Double Fostex FE103E horn

[Scottmoose]

Anyone recognise or know who built these (on left!)? I'd love to give this a go; I'd been thinking about possibly doubling the factory design for a while, then accidentally ran across this picture on another forum (I think, but I can't remember where!), so it's nice to know someone's done it before.

My slight concern though is the compression chamber, or rather, the two passages leading from it: the layout would seem to dictate they would be directly behind the driver, which shurely isn't the best plan? Or am I worrying over nothing here? I remember Terry Cain mentioning it's possible to double the factory 166 design with good results, providing you keep the original compresison chamber volume, or only fractionally increase it. I haven't simulated these in MathCad yet (I'm sure I don't want to know!), I just fancy giving it a try for fun.

Cheers for now
Scott

 

[planet10]

Anyone recognise or know who built these (on left!)?

I'm thinking someone on the FR Forum.

James has just moved to yet another forum software (thank goodness) so don't know how available the archives are.

dave

 

[Scottmoose]

Cheers for that Dave: I was beginning to suspect it might have been there. I hadn't spent much time on James' full-range forum in the past due to the sluggish performance (I've known quicker 3-toed sloths on low-grade smack), but I did have a glance occasionally. That must have been where I spotted it.

I noticed yesterday that James had some new forum software up -it looks like a great improvement over the old one, though I'm not sure if the archives are up yet. I'll have a gander now and see what gives; I'll ask around there too & see if anyone recognises it.

All the best
Scott

 

[validator]

Cain & Cain

Hi Scott,

the double horn is Terry Cain's (Cain & Cain) design. Plans are not available as I know. www.cain-cain.com/audio

Regards
Thorsten

 

[Josephjcole]

I remeber these on the fullrange driver forum. They obviously get thier looks from the Cain&Cain line, but they were built for a contest in Toronto a couple of years back. I don't know who built them but it was not Terry Cain as far as I know. I believe internally they are just two fostex recomended cabs stacked on top of each other. I could be wrong about that. There is a lady on the fullrange driver forum who was at the contest (best enclosure for the fe103), she might know more.
Joe

 

[planet10]

I remeber these on the fullrange driver forum. They obviously get thier looks from the Cain&Cain line, but they were built for a contest in Toronto a couple of years back. I don't know who built them but it was not Terry Cain as far as I know. I believe internally they are just two fostex recomended cabs stacked on top of each other.

That is my recall on it, except the gig was in Montreal... i have a link somewhere.

dave

 

[Scottmoose]

I didn't think they were Terry's, they did look like a mirrored standeard 103 Fostex box; although they were obviously inspired by his large Double BEN designs -now he's got an equivelent product out, but using the 108ESigma, so there seems to be merit in the idea of the smaller driver with a double-horn. I've asked over at the full-range driver forum too, so it'll be interesting to see what turns up. As I mentioned in my previous post; I'm curious about the compression-chamber and throat positions leading away from it, and how to optimise these. I can't resist: two FE103Es are on the way!
Scott

 

[Andrewbee]

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.freewebs.com/ulzog/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dulzog%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D


Look on the index on the left for the "FE10e" contest winners.
It was a contest using only the fe103 ~ 3 years ago iirc in Montreal.


Andrew

 

[Scottmoose]

Bingo! Many thanks for finding it Andrew!

So, now I know it's possible; I'll give it a go. Rightly or wrongly, I'm not going to worry too much about the twin throats being right behind the driver now, though I might add a couple of angled pieces flaring out from the central point. I'll just mirror the whole thing and see what happens, albeit reducing the internal volume of the compression chamber a bit. Wish me luck!

A contest for only 1 driver type, and a high quality, affordable one at that -what a good idea! Perhaps we should organise some like this in our different regions for a bit of fun. Or if not a context, then a few more DIY listening events perhaps. There isn't much in the UK (at least not in the North of the UK) which is a pity.

All the best
Scott

 

[Andrewbee]

I'm not trying to burst your bubble here but have you ever heard the Fostex 103 horn cabinet design. I found the my modified Buschorn (which turned out to be very similar to the Buschorn Mk II when it came out later) sounded much better.

I built a pair of the Fostex horns and after many attempts at getting them to sound even half decent ended up throwing them in the garbage skip behind my office.

This is of course my experience, others have said the opposite.

Andrew

 

[Scottmoose]

Hmm. I built the standard Fostex horn a while back: not the greatest, but I was quite impressed with the bass response, though I could never quite tune out the hump in the midrange it suffered from, which bugged me a bit. I'd quite like to try the Buschorn at some point however. I'm doing this as more an experiment in horn-doubling than anything else really; I won't be investing much cash: chances are I'll build them out of chipboard. That's why I thought about the FE103E horn: the mouth is low down, it's not too large, and I can just get my local hardware store to cut the panels to save me the bother as it only uses right angles. Alternatively, I could always try doubling the FE83E or, better, the FF85K horn designs. I suspect they won't give much of an idea of how such things perform in the bass-regions however...

Scott

 

[planet10]

like to try the Buschorn at some point however

Why don't you just double the B-horn?

dave

 

[Scottmoose]

Funny you should say that Dave... As it hasn't been done before insofar as I know, it's quite tempting. It would also solve the possible compression chamber problems too. My only slight concern is the rearward-firing horn-mouths might get a trifle-boomy if corner-positioned.
One way to find out though!
Cheers
Scott.

 

[robertG]

The double horn on the photo was prepared for a contest held in Montréal in 2004. You might reach the builder on the Quebec Audio forum, where most of the builders hang out (quebecaudio.com/forum).

 

[planet10]

It would also solve the possible compression chamber problems too. My only slight concern is the rearward-firing horn-mouths might get a trifle-boomy if corner-positioned.
One way to find out though!

You have 2 corners? (most rooms don't)

Think of it as an opportunity to tune the bass.

dave

 

[Scottmoose]

You have 2 corners? (most rooms don't)

Think of it as an opportunity to tune the bass.

dave

Good point.

Yes, they're both in corners -the only place I've any room for speakers!
This could be interesting. A 2m tall box with a little FE103E in the centre.
I've got to try it! Before someone else does (if they haven't already!)
Cheers
Scott

 

[chrisb]

Fostex recommended horn

I'm not trying to burst your bubble here but have you ever heard the Fostex 103 horn cabinet design. I found the my modified Buschorn (which turned out to be very similar to the Buschorn Mk II when it came out later) sounded much better.

I built a pair of the Fostex horns and after many attempts at getting them to sound even half decent ended up throwing them in the garbage skip behind my office.

This is of course my experience, others have said the opposite.

Andrew

Thanks for the confirmation Andrew: I built a pair a few months ago for Dave, and as far as I'm concerned they were a complete waste of good baltic birch.

Mind you we were only using a vintage pair of Foster Alnicos. To our ears, and in my system/room, the stock Buschorn MkII was superior in every respect. Then drop in a pair of 108E Sigmas