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Exciting new line of fullrange drivers from Feastrex

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#481
Kevin,

You couldn't be more right. However, in defence of the cabinets: They were made by Mr. Nakamura who makes the wooden horns for TAD. Though they were put together in an afternoon and built for speed with screws showing etc., they are made from birch ply and are fairly decent. Could the cabinets be better? You bet. The fact that these drivers sound so glorious in something put together in some haste just points to the obvious - How much more spectacular would they be in something built at a higher level?
 
#482
The World's Smallest Feastrex cab?

Just 13L, wide baffle. I had these at hand, so for a quick tryout, and a chance to get to know the drivers before leaping into something more deserving I used WinISD to tune it, backwards from the said cabinet. It plays in room pretty well what the software predicts - good bass down to 50hz, not run in yet (software predicts should have good bass presence to about 45hz. In Asia, by necessity we often need to place speakers close to the wall. Mine are about 30cm from the back wall.
The speakers are very melodic and I'm quite surprised at the quality of the treble. I'm getting measured output up to 23khz.
It seems these drivers like a wide baffle.
Regards
Brian
 

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#483
By the way, I hear that the reason Joe's funky D5e-II enclosures are a bit beat up is that Hal used them as luggage on his flights from Tokyo to Sacramento to Las Vegas. If he had put any protective wrapping on them, they would have been oversize. The fact that they came through relatively unscathed is a testimony to the ruggedness with which they were built.
 
#484
Re: The World's Smallest Feastrex cab?

bcherry said:
The speakers are very melodic and I'm quite surprised at the quality of the treble. I'm getting measured output up to 23khz.
It seems these drivers like a wide baffle.
Click to expand...

From the black phase plug I assume that is a D5nf driver? You'll get better everything as the driver breaks in over the very long run-in period.

The now-defunct Exact brand always benefited from broad enclosures; here is one realization of the Exact 38 liter enclosure (with 16cm driver -- belongs to William Ang in Singapore):
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Hal Teramoto also has been generally happier with the sound of enclosures that are broad and shallow rather than narrow and deep. I think he will be surprised if something as small as 13 liters works out really well -- he is quite happy with his current 50 liter enclosures.

-- Chris
 
#486
The disease seems to be spreading

Well, if any of us thought we were crazy in our pursuit of the Feastrex sound, we may have to move over to make room for another total audio nutcase who is quite out of our league, if the rumors I'm hearing are true.

Apparently someone is ordering a pair of D9e-III drivers, which use a motor machined from a single piece of Permendur. And that's not all . . . apparently this person is having the frames machined from bronze. I calculate that given the dimensions of the frames, it will take a chunk of bronze weighing more than 30 kilograms per frame. (Most of that mass, of course, will end up on the machine shop floor.)

Since I would NEVER in my wildest dreams be able to afford such extravagantly appointed drivers, I hope I at least will get a chance to hear them! That would be a very memorable experience, I'm sure.

You can be sure that if I live through it, I'll be posting about it here . . .

-- Chris
 
#491
Isn't Japan wonderful? Japan has the world's best junk. Mr. Teramoto tells me he has a new toy -- a fully functional Studer C37 that somebody gave him. So now he has a new mate to go along with his Telefunken M21 and one other, I can't remember what it was, maybe an Amperex? Anyway, if he gets behind in anyone's order, you'll know why -- he's listening to his copies of master tapes again. Definitely not a hobby for most city dwellers: playing with old pro open reel equipment is a priviledge for audiophiles out in the country where space is less precious.
 
#492
Just a note...

The $17,500 figure quoted above was giving $1510 wiggle room for a cabinet, and is not the price of the drivers.

Wow! Chris, I can't wait for the report on the D9e III Bronze.

I am thrilled that Feastrex has had this sale. I was going to purchase a pair of D9e III but decided to go for the D5e II instead. Perhaps we can both enjoy such a speaker in a future heaven.
 
#493
Speaking of cabinets, over at Indonesia.. a cabinet for the D5nf and the PB9s are currently being made... Cabinet walls a made of plywood but done Magico style .. layer by layer ...

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Here's another pic of the craftsman assembling one of the layers..
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
#499
kmaier said:
Building a poor enclosure results in overall poor performance . . . Cutting corners on the enclosure (both design and implementation) for such an extremely expensive and high-quality driver makes absolutely no sense . . .
Click to expand...

I just got a note from Hal Teramoto where he remarks, after hearing some enclosures that had just come from the maker, Mr. Nakamura. Hal said, "Even if you copy those enclosures' exact dimensions and use the same wood, you won't get the sound that his enclosures produce. His enclosures have their own unique 'Nakamura sound.' I bet there are not many people in the world who can build enclosures as nice as his. That's why he gets work from some big-name brands. His name doesn't appear anywhere in connection with the products, but his efforts have a lot to do with the success of those brands. I hope his enclosures become popular around the world and get the recognition they deserve. His enclosures make a good match with our drivers -- they're made of dead wood but somehow they have life in them. I hope we can give him even more work and help him to become famous."

Well, I'm certainly glad Mr. Teramoto feels that way about Mr. Nakamura's enclosures, but I'd like to see DIYers strut their stuff too! I guess it makes sense -- give two musical instrument makers wood from the same tree and the same materials, and tell tem to produce the same instrument, and you'll end up with two different sounds. The same is likely true too with enclosures.

-- Chris
 
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