Perfect speaker for SOZ or ZenLite

[Tyimo]

Hi!

I would like to ask the experts, what kind of laudspeaker is ideal for such a low damping factor amps like the SOZ or ZenLite?
I mean: Qts or any TS parameters? Vented or Closed or TML, 4 or 8 or 16 Ohm? surround material:gumi or polyfoam? Magnet material? etc..

Tyimo

[Nelson Pass]

I recommend going to Madisound and checking out the
Fostex products, particularly the FE166 and FE206 types
for single driver, and some of their others if you want to
consider using a tweeter.

If you have a higher budget, then look at Lowthers. My
favorites are the DX4 and DX55.

Particularly with SOZ, check out the article at www.firstwatt.com

There are lots of other alternative high efficiency speakers,
including older Tannoy, JBL, Altec and Klipsch, and among
state of the art these days, we would have to list TAD.

[tmblack]

Hi Mr. Pass,

I'm interested in the FE166E. Can this work in a bookshelf size enclosure instead of the large horn designs? Does Qts matter with horns?

How good can it sound? Would B&W owners be envious?

Tom

[joensd]

I'm interested in the FE166E. Can this work in a bookshelf size enclosure instead of the large horn designs? Does Qts matter with horns?

The FE-166E is not designed to work in a little BR but you can use the Fostex FE-167E; the shielded brother.
Soon gonna test the driver (~2 weeks) and can let you know as I will build the 15l recommended to let it break in.

greets

[leadbelly]

Originally posted by tmblack
Can this work in a bookshelf size enclosure instead of the large horn designs?

Straight from the manufacturer:

http://www.fostexinternational.com/d...6e_enclrev.pdf

[tmblack]

Look forward to your review in the bass reflex enclosure.

What type of surround do these have? Doesn't look like rubber.

Tom

[Nelson Pass]

Originally posted by tmblack
I'm interested in the FE166E. Can this work in a bookshelf size
enclosure instead of the large horn designs? How good can it
sound?

I have used the FE166 in .5 cu ft sealed boxes, where I get
bottom end by driving it with a current source. In a folded QWTP
they work quite well with lower source impedances, say 10 to
15 ohms. I also have a set of Abbys with them, again driven
by about 15 ohm sources. Lastly, I have loaded them in the
Kleinhorns, where they gave somewhat similar performance to
the Lowther C45 and DX55, and where I use a current source
with an active high pass filter.

In all these cases, I get more bottom end with a finite source
impedance, and this also gives me the opportunity to load the
upper mid and top with an RC network across the driver to
perform some "baffle step correction". A typical starting value
is 10 uf in series with 10 ohms.

So in general I think you can get very good sound, depending on
your taste and your willingness to experiment. I like the driver
very much. I prefer its slightly higher BL product over the FE167,
but the difference is not much to my ears.

Currently I'm playing with the FE166ES-R which is the snazzy
big magnet version. Let you know about that when I'm done.

[tmblack]

Voltage amps I can understand but I'm not sure what is meant by current source amp.

Are the SOZ or ZenLite current sources?

Thanks

Tom

[leadbelly]

http://firstwatt.com/current_source_amps_1.htm

[Nelson Pass]

Originally posted by tmblack
Voltage amps I can understand but I'm not sure what is meant by current source amp.

Are the SOZ or ZenLite current sources?Tom

In the context of this discussion, the SOZ is just about perfect,
having approximately the right source impedance of 16 ohms.