What to do with FE103S, except horns?

[Tubes4e4]

Gentlemen,

I have a pair of ACR FE103S fullrange drivers, which I tried in a very small horn cabinet. The overall results were ... ummmh ... let´s say, very discouraging (also with a recommended correction network).

Nevertheless, I feel the FE103S has some potential when it comes to midrange / mid-high reproduction and I would like to put them to good use instead of dumping them, of course.

An idea is, to use them as mid/high drivers in a 2-way design, combining them with a dedicated woofer. Now, the last pair of speakers I built was two decades ago, and many interesting designs have evolved since then ... there seems to be much excitement over (folded) TQWT designs, for example.

Regarding my size requirements, such a narrow TQWT with a smallish dedicated bass driver (100mm / 4", maybe 170mm / 6-7" at most) looks attractive to me to combine with the FE103S for mid/high.

As an alternative, a 2-way narrow 2-way with a side-mounted 170mm / 200mm (8") bass driver comes to mind, but that would require a lowish x-over frequency of, say, 100 Hz or something, I suppose.

Does either idea make sense to you, or do you have a better idea how to put the FE103S to good use in a 2-way speaker?

Thank you for suggestions,

Tom

[kepa1]

Hello,

Why not stick to the recommended Fostex loads, wheter back horn or bass reflex? Then let these break, feed them with a tube amp or a smouth SS and be happy!

Personnally, I chose the 6 liters BR and am very happy with it. Frankly, these speakers outperform my previous commercial JMLab Opal 29 : the music is more lively, detailed and 3D image is very good. I added a sub based on a Beyma 10LW30 to get bass from 40hz, it reduces a lot the harschness of the 103S.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...922#post821922

[Tubes4e4]

Hi kepa1,

Why not stick to the recommended Fostex loads, wheter back horn or bass reflex?

Nah, I am healed from such little drivers in horns ... but BR might be an option, indeed.

Then let these break, feed them with a tube amp or a smouth SS and be happy!

I have designed & built several tube amps already, and indeed the FE103S were intended for a flea power project. But I don´t know much about speaker-building.

Personnally, I chose the 6 liters BR and am very happy with it.

Do you know were to get the dimensions (including BR tunnel)? I couldn´t find them for the ACR FE103S.

I added a sub based on a Beyma 10LW30 to get bass from 40hz, it reduces a lot the harschness of the 103S.

That setup looks pretty much to what I am intending, although each FE103S should get its own "sub woofer" (I mean 2-ways in one inclosure, but working on separate volumina, of course).

Using the FE103S in the BR box does how much dB SPL? Probably hard to find a matching "sub" for a 2-way, I suppose.

Thank you for your suggestions,

Tom

[kepa1]

Tom,

I'm going to add a second woofer too, so my design will be a 2 way, and maybe 3 when I buy super tweeters!

You're right about efficiency, the 103S are 93db, so you'ill have to find mid or hi efficiency woofers to match them, unless you go active, which is preferable in every terms. Be prepared to spend a little money on the woofers, you need ones with high BL factor (magnetic force).

I suggest you mount a unique box with a wooden separation, the upper side for the 103S and the woofer downside. Something like that:



Maybe you didn't know but ACR used to make Fostex drivers for the European market, they are highly appreciated IMHO. Try the FE103E design on the fostex web site.

Cheers

[Tubes4e4]

Hi kepa1,

Maybe you didn't know but ACR used to make Fostex drivers for the European market, they are highly appreciated IMHO. Try the FE103E design on the fostex web site.

Well, the data given for Fostex FE103E is quite different to the data I found for the ACR/FOSTEX FE103S, even regarding cone mass - is this really the same driver?

Tom

[kepa1]

Well the 103S i a revamped version of the 103E; I think it's got a lower Fs and a stronger magnet.

You'd get more answers if you moved this post to the fullrange section; maybe an aministrator can do that for you.

Bye