I finished these over a year ago but only recently learned how to post pictures. The initial build was a pair of mules out of MDF. I painted them black so I could get them in the house for evaluation. They sounded good enough to justify a second build out of birch plywood. These sounded good but had a harsh edge especially on female vocals. I performed the cone treatment (old one ) and noticed an improvement but it was still there. Maybe I will try a little more dacron on the back wall. All in all a very satisfying build for the money. The stand was a knock together from scraps that turned out fairly well. They are filled with sand.
Thanks Dave for a neat little speaker design. When I was 13/14 (1956/1957) I built a (only one--hifi then) Onken from plans provided by Allied Radio when I purchased a Jensen woofer and metal mid/tweet horn. Still remember it as an excellent speaker as do several friends and my brother.
Thanks Dave for a neat little speaker design. When I was 13/14 (1956/1957) I built a (only one--hifi then) Onken from plans provided by Allied Radio when I purchased a Jensen woofer and metal mid/tweet horn. Still remember it as an excellent speaker as do several friends and my brother.
Attachments
Ray Collins said:
Nice build, can i pinch the pictures?
At this point i'm going to surmise that the 7k peak is something some people can listen thru and some can't (some even consider it a positive feature of the driver -- not me). It is more noticeable on audition with the stock drivers, but still shows up in an on-axis FR after treatment.
Female vocals is one of the things we use a lot of for testing -- Loreena McKennit, Wailing Jennys, Patricia Barber, Jane Monheight, Dianna Krall, Victor Lazlo....
I'll have to dig into this problem and see if it can be ameriolated without subtraction.
dave
Certainly you may use the pictures. It is a small repay for your generous contrbution to this hobby; after all, if not for you I would not be enjoing these Fonkens.
I Primarily used Nora Jones to evaluate these for voice and piano.
Ray
PS
I have other pictures I can forward to you as well as the higher resolution file for these if you would like.
I Primarily used Nora Jones to evaluate these for voice and piano.
Ray
PS
I have other pictures I can forward to you as well as the higher resolution file for these if you would like.
I wanted to update the thread here (although what I'll post has been posted elsewhere).
OT: a pet hate of mine is when a thread is left hanging - and its always the info thats missing is what you need🙄
So, in my posts in this thread you will see that although the soundstage and so on was great from the fonkens and floorstanding fonkens, the bass was just absent. Adding a BSC helped a bit, as did positioning, but still just not enough bass. In fact I went and built some 3D horns and got more bass from them.
So anyway, on another thread here I found the solution. On the fonkens some of the internal wadding was just partially blocking the ports each side. I couldn't feel it or see it, but I got my young son to get his hand in there and he could feel it. So I removed the offending pieces and now they sound great.😀 😀
So after a few days of listening to them I thought about the floorstanders that I had given up on. In this case I had added some wadding to the back panel when I glued it in. I removed all this as with the fonkens and now theres plenty of bass too.
So overall a great result. the moral here is to make sure you keep all ports well clear of any wadding material - and don't use any on the port at the back of the floor standing fonken.
Sonics will have to wait a little, but initially I can say that the floorstanders definitely go lower than the standmounts, but I don't know how they sound in other departments. I have an idea they aren't quite as sweet as the fonkens but its too early in listening yet to know for sure. Plenty of bass though. BSC is still needed to tame the highs a bit I think.
Fran
OT: a pet hate of mine is when a thread is left hanging - and its always the info thats missing is what you need🙄
So, in my posts in this thread you will see that although the soundstage and so on was great from the fonkens and floorstanding fonkens, the bass was just absent. Adding a BSC helped a bit, as did positioning, but still just not enough bass. In fact I went and built some 3D horns and got more bass from them.
So anyway, on another thread here I found the solution. On the fonkens some of the internal wadding was just partially blocking the ports each side. I couldn't feel it or see it, but I got my young son to get his hand in there and he could feel it. So I removed the offending pieces and now they sound great.😀 😀
So after a few days of listening to them I thought about the floorstanders that I had given up on. In this case I had added some wadding to the back panel when I glued it in. I removed all this as with the fonkens and now theres plenty of bass too.
So overall a great result. the moral here is to make sure you keep all ports well clear of any wadding material - and don't use any on the port at the back of the floor standing fonken.
Sonics will have to wait a little, but initially I can say that the floorstanders definitely go lower than the standmounts, but I don't know how they sound in other departments. I have an idea they aren't quite as sweet as the fonkens but its too early in listening yet to know for sure. Plenty of bass though. BSC is still needed to tame the highs a bit I think.
Fran
thought a little bump was in order here:
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/vsac20082/vsac.html
some nice pics about halfway down the page showing some fonkens!!
Fran
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/vsac20082/vsac.html
some nice pics about halfway down the page showing some fonkens!!
Fran
Yes Fran,
I saw those Fonken pics - Bamboo finish looks nice - enabled drives as well! Are you liking yours more? Any new discoveries with them?
I saw those Fonken pics - Bamboo finish looks nice - enabled drives as well! Are you liking yours more? Any new discoveries with them?
Short version:
Sonics are excellent!
Longer version:
These sound great and are a great build - just don't do what I did initially and leave yourself wondering how so many think these sound great!
They have a good freq response and great soundstaging - this is really first class. Overall they don't sound as "full" as my esl 57s but they probably beat the quads in other areas. They fulfill exactly what I wanted - a counterfoil to the quads. In a smaller room they may even sound better. They deserve good sources and amps - I've used aikido preamps with EL84 and pass aleph power amps. Valves probably have the edge with their sweetness.
They can break up a bit if you push them hard and sound a bit harsh, but thats at higher volumes than I will ever listen to. A much more important point for me is that they sound good at low volumes - I mostly listen at night when others are in bed so this is critical for me. jkeny: Probably your jordans in the 3D horn are smoother and more couth (!) but I'd need both for longer to really compare better. I've listened to the fonkens now for over a month and they've pleased me with just about everything that I've thrown at them from all the sources and music types. In that month I didn't really miss the quads at all - which I think is a huge indicator of the SQ from them.
So a major thumbs up from me to anyone thinking of building these. I don't think you could be too unhappy with them. I haven't finished painting them yet - but when I do I'll post some pics.
Fran
Sonics are excellent!
Longer version:
These sound great and are a great build - just don't do what I did initially and leave yourself wondering how so many think these sound great!
They have a good freq response and great soundstaging - this is really first class. Overall they don't sound as "full" as my esl 57s but they probably beat the quads in other areas. They fulfill exactly what I wanted - a counterfoil to the quads. In a smaller room they may even sound better. They deserve good sources and amps - I've used aikido preamps with EL84 and pass aleph power amps. Valves probably have the edge with their sweetness.
They can break up a bit if you push them hard and sound a bit harsh, but thats at higher volumes than I will ever listen to. A much more important point for me is that they sound good at low volumes - I mostly listen at night when others are in bed so this is critical for me. jkeny: Probably your jordans in the 3D horn are smoother and more couth (!) but I'd need both for longer to really compare better. I've listened to the fonkens now for over a month and they've pleased me with just about everything that I've thrown at them from all the sources and music types. In that month I didn't really miss the quads at all - which I think is a huge indicator of the SQ from them.
So a major thumbs up from me to anyone thinking of building these. I don't think you could be too unhappy with them. I haven't finished painting them yet - but when I do I'll post some pics.
Fran
Good for you Fran:
I am glad to learn that you figured it all out.
I have been running my Aikido through my F4 and things just keep getting better. I chose 6sn7=>6sn7. All sounds very good. I have to now build the chassis.
With the right amplifier these cabinets and their brethern bring out the music from Fostex drivers. For massive sound stage I still go for the bipole version, it is breath taking in the right room.
What is next?
I am glad to learn that you figured it all out.
I have been running my Aikido through my F4 and things just keep getting better. I chose 6sn7=>6sn7. All sounds very good. I have to now build the chassis.
With the right amplifier these cabinets and their brethern bring out the music from Fostex drivers. For massive sound stage I still go for the bipole version, it is breath taking in the right room.
What is next?
woodturner-fran said:
Fran: considering Fonkens with FE127E, may drive with 80W/ch solid state or amp32 (t-amp) clone in a smallish room.
Will I need a sub?
I will try to read the whole thread later...
gychang
gychang said:
I'm not Fran, but do have a fair bit of experience with this design. While my personal taste would lean towards a DHT (or EL84 SEP) for this application, with 30 or so watts, and perhaps some BSC, you could very well be quite happy without helper woofers.
My main listening space is notoriously small (220ft^2, long and narrow L-shaped) former basement bedroom. After a short period of "recalibration of expectations" I can enjoy the Fonkens, Brynn or Mileva with FE127En or Brynn with FF125K without any additional support.
OTOH, in a much much large space such as Dave's high-lofted great-room, the Fonkens by themselves almost border on "polite", but become quite spectacular when actively crossed over somewhere around 100 or so to a pair of SDX-7s per channel, powered by a fairly generic 70's Japanese power amp.
FWIW, in this room the F120A / "Fonkensteen" can really survive without any bass help - surprisingly enough, even with just 7w from the Wright Sound Mono7 300Bs. If Jim is reading this, I'm starting to look for excuses to keep them around..... the cost of admission to this club is more than I presently have in my discretionary spending account
Hi gychang,
I must have missed your post - sorry for not posting sooner.
Like Chris says, it really all depends on what your listening requirements are. Personally they go low enough for me - but they can sound a little thin, so they are best partnered with warmer components. Something like a pass aleph or similar would match well. I can't see a t-amp doing them real justice (although I haven't ever heard the one you mention). I have run them with my mini-aleph and an EL84 amp both with about 10WPC and they go plenty loud. They are fairly sensitive so you won't need all those 80W, but it will hardly do harm.
The soundstaging is very good - amazingly so - on this I can't see you being dissappointed. They are a genuinely good set of speakers - hard to see you finding much better boxes for these drivers I would think.
All my comments are referenced against my ESL57's and speakers I have heard at friends places. Also I do have a BSC in place. I think the details are back up the thread a bit. I think its a 0.68uF cap, 1.5H inductor and 8R as far as I know. I think I just plugged the data into Martins spreadsheet and those were the values I got.
If theres anything else I can answer, let me know.
Fran
I must have missed your post - sorry for not posting sooner.
Like Chris says, it really all depends on what your listening requirements are. Personally they go low enough for me - but they can sound a little thin, so they are best partnered with warmer components. Something like a pass aleph or similar would match well. I can't see a t-amp doing them real justice (although I haven't ever heard the one you mention). I have run them with my mini-aleph and an EL84 amp both with about 10WPC and they go plenty loud. They are fairly sensitive so you won't need all those 80W, but it will hardly do harm.
The soundstaging is very good - amazingly so - on this I can't see you being dissappointed. They are a genuinely good set of speakers - hard to see you finding much better boxes for these drivers I would think.
All my comments are referenced against my ESL57's and speakers I have heard at friends places. Also I do have a BSC in place. I think the details are back up the thread a bit. I think its a 0.68uF cap, 1.5H inductor and 8R as far as I know. I think I just plugged the data into Martins spreadsheet and those were the values I got.
If theres anything else I can answer, let me know.
Fran
Chris,
Just stumbled on this one more or less by accident and was glad to see another mention of the fonkensteens.
Looks like this coming weekend they'll be making their big public debut. Then Bud's going to do some of his magic polka dots to the boxes when he gets them home, and one of these days... they might even land in my living room 😀. So far it all sounds good and I'm thinking the RWA Signature 30.2 is going to drive the hell out of these, and sound damned fine in the process.
If all comes together as I'm anticipating, there will be a number of system changes that will happen after the 'steens arrive, and hopefully before RMAF.
Take care,
Jim
Just stumbled on this one more or less by accident and was glad to see another mention of the fonkensteens.
Looks like this coming weekend they'll be making their big public debut. Then Bud's going to do some of his magic polka dots to the boxes when he gets them home, and one of these days... they might even land in my living room 😀. So far it all sounds good and I'm thinking the RWA Signature 30.2 is going to drive the hell out of these, and sound damned fine in the process.
If all comes together as I'm anticipating, there will be a number of system changes that will happen after the 'steens arrive, and hopefully before RMAF.
Take care,
Jim
Andrewbee said:
Slightly different species of the genus, actually - Macassar* In this case, paper back veneer for "ease" of working around the recessed driver and port slot cut-outs. Took the best part of a full 4x8ft sheet to get reasonable grain matching on all 6 sides.
4 coats of 25 satin (25`)water-based lacquer
thanx for the compliment
* there are over 300 species in this genus, but relatively few commercially viable.
http://science.jrank.org/pages/2238/Ebony.html