These little beauties came from a Monarch speaker.
The sound is incredible. I crossed them over at 1kHz and did some comparisons. I must say they are impressive little drivers. In fact they sound as good as the little Foster drivers I found last month and had planet10 dave do the alterations and phase plugs for. See those ones here
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46936
Am I hearing these things right? How come they sound so good?
The sound is incredible. I crossed them over at 1kHz and did some comparisons. I must say they are impressive little drivers. In fact they sound as good as the little Foster drivers I found last month and had planet10 dave do the alterations and phase plugs for. See those ones here
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46936
Am I hearing these things right? How come they sound so good?
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jdybnis said:
These were built at the height of the knowlege bass for full-range speakers, and this niche in particular was quite competitive (i've seen at least a dozen variations and i'd guess that is just scratching the surface.
As Fostex market grows (introduction to the american market has been a boom to them) they are doing limited runs of more exotic drivers. But they tend to be pricey. I'd expect a modern set of Neo or alnico FE108As (why bother if you don't use the tick surround & cone of the 108) would probably be in the $400-500/pr range (that would be a magnificent driver thou -- maybe we'll even see a come back of field-coils). Even buying a set of these alnicos on eBay is only going to set you back $100 or so max. And if you luck into them at a thrift store you have a frugal-phile's (tm) score of great magnitude.
dave
jdybnis said:
The best drivers are probably better. It's about money. I think it's remarkable that a $50 retail driver performs as well as it does. Realistically, the typical fostex FR fall at the upper part of the low end.
I believe it's the first consumer solid state amps were successful due to the relative weakness of speakers. If speakers had been like today, adoption of audio SS might have been much slower.
I vaguely remember my Dad taking tubes to Walgreen (a pharmacy) to test. People swithced to SS for convience.
Speaking of that, we need pharmacies to once again have a tube tester and tubes!
Re'' the little Foster drivers I found last month''
- I scavenged a pair of more recent 4" Fosters & Tweeters from the side of the road recently, ceramic magnets & pp cone, they perform very well, nearly FR - drop off a bit at the top end but still acceptible by themselves.
currently have them in sealed box ~2 L paired with another 4" BR 4L - as computer speaker very good especially for the price
Haven't tried the tweeters yet but they have a fairly flat FR
- I scavenged a pair of more recent 4" Fosters & Tweeters from the side of the road recently, ceramic magnets & pp cone, they perform very well, nearly FR - drop off a bit at the top end but still acceptible by themselves.
currently have them in sealed box ~2 L paired with another 4" BR 4L - as computer speaker very good especially for the price
Haven't tried the tweeters yet but they have a fairly flat FR
PeteMcK said:Re'' the little Foster drivers I found last month''
- I scavenged a pair of more recent 4" Fosters & Tweeters from the side of the road recently, ceramic magnets & pp cone, they perform very well, nearly FR - drop off a bit at the top end but still acceptible by themselves.
currently have them in sealed box ~2 L paired with another 4" BR 4L - as computer speaker very good especially for the price
Haven't tried the tweeters yet but they have a fairly flat FR
Pictures?
dave
Isn't amazing what people will throw out!!....They assume if it doesn't look like "Todays" driver ..(Ugly cast frames, big,weird looking cone)..it isn't worth anything!
Just look at the ol' Acoustic research A2X? drivers..."they" would think it was physically broken...how about an Advent 'fried egg' tweeter??
__________________________________Rick.............
Just look at the ol' Acoustic research A2X? drivers..."they" would think it was physically broken...how about an Advent 'fried egg' tweeter??
__________________________________Rick.............
jdybnis said:
Alot of these drivers are from the end of the 1st era of the full-range (we are now in a renaissance). The alnico ones can be particularily good, and in the transition to ceramic there wasn't a cheapest at all costs attitude. Some of these drivers offer huge value (especially if you are talking 0-$25) . Early enthusiasm (& eBay) have pushed some prices up higher than they really should.
Take Cal's latest score -- the Foster Horns are roughly equivalent to something you'd pay $50 or more a pair for these days, and the mid woofers offer a set of strengths rarely found.
dave
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