Frugel-Horn XL for Alpair 10.3/10p, Fostex FF165wk, more

On the polyfil, I have both, not very expensive as opposed to the 1/2 inch felt used on the top of the cabinet, haven’t found 1/2 thick blue jean?, probably the new year will be getting another flat pack from Bob Berner, he’s doing a real nice job with the CNC. My FH 3’s went together in 3 days, excellent fit!!!
 
Hello everybody, I’m new to DIY, veteran of TriTrix flat pack. For my next project, I’m thinking about a FHXL with 10p. Is there a flat pack available for that in the US? I know they have one in the UK, but that doesn’t help. They don’t even have a shipping option. My woodworking skills and tools are limited to glue, clamps, sandpaper and drill driver.

Any reference to flat pack for FHXL 10p most appreciated.
 
Well, Good News. Bob is already building the XL flat pack. The more I read, the more I have questions. Here are a few:

Did I make the right decision about 10ps? Would another XL-driver be better? My amp is 150 wpc, I like it loud sometimes, and I’m losing hearing above 12k. My focus is on clearly hearing human voice. And I like bass, but I have a good sub if necessary.

Do I need, or will I be glad I got the drivers EnAbled? This must be done by Xmas. Bob plans to be done next week.

How much breathing room do the XLs need? I’ve seen different opinions. Not sure what the latest thinking is.

I’ve seen a few build pictures with super tweeters. I’ve also seen people say they are a complete waste of time. Any consensus here? Why would a person with hearing loss above 12k care about super tweeters? Well, I’m not the only customer, and I’ve heard (unconfirmed) that the frequency harmonics above the audio cutoff often make the music sound better.

I’ll stop there. Thanks for any input.
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
I’m about a week behind on my email… if i may

...but I’d like some tight bass in the 40s and 50s

Room placement, and the amount of damping (both in the box and in the amp) will have a big effect, but the sims show the horn loads down to 35 Hz, so you may have to do some tuning but that bass extention goal should be easily doable.

When Mark Fenlon heard his A10p in FHXL for the 1st time (at Chris’), the look on his face. He asked to us to repeat the cut to make sure.

Do you recommend these drivers be Enabled?

Of course i would, but i have to watch what i say or i get acussed of being a salesman and not an enthusiastic diy hifi guy. I’ll give you my take in an email.

What are the minimum breathing room requirements for these XLs? I see a lot of opinions.

Lots of rooms, lots of tastes, so yes lots of opinions. I used them pushed up against the FH3 deflectors i had placed against the wall. Say 8”. I have a really nice room.

One can also balance placementt with damping. Too much bass with them where you’d like them, add some damping.

dave
 
Mark still likes FHXL. :) Stefan's flat pack kit (built, obviously) have been the main speakers in the Markaudio room at the North West Audio Show for the past 2 years. Nobody's ever complained about lack of output. ;)

In terms of size, the physical construction of the room, placement within it and furnishings are in many ways more significant than the bald dimensions; partition walls for e.g. leach LF energy, placement of furnishings affects diffraction & farfield response etc. so the reason there are a lot of opinions is that there isn't really a fixed answer, as Dave indicates.
 
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frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Adding a superTweeter is a mixed bag, as Scott indicates. It adds some sparkle up top which may add to your experience, but it is going to always be the case that the driver centre-to-centre is many, many wavelengths at the XO so you get a whole lot of comb filtering which, depending on where your head is, means lots of ripples in the FR.

Only you can decide if it works for you. We found that in our early FR work, adding a tweeter to the RS 40-1197 mules worked, particularily w small cone tweeters — the FR response starts to fall at about 10k, but i have also heard a superTweeter completely ruin a loudspeaker.

dave