Hi,
Anyone care to share his/her opinion on this speaker? I heard their Dianne (entry level) is quite good for its price. I am wondering if the fontaine signature is worth the premium (I am getting a used one actually). They will be driven by a DIY 100W power amp. My current speaker is a 2-way bookself, and I am looking for an upgrade.
Anyone care to share his/her opinion on this speaker? I heard their Dianne (entry level) is quite good for its price. I am wondering if the fontaine signature is worth the premium (I am getting a used one actually). They will be driven by a DIY 100W power amp. My current speaker is a 2-way bookself, and I am looking for an upgrade.
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Hi Canvas,
Wrong place to be asking about pre-made systems.
The difference between a DIY an pre-made speaker system is about 20x or more depending on the brand on the front, so most here would rather build than buy.
I looked briefly. It uses a Dynaudio tweeter? Loved by many but not necessarily me. Also looks like the woofers are Morel? No experience, but I'm sure others here can comment.
Personally about the only two brands of speakers I would buy pre-made are Monitor Audio and Lawrence Audio. Both are relatively high value brands. Of course it's all meaningless unless you personally like the sound.
Best,
Erik
Wrong place to be asking about pre-made systems.
The difference between a DIY an pre-made speaker system is about 20x or more depending on the brand on the front, so most here would rather build than buy. I looked briefly. It uses a Dynaudio tweeter? Loved by many but not necessarily me.
Also looks like the woofers are Morel? No experience, but I'm sure others here can comment. Personally about the only two brands of speakers I would buy pre-made are Monitor Audio and Lawrence Audio. Both are relatively high value brands. Of course it's all meaningless unless you personally like the sound.
Best,
Erik
Before anything, make sure your DIY amp is technically sound and not some
sort of DIY crap. Then you can go to your HiFi dealer and ask to try out speakers
of your interest, preferably with your amp. Remember that room acoustics play a
significant role and the bass varies accordingly. In a similarly treated room, midrange
and high frequencies ought to sound similar.
I have attended a quick listening session once long time ago at an audio fair
where Eggleston presented original Fontaine as a stand loudspeaker and IIRC
someone said the woofers (MW 166?) had no LP filter and the Esotar had a very
simple HP. Don't know if that was true. Having in mind that presenters have
probably chosen the music material to impress the audience, the sound appeared
to be excellent.
@Erik
Once you get involved with high end industry, you will find appropriate
to change your taste in almost everything, depending on the incoming checks,
so you can afford Maserati or Bugatti.
Last edited:
@Erik
Once you get involved with high end industry, you will find appropriate
to change your taste in almost everything, depending on the incoming checks,
so you can afford Maserati or Bugatti.
Lojzek,
Why do you say "OR" ? I find it disturbing that I should make a choice when I should have both.
Best,
Erik
Hi Canvas,
Wrong place to be asking about pre-made systems.
Sorry, asked the wrong question here. I'd love to build the speaker myself, but I don't have enough knowledge or tools to do this. Buying a good pre-made speaker seems easier for me.
BTW, I will look into Monitor Audio and Lawrence Audio. Thanks for the suggestion.Well, with limited budget, good value is important to me. I don't mind getting DIY kits. Where can I find the Endeavours's MKIII? I google it, but it came up with some yacht club.
Sorry, asked the wrong question here. I'd love to build the speaker myself, but I don't have enough knowledge or tools to do this. Buying a good pre-made speaker seems easier for me.
Good places to start are: Madisound speaker, Meniscus audio, and the Parts Express project pages, as well as Selah and Taylor's site.
Of course, an oldie but goodie is Zaph's pages, some of whose kits are available via Madisound and Taylor Speakers.
I heard they changed the cross network from 1st order to 2nd order (or more) on later model. Like Thiel, some of their speakers are 1st order. A high current amp is usually required for such speaker.
Magazine Reviews:
"Both midrange-woofers cover the same frequencies; this is strictly a two-way design."
---------------
" is a two-way, three-driver design, and makes use of very high-quality drivers sourced from Morel and Dynaudio. The two Morel 6" damped polymer composite woofers feature over-sized 3" voice-coils and double magnet construction to optimize linearity, dynamic tracking and power handling. The Morel woofers operate in parallel up to 2kHz, where they cross over to a 1.1" Dynaudio Esotar tweeter. The Esotar utilizes a silk dome and approximates free-air loading via an oversized vent on its pole piece and an aperiodic damping chamber. Like the Morel woofers, the Dynaudio tweeter is designed for extremely high power handling coupled with low distortion and superior linearity at all power levels. The Fontaine II's crossover is of commensurate quality, employing Hovland MusiCap capacitors and Vishay resistors in a 2nd-order, 12 dB/octave configuration. These electrical components were chosen by EgglestonWorks for their sonic transparency and power handling qualities. All internal wiring is by Transparent Cable. Single-wire cable connections are provided via a pair of Cardas five-way rhodium binding posts. Unlike some of the more expensive EgglestonWorks loudspeaker models, which utilize Isobaric and modified transmission-line loading for the bass and midrange drivers, the Fontaine Signature makes use of conventional bass-reflex loading for its woofers via dual ports located on the rear of the cabinet."
-------------
===========================================
The Fontaine Signature by Egglestonworks is similar to Jeff Bagby's Morel-based Solstice kit sold by Parts Express. The Solstice gets good reviews from diy-builders. BUT..Simulation of this TMM topoogy with the 11" C-to-C between the dome tweeter and bottom 6" midrange shows lobing with comb fitering. If you favor this cabinet shape, I would look for a real 3-way T-M-W design with a sealed midrange and ported woofer.
--------from earlier Soltice post--------
The Solstice uses a TMM topology where both 6" midrange drivers are connected to one crossover circuit with a 1700Hz acoustic LR4 slope. The Center of the tweeter -to the- Center of the lower midrange is over 10" (250mm). Simple "xdir" simulation of the polar interference patterns around the crossover frequency due to this large C-to-C suggest that an experienced listener would notice a change in the soundstage, both from "location queues" and "variations in SPL" as sound energy oddly spreads over a wider room volume. Seating position becomes more critical.
A more traditional TM-W three way would put the top 6" midrange in a small sealed volume for optimum transient response, and use the lower 6" midbass as a ported bass reflex woofer. This would require a 3-way crossover, although a 2.5-way circuit has been used in several successful designs == a separate inductor adjusted for a lower frequency is connected from the top midrange crossover circuit directly to the bottom midbass.
"Both midrange-woofers cover the same frequencies; this is strictly a two-way design."
---------------
" is a two-way, three-driver design, and makes use of very high-quality drivers sourced from Morel and Dynaudio. The two Morel 6" damped polymer composite woofers feature over-sized 3" voice-coils and double magnet construction to optimize linearity, dynamic tracking and power handling. The Morel woofers operate in parallel up to 2kHz, where they cross over to a 1.1" Dynaudio Esotar tweeter. The Esotar utilizes a silk dome and approximates free-air loading via an oversized vent on its pole piece and an aperiodic damping chamber. Like the Morel woofers, the Dynaudio tweeter is designed for extremely high power handling coupled with low distortion and superior linearity at all power levels. The Fontaine II's crossover is of commensurate quality, employing Hovland MusiCap capacitors and Vishay resistors in a 2nd-order, 12 dB/octave configuration. These electrical components were chosen by EgglestonWorks for their sonic transparency and power handling qualities. All internal wiring is by Transparent Cable. Single-wire cable connections are provided via a pair of Cardas five-way rhodium binding posts. Unlike some of the more expensive EgglestonWorks loudspeaker models, which utilize Isobaric and modified transmission-line loading for the bass and midrange drivers, the Fontaine Signature makes use of conventional bass-reflex loading for its woofers via dual ports located on the rear of the cabinet."
-------------
===========================================
The Fontaine Signature by Egglestonworks is similar to Jeff Bagby's Morel-based Solstice kit sold by Parts Express. The Solstice gets good reviews from diy-builders. BUT..Simulation of this TMM topoogy with the 11" C-to-C between the dome tweeter and bottom 6" midrange shows lobing with comb fitering. If you favor this cabinet shape, I would look for a real 3-way T-M-W design with a sealed midrange and ported woofer.
--------from earlier Soltice post--------
The Solstice uses a TMM topology where both 6" midrange drivers are connected to one crossover circuit with a 1700Hz acoustic LR4 slope. The Center of the tweeter -to the- Center of the lower midrange is over 10" (250mm). Simple "xdir" simulation of the polar interference patterns around the crossover frequency due to this large C-to-C suggest that an experienced listener would notice a change in the soundstage, both from "location queues" and "variations in SPL" as sound energy oddly spreads over a wider room volume. Seating position becomes more critical.
A more traditional TM-W three way would put the top 6" midrange in a small sealed volume for optimum transient response, and use the lower 6" midbass as a ported bass reflex woofer. This would require a 3-way crossover, although a 2.5-way circuit has been used in several successful designs == a separate inductor adjusted for a lower frequency is connected from the top midrange crossover circuit directly to the bottom midbass.
Some updates. It turns out the shipping cost for a pair of Solstice MLTL Reference Tower Speaker Kit is around $500 (to Taiwan). So, it's $1500 a pair for me. However, I still need to get quality binding posts, caps (I prefer other caps) and cables. The used Fontaine is currently listed for $4300 and is still negotiable. What do you think?
Now that you've said that you'd rather have the other caps ( "better"),
I am positive that you're not the DIYer kind of a man. Go with Fontaine
and when you get tired of it, you would sell it with much less trouble than
a DIY loudspeaker.
Still, when buying second hand stuff, you never know what you buy.
Or maybe you do.Good luck!
canvas,
My goal was to present simulation data and generate discussion on 2-way TMM designs like the Fontaine and Solstice as a caution that lobing and comb filtering would occur which trained-ear listeners would find "off".
A 1700Hz crossover sine wave corresponds to a 7" wavelength. When the separation between two or more drivers vibrating at 1700Hz starts to exceed 7", cancelation between a +sine pressure wave from the tweeter can angle-mix at the listener with a -sine pressure wave from the lower midrange and generate null pressure zones around the listener(s). Beaming starts, and turns into comb filtering.(attached Xdir sim)
SO, search around Taiwan for diy-kits, flat-pack cabinets, fair value speaker brands, crossover L-R-C, until you can find all the puzzle pieces for a good 3-way T-M-W that fits your room. The Morel TSCM 634 used in Fontaine and Solstice is excellent as a premium midrange in a sealed volume, but you need to find 8" or 10" woofers to generate bass below 100Hz-150Hz. A true T-M-W. Maybe expensive Morel TiCW 1058Ft Titanium Series 10" Subwoofer. Maybe a pair of Morel CAW 938 9" Cast Frame Woofers.
In the USA, Morel is more expensive than SB_Acoustics Standard and Satori drivers so the Kairos, Kalasan kits with a 10" woofer are more popular than the Solstice. Crossovers circuits are available for diy into similar sized cabinets.
My goal was to present simulation data and generate discussion on 2-way TMM designs like the Fontaine and Solstice as a caution that lobing and comb filtering would occur which trained-ear listeners would find "off".
A 1700Hz crossover sine wave corresponds to a 7" wavelength. When the separation between two or more drivers vibrating at 1700Hz starts to exceed 7", cancelation between a +sine pressure wave from the tweeter can angle-mix at the listener with a -sine pressure wave from the lower midrange and generate null pressure zones around the listener(s). Beaming starts, and turns into comb filtering.(attached Xdir sim)
SO, search around Taiwan for diy-kits, flat-pack cabinets, fair value speaker brands, crossover L-R-C, until you can find all the puzzle pieces for a good 3-way T-M-W that fits your room. The Morel TSCM 634 used in Fontaine and Solstice is excellent as a premium midrange in a sealed volume, but you need to find 8" or 10" woofers to generate bass below 100Hz-150Hz. A true T-M-W. Maybe expensive Morel TiCW 1058Ft Titanium Series 10" Subwoofer. Maybe a pair of Morel CAW 938 9" Cast Frame Woofers.
In the USA, Morel is more expensive than SB_Acoustics Standard and Satori drivers so the Kairos, Kalasan kits with a 10" woofer are more popular than the Solstice. Crossovers circuits are available for diy into similar sized cabinets.
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