Longtime listener 1st time caller...

[auditude]

Hi fellow brethren,
I'm considering taking on the daunting task of building a BLH for Fostex fe166e.

The competition? Omega Super 3 XRS Hempcones.

How do you feel the Fostex design would fair vs. the Omega's?

It is a larger driver and in a BLH vs. a Bass reflex design with 4.5's

Given the same equipment driving the fostex BLH is it safe to assume that the BLH will outperform the Omegas?

I was looking at the simpler bk-16 design.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards and happy listening!

[Scottmoose]

WRT the FE166E, forget both the BK16 & the Factory plan -neither are up to much IMO. If you shifted to the 167 you could do an MLTL / ML TQWT or BR more easily; alternatively, there are other horns lurking around which will allow the 166 to perform the way nature intended. Ron's A166 springs to mind, Hiro or a BIB pipe-horn would work if you don't mind a tall box. And so on.

Moving on, I've Not heard the Omegas, but I've no reason to doubt they're great. A better direct comparison with the XRS would be something with the Fostex FE126E or FE127E, which are of an equivalent size. For the first, Ron's A126, the Frugel-horn, or Saburo are examples of good horns. With the latter, Mileva or a PAWO immediately spring to mind & are somewhat more conventional in appearance (these things are relative).

Some places for you to have a gander at:
www.frugal-horn.com (for the Frugel-horn, Ron's horns, Saburo & Hiro)
www.zillaspeak.com/bib.asp (for BIB pipe-horns),
www.quarter-wave.com (see Project 2 ML TQWT -the 167 is a drop in replacement for the defunct 164 used)
http://www.geocities.com/rbrines1/ (for some commercial examples of MLTLs & BR boxes for the 167)
http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeaker...1v0-021207.pdf for Mileva and
http://www.planet10-hifi.com/tom-zHorn.html for the PAWO.

Hope that helps a bit.
Scott