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uFonken - Fountek FE85

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Hey guys,

The days are getting darker and colder so more time for cutting wood :D
For the beginning my wife told me it would be nice to use some
of the speakers lying around - collecting dust.

I have 2x matched pairs of the Fountek FE85 by my hand and didn't know what to do.

I tried a bambus-vase from a swedish furniture-store with more or less good results.
I'm always stmbling across the Fonken enclosures but the small midrange speaker is a bit too tiny.
In the past i put a pair of the Founteks in a FHlite but the AuraSound NS3 is IMHO the better choice.

So i thought give the µFonken a try; the facts:

Fostex FF85wk | Fountek FE85
Vas: ~1 l | 0.85 l
Fres: 115 Hz | 125 Hz
Qms: 3,3 | 2,13
Qes: 0,68 | 0,67
Qts: 0,55 | 0,52

Ok, before someone is throwing rocks, both drivers are not the same.
I know i cannot replace one with the other without some flaws...
I got an old simulation software and the results are more or less fine.
The Fountek can be placed in a 2 l BR enclosure and the dimension of two BR ports are nearly the same.

I started the experiment with cheap but acoustically not so bad OSB-board.
16mm are more than enough, the speakers are tiny so big issues with resonances are not expected.
With the additional 4mm thickness on each side i have more room for some chamfering.

I will make some progress in the following days, and before the first questions are coming up, sorry but no measurements.
I tried it in the past and my room is horrible and come on it's not highend it's just for fun.

No pic, no truth - see attachment :)
 

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Update :)
I have a good feeling with the Founteks in the uFonken.
If these perform nearly as good as i hope they will,
i will built a second pair with additional Fountek 3.5h ribbons.
A bit higher enclosure but inside the same dimensions.
Some nice woofers are also waiting in a corner, probably a slim sidewoofer
enclosure as a stand for the small uFonkens... Will see how this ends :-D
 

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Last edited:
I hope your assembly photos mean the parts are only dry-fit together to confirm correct sizes: you absolutely need to chamfer or radius the rear side of speaker mounting hole with drivers of this size, and that's a lot easier to do before gluing the front panel in place - maximum of maybe 10 seconds each with a small laminate trim router and 45dg bit.
 
Hi Chris,

You are right with your statement and thanks for your tips :)

One sidepanel and the front is at the moment not glued with the other parts.
It's only easier with the clamping, that everything is in a correct angle and fit.
I hadn't the time to start the router for embedding the speakers in the front and the back chamfering.

If the experiment is working well i will do a rebuild with bb plywood.
This build with the OSB is only to see if it's worth to use the Fountek instead of the Fostex.
 
And here it is :)

Some instrumental rockmusic is now used for "breaking in" and tomorrow they get some heavy tunes at higher volume ;)
For today i'm really satisfied with the results.
These little fellows build up a great soundstage.

Of course they are limited in the lowend but i'm more or less amazed how good they are.
The upper frequency part is also limited so maybe i will make a tweeter extension.

For desktop use they are absolute great. Enough lowend and treble to keep them how they are. And what i have seen they can get reallly loud...!
 

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Other side of the water, I trust you mean?

The other "other side " is not someplace from which I think we want to trust on any communications;)

These little guys won't take much plywood, and I honesty think you could get by with 1/2" / 12mm material. I've used that on more than a few boxes this size with quite acceptable results - all panels are quite small, and with the full width slot port these are well braced. Of course if you want wide bevels, you'd need to go thicker
 
Ups, a real faux-pas, of course the other side of this small lake ;)
The other kind of communication is something for Dean and Sam and the black Impala beauty...

I took the 16mm OSB because i needed some for constructionwork under the roof.
For the clean build i want to go for the 12mm plywood as suggested in the plans.

What i can say from my POV, the Fountek FE85 performs better controlled in the uFonken than in the FHlite.
At the moment i have the Aura NS-3 playing in the FHlite and the result is still amazing for such a small 3" woofer.

For now i need to wait till the weekend starts. The real world needs some attention. :)
 
My fiancée complained about the Fonken+Subwoofer solution because the xmas-tree needs the space of the sub.
So i needed a practical solution for listening music in a good way while missing everything below ~100Hz.
In a box i found some nice xo components from other projects and started to calculate and simulate [BoxSim] and ended with an interesting solution.
The mentioned Aura FHLite are the midwoofers and the FE85-Fonkens are playing on top of them.
A simple 12db XO for the Auras and a resistor and cap in series with the FEs.
The output is not bad for having just my ears and no measurement tools lying around.
The FE85 really liked the higher XO-point and reward you with a very nice treble and larger soundstage. The Auras are now playing what they can best for 3"-woofers.
The xmas-days are safe from an annoyed female Grinch and the solution is more than well, that it can last longer till the next project is finished :)
 

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Status
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