The Frugel-Horn Project

veryoldcat said:
In a mind's eye experiment, I would think the relative tightness or openness of the wrap would have the greatest effect on how mids and lows went through the horn. I bet if the horn were straight, instead of folded you'd hear a HECK of difference, but that probably wouldn't make a very pretty cabinet.

The smooth pipe will give better HF response... not necessarily a good thing... while probably giving a bit of ripplw the sharper bends also help attenuate HF coming out the mouth.

We'll only know when we have a side-by-side...

dave
 
gexter said:
Hi Karl
I have been somewhat lackluster following this thread. Did you end up with the flat packs and what driver are you using?
I am very interested in your build, tweaks and what you think of them.

I added supertweeters to mine ( mostly because of the room)
the tweeters were cheaper than cheap from a garage sale.

I still really enjoy them and at the moment would only build something else only because I like to build.
They are still waiting on a better placement but still give me great sound.

Gex

PS Boy! you guys build some nice stuff. I gotta get me some more tools!🙂

Hi Gex,

(Yes, frugels via flatpaks)

Mine are still not quite at noise maker stage yet, as there are a couple of things I want to do at a friends cabinet making shop. He's in the process of moving so I've gotta wait a week or two.

I expect a full report on your frugels with the se84c, when it happens.

There is a pair of glistening planet10 modded fe126's that I'm itching to install.

Karl
 
Supra Baffle question

I can't figure out how to apply the supra baffle to the frugle horn flat pack...
I have glued up the two speakers...They went together with just a bit of bother...sanding and banging...they fit.

I'm now working on the supra baffle.
The plans show the baffle itself is 3 inches thick...it is aprox. 11.5 inches square.

It looks like the plans show that the Fostex drivers are the mounted on the front of the Supra Baffle. But that would add 3/4 inches in thickness to the volunme of the compression chamber...Sooo what to do???

Should I simply make the supra baffle flush with the front of the cab???


Help

Phil
Santa Fe:bawling:
 
Re: Supra Baffle question

Phil Townsend said:
I can't figure out how to apply the supra baffle to the frugle horn flat pack...
I have glued up the two speakers...They went together with just a bit of bother...sanding and banging...they fit.

I'm now working on the supra baffle.
The plans show the baffle itself is 3 inches thick...it is aprox. 11.5 inches square.

It looks like the plans show that the Fostex drivers are the mounted on the front of the Supra Baffle. But that would add 3/4 inches in thickness to the volunme of the compression chamber...Sooo what to do???

Should I simply make the supra baffle flush with the front of the cab???


Help

Phil
Santa Fe:bawling:

Phil, as you might imagine, we have several pairs of Frugels for testing with various driver and SB configurations. One of the design goals was to accommodate for adjustments to volume and damping/stuffing of CC, which is very driver/system dependent.

If you have already assembled the cabinets with the basic driver mounting plate permanently in place , and are not planning on using without the supra baffle, I'd suggest the following:

1) trim the fixed plate flush to the 4 walls of the CC, and attach the suprabaffle either with countersunk #6 x 2" wood screws through the front, and seal with 1/8" closed cell foam weatherstripping tape. This allows for future access to the CC

2) if you're really concerned about the increase in CC volume (by my math should be approx 25in^3) you could add a layer of 3/4" material to the back wall before adding any damping material.


If your drivers have less than 300hrs playing time, I'd strongly suggest you tough it out with the break-in before determining how much damping might be required to achieve the right balance for your room/system.


Maybe Dave could charge up his camera and post some pictures of the pair with the removable SB.

Finally, it's a matter of taste, but I vastly prefer the look with the baffle proud of the front of the enclosure.
 
I'll snap some pictures...

One comment, i always look at the enlargement of the CC as an opportunity to tune it by adding irregular shaped objects into to take up excess space... this will break up the "squareness" of the CC.

Whether you afix the sB proud (a little or a lot) or flush, is cosmetic. After trying many different, the one layer proud ended up being our aesthetic preference (and the one that we have that is flush, may well get a 3/4" piece of solid wood on the front of the sB to enhance the cosmetics.

dave
 
What a pain in the ***...

I just finished building the reflectors...The ones that sit behind the Frugle Horn...
I built them out of 15mm baltic birch and filled then with expanding foam.
I had a hell of a time cutting the miters for the front. I have a table saw but it only goes to 48 degrees....
That angle was not enough to make the front cut...until I realized I would have to stand the panels up and pass the saw blade thru while they were vertical!
That worked and they fit fine.

The top was another story!
Try as I might I was unable to get the top cover angles right.
I resorted to simply gluing the top on flat and then planing the edges to be flush with the sides. This worked very well.

The Cabs are finished.
I have applied 6 coats of spar varnish. (They Look Stunning) The supra baffle is also finished in varnish. I'll be installing the drivers this weekend and sending music to same. The amp in this case will be an all new "Digital Darling" (DC Darling with built in USB/DAC and Power supply and a Intel Mac as the source.

Ill send photos as soon as I get the system setup.

I have no idea as to what Ill do with the system as I have a very nice 45/ lowther system.


Phil
Santa Fe
 
Re: What a pain in the ***...

Phil Townsend said:
I just finished building the reflectors...The ones that sit behind the Frugle Horn...
I built them out of 15mm baltic birch and filled then with expanding foam.
I had a hell of a time cutting the miters for the front. I have a table saw but it only goes to 48 degrees....
That angle was not enough to make the front cut...until I realized I would have to stand the panels up and pass the saw blade thru while they were vertical!
That worked and they fit fine.

A tenoning (hope i got that right) jig coomes in awefully handy for the over 45 degree cuts.

I'm just going down to take pictures of a flat-pak deflector.

Looking forward to seeing pictures and hearing your impressions of how they sound.

What USB DAC did you put in front of the Darling?

dave
 
Re: DC Digital Darling

Phil Townsend said:
I have mounted everything on and in the Darling chassis.
Its kinda plug and play.
Hook up the speakers (Frugal Horn) and USB in the Mac and off you go.

I'm working towards something like that. Choosing -- and then laying out the cash -- for a USB DAC is a challenge so far. The ones i have heard so far have been underwhelming. Next on the list is probably a twisted pair. The balanced out would be good for driving both grids of a LTP (we have a very nice sounding Class A trioded EL84).

dave
 
Re: What a pain in the ***...

Phil Townsend said:


I have no idea as to what Ill do with the system as I have a very nice 45/ lowther system.


Phil
Santa Fe


that's easy, send the Lowther drivers to Dave for repurposing ( I'm sure we could find some use for them) , and convert the 45 amp to headphone operation

:clown: