Nice looking wood! Inasmuch as you have cut-offs from those, I'd try several finishes, on the cut-offs, just to see how they'd react. Danish oil/tung oil, followed by wipe-on polyurethane, wipe-on poly by itself, spray-on lacquer, ultra-blonde shellac... Go into a woodworking hobby store, with a piece of the wood, and explain what you want, they can give you more ideas. Going to look good!
Tom.
Tom.
As usual nearing the end of a project, I'm already thinking of another. Too bad I already have my baffles ready to mount, because now I want to build another pair with a different baffle. 
Here are mine ready for the front baffle. Imagine the look of just leaving the baffle hanging in the air off of the front. To me that could be really cool.
Here are mine ready for the front baffle. Imagine the look of just leaving the baffle hanging in the air off of the front. To me that could be really cool.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Unfortunately the forward look didn't dawn on me before I made the baffles. They will connect to the base in front. They next pair will have the baffle floating in air.
Scott, just regular wood glue. My base is the bottom panel, so I ran screws from the bottom to ensure a good bond with the side panels. It is plenty strong and stable.
Scott, just regular wood glue. My base is the bottom panel, so I ran screws from the bottom to ensure a good bond with the side panels. It is plenty strong and stable.
The Frugel-Horn Plans document has been updated.
http://www.planet10-hifi.com/plans.html
Now 18 pages long.
dave
http://www.planet10-hifi.com/plans.html
Now 18 pages long.
dave
I finally got my Frugels going last night and even dressed one up with its first rubdown of linseed oil. That way I can't leave them unfinished like I usually do.
Soundwise I'm very pleased. They thoroughly romp the 108ESigma Fostex box, and my Frugels are running with cans of vegetables and too much open cell foam to make sure the cans don't rattle. I believe the extra foam is making them a little too relaxed, but compared to the forwardness due to reflections back at the cone in shallow CC of the Fostex horn, a little relaxed is a blessing. With the deflector or corner, the Frugel goes deeper, but somewhat rolled off. The Fostex cab still has more bass, but in comparison the Fostex bass sounds like a resonator, which makes sense since it is a series of increasing resonant tubes.
Where the Frugel does the whomping is that they disappear to perfection, and the supra-baffle improves the tonal balance. Also, the rear horn exit is a definite plus, because the front exit on the Fostex cab detracts from the single driver sound.
Even though I reduced the CC size with fill to get to the 1.8L recommended size, I would definitely recommend building with the larger 4L chamber. I say this because my temporary fill with odd shapes convinced me that tiny rectangular box CC's are a detriment to the sound. That's what the Fostex cab has, albeit somewhat smaller, and the "box sound" is very pronounced. I'll experiment with CC shape strategies I've had in the back of my mind in the near future, and report back with results.
Here's what one of them looks like with clothes on.
Soundwise I'm very pleased. They thoroughly romp the 108ESigma Fostex box, and my Frugels are running with cans of vegetables and too much open cell foam to make sure the cans don't rattle. I believe the extra foam is making them a little too relaxed, but compared to the forwardness due to reflections back at the cone in shallow CC of the Fostex horn, a little relaxed is a blessing. With the deflector or corner, the Frugel goes deeper, but somewhat rolled off. The Fostex cab still has more bass, but in comparison the Fostex bass sounds like a resonator, which makes sense since it is a series of increasing resonant tubes.
Where the Frugel does the whomping is that they disappear to perfection, and the supra-baffle improves the tonal balance. Also, the rear horn exit is a definite plus, because the front exit on the Fostex cab detracts from the single driver sound.
Even though I reduced the CC size with fill to get to the 1.8L recommended size, I would definitely recommend building with the larger 4L chamber. I say this because my temporary fill with odd shapes convinced me that tiny rectangular box CC's are a detriment to the sound. That's what the Fostex cab has, albeit somewhat smaller, and the "box sound" is very pronounced. I'll experiment with CC shape strategies I've had in the back of my mind in the near future, and report back with results.
Here's what one of them looks like with clothes on.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Doorman,
As your post notification came in I was playing around leaning on them with some SS power and rock music, and I gotta give the 108's credit, my ears said uncle first. The horn stayed well controlled throughout. I wish I could play my 108's on OB at those levels.
To answer you question, it depends on my mood or whether I'm too lazy to swap amps. I've got a mid-fi 80w/ch Denon HT receiver, 2w/ch Decware Selects, and one of those Teac Tamps that I think is 30w/ch. So far the 108Frugels haven't shown any signs of being finicky. To me that says a lot, because I'm not a real believer in the idea of magic synergy. I think a good speaker should sound good as long as you send it a relatively clean signal regardless of cables, amps, ICs, etc. If it doesn't, there's something wrong with the speakers, and as long as your room is decent, everything other than the speakers is just fine tuning.
As your post notification came in I was playing around leaning on them with some SS power and rock music, and I gotta give the 108's credit, my ears said uncle first. The horn stayed well controlled throughout. I wish I could play my 108's on OB at those levels.
To answer you question, it depends on my mood or whether I'm too lazy to swap amps. I've got a mid-fi 80w/ch Denon HT receiver, 2w/ch Decware Selects, and one of those Teac Tamps that I think is 30w/ch. So far the 108Frugels haven't shown any signs of being finicky. To me that says a lot, because I'm not a real believer in the idea of magic synergy. I think a good speaker should sound good as long as you send it a relatively clean signal regardless of cables, amps, ICs, etc. If it doesn't, there's something wrong with the speakers, and as long as your room is decent, everything other than the speakers is just fine tuning.
Hi everyone,
After building my frugels, have been absent from the thread for a while -- have been moving house and continent.
After initially trying out the frugels with a sony midi system and being very impressed, I've had a chance to try them with some different amplification and sources, and compare them with my existing speakers.
Bear in mind that these are my first foray into full range, so whatever I say may not be specific to frugels, but rather full range speakers in general.
For info, I went for the level 1 build - just the horn with the curved rear mouth. Using Dave's modded FE126E drivers.
In brief, I'm still extremely happy with them.
I've been comparing them to my existing speakers -- Norh 6.0 2-ways, and Norh 9.0 2-ways with modded dennis murphy xover -- as well as using the small variety of amps I have -- Marantz PM17 (60wpc), Norh LeAmp2 A/AB monoblocks (180wpc), and finally an Autocostruire DIY class-T amp (7wpc).
With the Class-T amp and an iPod as source, they sound better than the Norh speakers with any combination of amplification and source I have.
The frugels also sound better to me with the class-T amp. With the higher powered marantz and norh monoblocks, they don't seem quite as sharp.
I haven't got down to super-critical listening yet, but characteristics I note are -
1) they 'disappear' and produce an amazing soundstage.
2) they sound excellent at low-normal volume levels. With the Norh speakers, I felt I had to push them to high volume levels to get a full, detailed sound. In comparison, it seems the xovers in the 2way speakers I have are somehow 'sucking up' all the juice. At low-medium volume levels they sound 'muffled'.
3) the frugels can also happily fill a large room. They produce incredible detail and don;t sound 'boomy'.
4) I am happy with the bass they are producing, and they are not in corners yet.
Still fiddling with my system, and putting the finishing touches to my class-T amp as well as a dddac, so will post more impressions down the line.
But overall, I'm very very happy with the frugels, and given the price of the build, would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone who is just curious about full range and fancies a foray into diy audio. As such, they are a bargain.
all best, and forgive my newb ramblings...
stefan
After building my frugels, have been absent from the thread for a while -- have been moving house and continent.
After initially trying out the frugels with a sony midi system and being very impressed, I've had a chance to try them with some different amplification and sources, and compare them with my existing speakers.
Bear in mind that these are my first foray into full range, so whatever I say may not be specific to frugels, but rather full range speakers in general.
For info, I went for the level 1 build - just the horn with the curved rear mouth. Using Dave's modded FE126E drivers.
In brief, I'm still extremely happy with them.
I've been comparing them to my existing speakers -- Norh 6.0 2-ways, and Norh 9.0 2-ways with modded dennis murphy xover -- as well as using the small variety of amps I have -- Marantz PM17 (60wpc), Norh LeAmp2 A/AB monoblocks (180wpc), and finally an Autocostruire DIY class-T amp (7wpc).
With the Class-T amp and an iPod as source, they sound better than the Norh speakers with any combination of amplification and source I have.
The frugels also sound better to me with the class-T amp. With the higher powered marantz and norh monoblocks, they don't seem quite as sharp.
I haven't got down to super-critical listening yet, but characteristics I note are -
1) they 'disappear' and produce an amazing soundstage.
2) they sound excellent at low-normal volume levels. With the Norh speakers, I felt I had to push them to high volume levels to get a full, detailed sound. In comparison, it seems the xovers in the 2way speakers I have are somehow 'sucking up' all the juice. At low-medium volume levels they sound 'muffled'.
3) the frugels can also happily fill a large room. They produce incredible detail and don;t sound 'boomy'.
4) I am happy with the bass they are producing, and they are not in corners yet.
Still fiddling with my system, and putting the finishing touches to my class-T amp as well as a dddac, so will post more impressions down the line.
But overall, I'm very very happy with the frugels, and given the price of the build, would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone who is just curious about full range and fancies a foray into diy audio. As such, they are a bargain.
all best, and forgive my newb ramblings...
stefan
planet10 said:
So a thanx to him for his inquistiveness.
Laziness is more like it -- if I started out from scratch, it would have cost me alot of wood and I probably would have given up...
Anyway, just wondering if Dave or anyone else has made any frequency response graphs?
I ran some test tones through mine last night, and they seem to fall off quite sharply below 70hz, though admitedly they are not yet fully corner loaded.
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