Things continue to improve. I didn`t get much time to listen last week with Independence Day. I`m finding that the break in period for these is much longer than any other speaker I`ve had expirience with. It also seems the horns break in as well as the drivers, and my ears become more familiar with their sound. The FE206ESR highlights the difference between vinyl and cd more than I`m used to, which leads me to believe they are more accurate than what I`m used to as well. Deflex in the CC and light wool stuffing in the throat seems to give the most balanced sound. Kloss gave me the best advice about stuffing and break in. The more I play them the more I like them. I kind of relate it to some of my favorite music. The first time I heard Frank Zappa, I thought what is this crap, and as time went on he has become one of my favorites. It was so different, it took time to "digest" like the FE206ESR.
Last nite I had a chance to play them a couple hours and they are settling in beautifully. I gave them a pretty good work out and played a wide variety of music. I think that these are so different from the regular FE206E that the sound was not at all what I expected. The break in time on these are huge and I`m glad I was told by Kloss to be patient. They are really beginning to shine. I`ve added a T90A with a .33mf cap and like the results and am considering going for the T90aEX. No more depression or wavering back and forth on the sound. They are aging like fine wine. I`ll keep posting, thanks Ray.
Maybe 50 hrs on them and they're already shining. No boominess, no harshness, lots of detail. They sound fantastic.
I have a question to all you: why doesn't Fostex recommend any filling material or reflectors? In other BLH designs I remember them recommending at least reflector pads but not in this one. Could it be that they really intended the design to be used bare? Mines are that way and although I'll experiment with filling later I don't need any urge to.
I have a question to all you: why doesn't Fostex recommend any filling material or reflectors? In other BLH designs I remember them recommending at least reflector pads but not in this one. Could it be that they really intended the design to be used bare? Mines are that way and although I'll experiment with filling later I don't need any urge to.
Good question. You'd have to ask Fostex for the definetive answer I'm afraid. One thing I would do is put some felt or similar on the back to the CC, just to stop any reflections coming back through the cone -those Fostex CCs are pretty shallow. Other than that, if you're happy, I'd leave well alone and enjoy!
Doc Loren, I have had progress over the last couple weeks with regards to taming the horns. Wool stuffing in the throat and lining the cc with deflex was a big improvement. When I decided to build these I wanted to use Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cables and the ones I own are set up for biwire. So I used a biwire input cup and Nordost 2 Flat for internal wiring. I pulled all of this out and ran a set of Signal Cable Basic speaker cables, soldered directly to the driver and Zplug bananas on the amp. This is a huge improvement, as well as significant break in time. I could not believe the difference, especially since the Signal Cables are far less expensive than Nordost. I also bought 2 pair of Signal Cable interconnects, CD to pre. pre to amp. I am so happy I stuck it out with these horns. The sound is wonderful and I`ll probably keep these for many years. It took longer than I thought, but the end result was worth the effort. Being a greenhorn, I really appreciate all the advice and encouragement from the knowledgable people on this site. If I can do it, anybody can.
wow
no xo that is awesome to hear! congrats. now get ready to continue tweaking ad nauseum, or simply let them settle for a year and then make final changes. just wait till you move furniture a few inches and notice a change in the sound! try keeping a digital hygrometer around and find out at what humidity they sound best. an old gizmo tweak was an whole body ivertor for like 15 minutes. after you right your self, your system should sound better. I can vouch for this.
yeah, it is so strange the effect that cables have on the tone of the speaker. it can totally accentuate and hide problems.
i cannot wait to start construction of my pair. I hope to have them done in a few weeks here.
I will be experimenting cable wize between high quality (but not very expensive) litz cable and magnet wire. I am anticipating the magnet wire to be the killer combo here but eh we will see. it has gone either way before.
Clark
no xo that is awesome to hear! congrats. now get ready to continue tweaking ad nauseum, or simply let them settle for a year and then make final changes. just wait till you move furniture a few inches and notice a change in the sound! try keeping a digital hygrometer around and find out at what humidity they sound best. an old gizmo tweak was an whole body ivertor for like 15 minutes. after you right your self, your system should sound better. I can vouch for this.
yeah, it is so strange the effect that cables have on the tone of the speaker. it can totally accentuate and hide problems.
i cannot wait to start construction of my pair. I hope to have them done in a few weeks here.
I will be experimenting cable wize between high quality (but not very expensive) litz cable and magnet wire. I am anticipating the magnet wire to be the killer combo here but eh we will see. it has gone either way before.
Clark
206es-r, Open Baffle style
Hello,
For some reasons, I am not allowed to post new thread. I do not want to hijack this one, but I thought some of you would be interested. My apologies if I err.
I had the drivers at home for a while, and ordered the wood a few months ago, but it is all 6 hours away by car; it is at my parents place, where I wanted to build it with my father.
So I got bored and thought, what the heck, let's open baffle them.
I used the plans here, and modified them a bit so the driver is 12 inches down from the top.
My source is an Apple Powerbook 12 inches 1GHz, with an Audipohile USB from M-Audio, some kimber interconnects from 12 years ago, and my amp is a S.E.X. from bottlehead, stock.
The material for the open baffle is cheap: 2 sheets of 4' x 4' 3/8" thick plywood that I got for less than 40$ (canadian). The job was tough, as the plywood is too flexible. There is no doubt in my mind though that with better plywood, more quality you come out.
I am having fun. The voices especially are fantastic (especially Mavis Staples and Lucky Peterson's album "Spirituals & Gospel Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson").
Hello,
For some reasons, I am not allowed to post new thread. I do not want to hijack this one, but I thought some of you would be interested. My apologies if I err.
I had the drivers at home for a while, and ordered the wood a few months ago, but it is all 6 hours away by car; it is at my parents place, where I wanted to build it with my father.
So I got bored and thought, what the heck, let's open baffle them.
I used the plans here, and modified them a bit so the driver is 12 inches down from the top.
My source is an Apple Powerbook 12 inches 1GHz, with an Audipohile USB from M-Audio, some kimber interconnects from 12 years ago, and my amp is a S.E.X. from bottlehead, stock.
The material for the open baffle is cheap: 2 sheets of 4' x 4' 3/8" thick plywood that I got for less than 40$ (canadian). The job was tough, as the plywood is too flexible. There is no doubt in my mind though that with better plywood, more quality you come out.
I am having fun. The voices especially are fantastic (especially Mavis Staples and Lucky Peterson's album "Spirituals & Gospel Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson").
Jeb-D. said:
A driver disigned for horn-loaded usually has a very low Qts. Low Q drivers are often suited for vented box, too, but too low of it would limit the cone excursion, thus bass-shy.
Resistor in series with driver makes the Qes higher, thus higher Qts. This would free up some bass response.
Using amps with high output impedance have similar effect.
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