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Mini… topped out at 85mph if you were young enough not to realize you were one small mistake away from chopped meat
Two questions. Might the E Sigma slowly "age" into the scarily real original Sigma sound? Guess probably not. Would a still-in-box pair of... 8" FE206 Sigma not E, be a more worthwhile purchase at twice the cost of 108EZ? Thanks again
Maybe the last ones for sale in the world.
https://en.toutlehautparleur.com/fullrange-speaker-fostex-fe108ez-8-ohm-128-mm.html
https://en.toutlehautparleur.com/fullrange-speaker-fostex-fe108ez-8-ohm-128-mm.html
Fe108ss-hp(Limited version of fe108ez) have not sold out yet.
https://www.fostex.jp/products/fe108ss-hp/
I read Fostex stop throwing low Q drivers anymore in somewhere.
I believe Fostex release new version later.
https://www.fostex.jp/products/fe108ss-hp/
I read Fostex stop throwing low Q drivers anymore in somewhere.
I believe Fostex release new version later.
I'm not surprised. Troy Joseph Crow is a pretty straight shooter:
Subjective Listening
"Subjectively I found the driver to have a nasally sound character. Even after applying some EQ to bring up the highs, I found the highs sounded soft and lacking in overall detail. Removing the peak at 2kHz only helped moderately. On the positive side it has an expressive midrange quality that is good for a small 4" driver. However this expressiveness is not any better than other Fostex offerings at much less cost. Overall I am disappointed in this particular model. I guess these drivers will serve as eye candy on my shelf."
To be honest -I don't really know what 'nicer' means. That's not me trying to be obtuse, it's a genuine comment: I don't, really. On paper the 108, although hardly the most linear driver ever made, has a more benign response curve in some ways; there's a bit of acoustical scaling going on (by accident or design -let's call it design) which seems to appeal to a lot of people. The 208 does have a peak at about 3.5KHz, although in practice, not many people seem to have objected, probably because it does drop quickly off-axis, & most seem to think it a fairly smooth sounding unit overall. That's my impression of them anyway -they're both actually easy enough to listen to, albeit for slightly different reasons.
More broadly -they're completely different drivers; one is four times larger than the other, they have totally different amounts of electrical damping and they're not really meant to be used in the same way, so it's a bit of an apples / oranges comparison. The 208, having more than 4x the emitting surface is a more efficient driver with a significantly higher sensitivity for a very similar coil impedance; since it also has almost 4.5x the rated linear travel it has much more in the way of outright power-handling / dynamic headroom than the smaller unit. Unlike the smaller 108 it was designed primarily for use with one of Fostex's supertweeters -ideally from their POV at the time of launch the T900a or T500a MkII, both of which were subsequently updated; I suspect the most popular (and rather more affordable) option has been the T90a. Assuming the drivers are used by themselves, the 208 is very much a horn unit as it's heavily overdamped as-is, so it requires broadband loading for balanced output, ideally with an amplifier with an output impedance from about 2ohms - 6ohms depending on design. Used well it can, for an 8in wideband of its type, put out fairly impressive LF, and I'd personally take it over a lot of the mega-priced wideband drivers out there of similar size. The 108 is a horn unit in a different way; it's really more a mid-tweet & although it has less damping, to get any bass out of it, it really needs a horn to keep distortion down. You wouldn't normally consider one or the other for a given situation though -a larger space will benefit from the 208, where the smaller driver is happier in smaller rooms since it doesn't have the output capacity (and perhaps just as importantly, it is, or was, much more affordable). They're both somewhat specialist units, but if you pick to suit requirements, and use them well, they'll both give very good results.
More broadly -they're completely different drivers; one is four times larger than the other, they have totally different amounts of electrical damping and they're not really meant to be used in the same way, so it's a bit of an apples / oranges comparison. The 208, having more than 4x the emitting surface is a more efficient driver with a significantly higher sensitivity for a very similar coil impedance; since it also has almost 4.5x the rated linear travel it has much more in the way of outright power-handling / dynamic headroom than the smaller unit. Unlike the smaller 108 it was designed primarily for use with one of Fostex's supertweeters -ideally from their POV at the time of launch the T900a or T500a MkII, both of which were subsequently updated; I suspect the most popular (and rather more affordable) option has been the T90a. Assuming the drivers are used by themselves, the 208 is very much a horn unit as it's heavily overdamped as-is, so it requires broadband loading for balanced output, ideally with an amplifier with an output impedance from about 2ohms - 6ohms depending on design. Used well it can, for an 8in wideband of its type, put out fairly impressive LF, and I'd personally take it over a lot of the mega-priced wideband drivers out there of similar size. The 108 is a horn unit in a different way; it's really more a mid-tweet & although it has less damping, to get any bass out of it, it really needs a horn to keep distortion down. You wouldn't normally consider one or the other for a given situation though -a larger space will benefit from the 208, where the smaller driver is happier in smaller rooms since it doesn't have the output capacity (and perhaps just as importantly, it is, or was, much more affordable). They're both somewhat specialist units, but if you pick to suit requirements, and use them well, they'll both give very good results.
I always fall back on Webster, though in this case it's such a near all encompassing word for describing a very personal preference based on 'we all hear the same, yet not so much' gross generalization as to be ~worthless to my way of thinking:
1. pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory.
"we had a nice time"
Similar:
enjoyable
pleasant
pleasurable
agreeable
delightful
satisfying
gratifying
acceptable
good
bonny
couthy
irie
lovely
great
neat
lekker
mooi
2. Opposite: unpleasant
fine or subtle.
"a nice distinction"
1. pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory.
"we had a nice time"
Similar:
enjoyable
pleasant
pleasurable
agreeable
delightful
satisfying
gratifying
acceptable
good
bonny
couthy
irie
lovely
great
neat
lekker
mooi
2. Opposite: unpleasant
fine or subtle.
"a nice distinction"
Please share progress & details.
Contemplating yet another comp FE108ez: BH3-like; TL/TLonken; sealed FAST-WAW 12" Roland Cube drivers; or single sub (perhaps a better-tone guitar driver but only one?).
Picked up mine new early this year so good timing, from the german place mentioned above. Wasn't overly impressed to start with but after some break in and amp adjustments (turned out it had pre-saved EQ from the previous owner 🤦♂️) they are now sounding glorious in some Super swans.
May well need to sell them to make room for new arrivals but it seems a very limited market for such things in the UK.
May well need to sell them to make room for new arrivals but it seems a very limited market for such things in the UK.