Fertin project - calling all open baffle experts

[nl]

OK, here's my experience:

I have used Fertin EX20 fieldcoils in a 5'x4' OB, with a 15" supravox woofer on the bottom (same baffle, also OB). This was pretty sweet.

The baffle design was inspired by PHY-HP, but sized to fit a standard 4'-wide sheet of plywood. If I were to do it again, I would use one 8x4' sheet of plywood to make two 4x4 OBs. I got some 4' piano hinges from Home Depot to bend the baffle, making it less visually intrusive and also allowing it to stand up. You can angle the "wings" however you like.

The Fertin seemed happy down to about 80hz on that baffle. I also had a Fostex horn tweeter on top. I very highly recommend some kind of supertweeter for the Fertin, too closed in otherwise. The 15" woof took care of duties below 80hz. The combination of Fertin midrange and BIG OPEN BAFFLE BASS (not boosted, but lots of moving air) was very sweet. I also recommend biamping and putting an upstream highpass on the Fertin amp around 80hz to cut low frequencies to the Fertin.

This all worked pretty darn well, and I recommend it to anyone with a living room big enough to allow two 4-foot-wide sheets of plywood. I actually did this with only one channel in my apartment, which was also good, but I eventually moved to two channels and put the Fertins in BR boxes.

[mantistube]

Just joined the forum, and have very little electronic building under my belt but I have been "into tube Audio" for 20 years. For the last 15 i have been looking to improve my speakers with something a little more exotic. I am a former QUAD ESL owner (the 57 of course) so imagine and acuraccy are important.

How is that on the Fertin's? One of my greatest pleasures was their sense of placement and microdynamics. You could listen to them at low volume and then increase the volume and the soundstage would get bigger. I would ask the question when i would do this "is Frank Sintra closer or Louder"! Surpising even the most casual listen would be able to recoginze this.
Is this possible with your fertins?

p.s. I have been reviewing this thread and i am curious was anyone able to purchase them directly from the vendor? The Site is still open but haven't had the funds until now think about making a purchase.

[lrntglls]

Expensive those babies. Just send me a e-mail and I could give you info.

[Peter Daniel]

It's been 4 years since dice45 first mentioned Fertins on this forum and ever since I read his (very positive) comments I was entertaining the idea of acquiring those drivers:
Full Range Drivers

Well, thanks to the assistance from a French speaking forum member (Irntglls), I finally made the purchase and the drivers arrived yesterday.





As you see, those guys are serious about shipping: the drivers were bolted to the bottom of a wooden case (through a mounting hole in a magnet)

The build quality is very good; I ordered a version with all the options (silver wire, brass center plug, gold plated wizzer). It took about 10 days since I transfered the money to the day DHL delivered them (shipping was about 300 Euro).

[ScottG]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
It's been 4 years since dice45 first mentioned Fertins on this forum and ever since I read his (very positive) comments I was entertaining the idea of acquiring those drivers:
Full Range Drivers

Well, thanks to the assistance from a French speaking forum member (Irntglls), I finally made the purchase and the drivers arrived yesterday.





As you see, those guys are serious about shipping: the drivers were bolted to the bottom of a wooden case (through a mounting hole in a magnet)

The build quality is very good; I ordered a version with all the options (silver wire, brass center plug, gold plated wizzer). It took about 10 days since I transfered the money to the day DHL delivered them (shipping was about 300 Euro).

OK Peter, what the cost on these? ..I know its going to hurt when I see it.

Hmm, there might be enough interest for a show entitled: "pimp my loudspeaker".. I'd watch it

[Peter Daniel]

Those are approx. 900 Euro each.

[ScottG]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
Those are approx. 900 Euro each.

Thats not as bad as I had suspected..

Please keep us updated on performance.

Thanks!

[JoshK]

Peter,

How do they sound? Can you comment a bit, also relative to other speakers? What model did you choose?

[hum4god]

i ma very eagerly following this thread and am ready to pull the trigger and get the fertin drivers and start building some prototypes ,

but it seems like i can't get a hold of someone who actually sells them.

i tried contacting a guy in canada and fertin direct and also approached blackforest with my best german , but so far
nada .

preferably i would like to have the latest model with the silver wire coil , brass center plug, and gold plated wizzer.

anyone using bass , dipole or box , that can keep up with the fertin and does not need too much space .
perhaps even on the same baffle????

thanks for that great thread
malcolm

[nullspace]

Malcom,

We meet again. If you shoot 'lrntglls' an email, he should be able to help you out; Gilles is a pleasure to deal with. He just helped me secure a spare set of cones.

Regards,
John