Tips needed for improving a Fostex FE103 Recommended horn cabinet

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Black Squirrel

Black Squirrel

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Joined 2011
#1
Hello to you all,

I own a pair of the Fostex recommended horn enclosures for the FE103 driver. The former owner keeped them in a farm shed and they look like that has happend to them. They are muddy, full of scratches and I even had some straw removed out of them. On the other hand they are nicely carpented from 15mm plywood and the best thing: I got them for free. 🙂

I want to use them with a Akai/Panasonic version of the FE103A family since I have this drivers laying around.

There is a catch though. The experiences with this particular horn are not that good. I know that there are better enclosures but, since I've got this cabinets for free I want to give them a chance.

Is there a trick, patch or 'hack' by which those cabinets will perform better? Ofcourse I cannot break them open to alter pathways or something like that but small changes like special stuffing are possible. All tips are welcome.

Regards,

Paul
 
#2
You must have something like this:

http://myhifisite.50megs.com/Godzilla/BK101withRadioShack1197.htm

Just because many don't think these are the ultimate cabinet doesn't mean they don't do plenty right! They will give you some insight into the back horn sound. I think you should clean them up (inside and out) the best you can and stuff them both behind the driver and up into the horn mouth until they give you the best overall sound. Unstuffed they might sound a bit 'hollow' so buy some Acousta Stuff and experiment. I think you will like them... and the price is right!
 
#4
Another question in the same leage. I want to add a tweeter with a high X-over (about 10k hz) to the set. I happen to have a set of two small Mivoc Tweeters, type Mivoc HG 258 FN see http://www.mivoc.com/downloads/de/mivoc/PDF/HGH258FN_Datasheet.pdf

Would that be a good kandidate to do the job in combination with a FE103A? I know that you should work with things that you need instead of things that you have, but stil...

regards,

Paul
 
#5
Everybody likes pictures. Here's one of the first cleaned horn with the Akai/Panasonic driver installed. The phase-plug is from Planet10hifi.

Hoorncompleet.jpg


I did not have any experience with the horn sound, but I am certainly impressed. 🙂

regards, Paul
 
#6
I built an pair of these cabinets for FE103Es. I worked on them forever before finally giving up on them. I tried a variety of things without success including:
- adding varying degrees of stuffing to the compression chamber (CC)
- felt-lining various parts of the horn
- reducing the size of the CC
- adding stuffing to the mouth
- and so on
I never got anything close to satisfactory sound and they went to the dump.

I also built the recommended bass reflex enclosure with much better results.
 
#7
That does not sound very promessing...But thanks for sharing your experience. For me this is a low-cost experiment and therefore it is easier to give up on them finaly. Being happy with them would of course be my preferred result.

On more thing... you did not try another driver did you? I have some Realistic 1210dc and Akai 12F-35 drivers to try in them.

Regards, Paul

p.s. I like the full range idea very much but nothing has beaten yet my quick and dirty three-way system with Philips units you see in the corner to my suprise (and regret).
 
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#10
It is about realistic expectations. Horns are cool but with a small speaker you will never get the full deep bass as you get from a proper woofer.
I do not think that you need an extra tweeter with the fe103, but, since you have them, do try anyway!
Personally i would rather put the 103 in a small br box, and possibly adding an active woofer.
 
#11
Well I think they are cool. I also think the phillips system is cool. They will sound different of course but each could be enjoyable and each represent a totally different approach to making music. I'd paint the inside mouth of the back horn, finish the outside and make grills. You will have one of the least expensive back horns on the planet. Enjoy them!
 
#12
You are both right of course. It comes all down to expectations. Like someone said: speakers are like a pair of shoes, they are made for a certain purpose.

I'll keep you posted on updates.

Regards,

Paul

p.s. there are more relations between speakers and shoes. Having 10 pairs of shoes spread out over the living room has a low WAF to. 😛
 
#15
Gave up on the rear horns

I built a pair of those to test various small drivers. I finally settled on the RS 40-1197 version of the FE103. The big sound from a small driver impressed my friends, but I was disappointed.

I finally built a pair of much simpler bass reflex enclosures similar to the Fostex BR enclosure recommended for the FE103. They are MUCH better than the rear horns, which have gone to the dump.

The BR enclosures now house real Fostex FE103s. The RS 40-1197s are now in a boombox and soon to be in mini-Karlsonators.

My experience mirrored that described earlier by holdent.
 

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#17
As I mentioned before you have to be realistic in your expectations, no latter whether it is the factory horn or frugelhorn etc. It is only a small speaker that will never give the deep full bass of a large speaker. If all you listen to is Bill Evans trios then it might be sufficient. If you want Rammstein to sound authorative it will just not happen with a small speaker, not matter the horn you attach to it.
Hence i do think that it makes sense to use it in a small br cabinet coupled with a sub.
 
#18
holdent said:
Or along a similar vein to chrisb, how Martin King's OB using the FE103 with an Eminence Alpha 15A? He documented it here http://www.quarter-wave.com/OBs/OB_Design.pdf. These were in my living room for a long time. OB's are big though...
Click to expand...

I built a pair too. In my original finished basement listening room they were being over-driven and just didn't work well, although dipoles do have a special magic.

Now they're in my new listening room/office which is 14x12 with 8 foot ceilings. The measurements I made with a RadioShack meter (with mic output to the PC) and MathAudioRoomEQ show these to be the best behaved, IN ROOM, speakers I've ever had.

Like Mr King himself, I listen to a lot of small ensemble jazz, and they work great for that. But measurements I made with REW showed the Alpha 15 distorts a lot when played loud, and the Fostex has a 10% peak in the midrange; I measured it at 2K; another tester says it's centered around 1600hz: Fostex FE-103 En Fullrange Loudspeaker Measurements Data and Information Full Range

Either way, when you play big orchestral music like Mahler or Bruckner it shows up as a "congested" sound.

I've been looking at replacements for the Fostex - some of the Tangbang 4" full-rangers measure very well. I see the phase plugs at Planet 10 are out of stock for this driver - I'd like to try those as well.

Depending on the music you play and how loud it gets, these are a great design. The dipole behaves very well in-room.

Can they be improved? I suspect the answer is yes.
 
#19
Martin King's OB using the FE103 with an Eminence Alpha 15A?
Click to expand...

A must read starter piece for those interested in OBs. We built the described speaker with the FF85KeN (the older one, shown to be a better sensitivity match than the fE103), It worked well, but in common with other OBs i’ve heard, had that something just not rifgt is added.

185072d1282593213-7th-annual-vancouver-island-diyfest-2010-a-mjk-ob-playing-jpg


7th Annual Vancouver Island diyFEST 2010 (Post #140).

We started with a surplus table top.

Everyone should try one.

dave
 
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