexpensive improvement that is always reversable. Check out Part Express sale catalog, they were $15.00US a set and no drilling required.
I have had great results using the "light bulb" phase plug as shown on hunblehommadehifi. I have yet to pluck up the courage to fit Dave's phase pllugs
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Solo206.html
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Solo206.html
Get yourself a glass of something mellow and red, and a pair of phase plugs. They're not difficult to fit. Just take your time, and don't worry about it. A pair of plastic tweezers and a very sharp craft knife (think Airfix kit type) are essential. Other than that, it's plain sailing. They make a heck of a difference. They don't turn the 206 into a Sigma beater, but they certainly elevate it's performance up a good few notches.
Hi Scotmoose
Have you try connecting the negative to the chassis? ( Please see the following ) And How do you like the idea. I almost finish making the 208sigma box for the 206esr. I certainly would feed the single cat5e straight from the amp. I again would like to try the phase plug from dave in the later day. Is fibre-fil a good stuffing material for the back of driver and the cc. Which area is CC anyway. Is it the whole length of the horn?
Thanks
Albert
The second tweak was to short the chassis of the driver to the minus pole of the connector. This is easily done by soldering a short piece of wire from the minus pole to the centre connection screw that holds the solder tab in place (see photo). This gave improved midrange clarity with a smoother treble and more punch in the bass – amazing for a 5-minute tweak that costs absolutely nothing!
I now hear things I had never heard in recordings before and all this from a simple cheap full-range driver! This speaker really lets you hear the acoustics of the recording studio and for example you can visualise how close to the piano and where the recording microphones are placed. I must admit it still doesn’t like large orchestra’s playing forte and lean recordings sound rather lean but otherwise I am very happy at the moment. The speaker works best with tube-amps: in combination with my KT88 monoblocks cymbals are so realistic it frightens you, with solid state they are a little too rough edged. Listening to track 11 on Diana Krall’s “Live in Paris” you can hear the concert hall air vibrate, all the small noises the audience make are very tangible contributing to the effect that you are really there!
Have you try connecting the negative to the chassis? ( Please see the following ) And How do you like the idea. I almost finish making the 208sigma box for the 206esr. I certainly would feed the single cat5e straight from the amp. I again would like to try the phase plug from dave in the later day. Is fibre-fil a good stuffing material for the back of driver and the cc. Which area is CC anyway. Is it the whole length of the horn?
Thanks
Albert
The second tweak was to short the chassis of the driver to the minus pole of the connector. This is easily done by soldering a short piece of wire from the minus pole to the centre connection screw that holds the solder tab in place (see photo). This gave improved midrange clarity with a smoother treble and more punch in the bass – amazing for a 5-minute tweak that costs absolutely nothing!
I now hear things I had never heard in recordings before and all this from a simple cheap full-range driver! This speaker really lets you hear the acoustics of the recording studio and for example you can visualise how close to the piano and where the recording microphones are placed. I must admit it still doesn’t like large orchestra’s playing forte and lean recordings sound rather lean but otherwise I am very happy at the moment. The speaker works best with tube-amps: in combination with my KT88 monoblocks cymbals are so realistic it frightens you, with solid state they are a little too rough edged. Listening to track 11 on Diana Krall’s “Live in Paris” you can hear the concert hall air vibrate, all the small noises the audience make are very tangible contributing to the effect that you are really there!
Thanks for the info everybody. The FE206ES-Rs (in FE206ES-R recommended BLHs) are getting better and better with classical, jazz, and anything acoustic. However, the added smoothness and silkiness of these speakers (over my FE206s in BR boxes) combined with the 300B SET has tipped rock music into sounding a bit too tame. I guess one hi-fi cannot play all music types well ....? Anyhow, I've still got the FE206s (in BR boxes). They are now attached to my AV system (Yamaha AV Package 59 comprising RX-V359 amp + NS-P110 speakers), I merely replaced the very small supplied front speakers with the FE206 BRs. I played rock music through this system (via an elderly Marantz CD-63SE) and was absolutely amazed by the sound. Treble/midrange clarity, dynamicism, separation, imaging courtesy of the FE206s. Deep rich bass courtesy of the little Yamaha subwoofer. To be honest I didn't realise that the subwoofer could join in with stereo CD and I thought that the FE206 BRs were doing it all themselves for a while !!! ..... a testament to how seemless the subwoofer integration was. This 'rock music' system has a very low overall cost but I see no need to go further with it. Discovering Fostex drivers and DIY enclosures was the best thing that has happened to me in the 25 years I've been trying to assemble a decent hi-fi. I can't say that I've been very clever about any of this but I have ended up with a pair of hi-fi's that do a great job with any music genre. I'm very happy. Instead of constantly spending money on upgrading components I can now buy music ! Thanks to all the experts on the forum who assisted me with the decisions.
DavidLewis, sounds like we are on the same path. I started with FE206E`s in a BR box and later built the recommended horns and now use them in a home theater system with a NAD receiver, all Fostex speakers and a 12" sub with Parts Express driver & plate amp. I use it as a 2 channel music system alot because it is in my basement and I can play it loud down there. There is an old thread called "HP Reflectors" on this site that a friend posted a couple pictures of my FE206ESR`s on, if you`re interested. I covered them in walnut veneer and use them in my livivng room with a tube pre & amp, a Rega P25 and a heavily modified Marantz 63se CD, stereo only. Keep us posted on how your speakers break in, NOXO
DavidLewis2. Thanks for your comment. I put 8 coats of paint on in all, 4 primer/undercoat and 4 top coats of ordinary (not non-drip) black Crown gloss. I used a small foam roller. It does not allow much paint to go on at once, but it avoids any drips.
Each coat was rubbed down when dry with ever smoother wet & dry paper (used dry) ending up with 1200 grit.
I had wanted them sprayed in my local paint shop, but they wanted £200!. It would have been worth it I suppose, but the paint and other bits was only about £20.
Each coat was rubbed down when dry with ever smoother wet & dry paper (used dry) ending up with 1200 grit.
I had wanted them sprayed in my local paint shop, but they wanted £200!. It would have been worth it I suppose, but the paint and other bits was only about £20.
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