Okay...
So I have this pair of FE166ES-R's, which have sat in their boxes since I bought 'em almost two years ago. Lately, I've been feeling guilty each time I see those boxes in the closet.
So many projects, so little time. But, I think it's high time I got these drivers into a set of enclosures, making music!
I had been thinking I'd build a pair of BiBs for these, but maybe I'm glad I waited, because after hearing (and seeing) lousymusician's hemp FR8 Metronomes at BAF, I think I've changed my mind. I'll have to go back and read through this thread to get all the details, but unless the numbers just don't work well, I think I'm set on building the Metronomes. They look and sound just wonderful, and I'm guessing the 166es-r would do very well in this design.
Could someone do me a favour and calculate the box dimensions?
So I have this pair of FE166ES-R's, which have sat in their boxes since I bought 'em almost two years ago. Lately, I've been feeling guilty each time I see those boxes in the closet.
So many projects, so little time. But, I think it's high time I got these drivers into a set of enclosures, making music!I had been thinking I'd build a pair of BiBs for these, but maybe I'm glad I waited, because after hearing (and seeing) lousymusician's hemp FR8 Metronomes at BAF, I think I've changed my mind. I'll have to go back and read through this thread to get all the details, but unless the numbers just don't work well, I think I'm set on building the Metronomes. They look and sound just wonderful, and I'm guessing the 166es-r would do very well in this design.
Could someone do me a favour and calculate the box dimensions?
The FE166ES-R can be made to work: 60in long, 30in Zdriver, So=2in x 1in, Sl=12.25in x 8in, 3in diameter x 4in long vent, and 6ohms of series resistance.
Strikes me as being a bit of a shame to use ES-Rs like this though as efficiency in particular is crippled to sub 90db levels. It'll certainly be better than the regular FE166E, and that huge motor will give excellent detail, but the ES-R wasn't really meant for this sort of load -it was designed with horn / quasi-horn loading in mind & if you want to get the best out of it, that's what you'll have to do. If the more complicated horn cabinets are out, I'd stick them in a pair of BIBs, where they'll be much happier.
Strikes me as being a bit of a shame to use ES-Rs like this though as efficiency in particular is crippled to sub 90db levels. It'll certainly be better than the regular FE166E, and that huge motor will give excellent detail, but the ES-R wasn't really meant for this sort of load -it was designed with horn / quasi-horn loading in mind & if you want to get the best out of it, that's what you'll have to do. If the more complicated horn cabinets are out, I'd stick them in a pair of BIBs, where they'll be much happier.
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I've been following this thread, and the BIB, with great interest. -- My first real DIY back in -72 was a classic TL with a TwinAxiom 8 and an assisting top tweet..
The series-R trick for raising the Q is far from new, - but 6 ohms? That's burning half the power .....? Hm....
BTW- even if it belongs in another thread - what happened with the Carlson version?
The series-R trick for raising the Q is far from new, - but 6 ohms? That's burning half the power .....? Hm....
BTW- even if it belongs in another thread - what happened with the Carlson version?
Also, the influence of most back-loaded boxes is pretty much over & done by 1KHz. In most cases, you're really only using the enclosure to support the frequencies below the mass-corner of the driver where the response starts to roll off. You'll have some baffle-step and edge diffractions below 1KHz too, but generally, unless you're attempting something fancy, above that point the real job of the cabinet is to provide a solid mounting point for the driver.
rhing said:
Rich,
You've heard my Met's. I'm listening to a pair of NP's BOFU's next to them right now. The BOFU's are pretty good, but the FR8's are another level. IMO, if you're going to take the time and effort to build Metronomes, you might as well spring for one the better drivers.
If I was going to keep the BOFU's (rather than pass them on to my son for his dorm room as I now plan to do), I'd probably build a half-Chang or a Demitri for them. Either would be an easier build than the Metronome. Maybe a little less refined in the mids (or not?), but probably ballsier sounding. Heck, I'd like to build both of them and a curved double-Chang too, just to see how each one sounds!
Bill
...I was just wondering if it wouldn't be possible to move the port to the front of the cab to avoid the need for a hardwood or tile floor... It seems somewhat counterintuitive to me to shoot all of the LF energy directly to the floor, and hope that it is rigid enough to avoid significant damping... Is there some magic reason for the port being downward firing in this design?
Helps drive the room's vertical mode, which is worth doing.
One of the mods that Steve, proginator of the Metronome cabinets, came up with for his originals, is to mount them on a nice slab of wood, if used in a carpeted room. Polished slate or granite would also do nicely & also look good.
One of the mods that Steve, proginator of the Metronome cabinets, came up with for his originals, is to mount them on a nice slab of wood, if used in a carpeted room. Polished slate or granite would also do nicely & also look good.
Scottmoose said:
Thank you for running the numbers Scottmoose. Looks like you're right, ML-QQWT would be a big compromise, BLH is really what these drivers want.
This puts me in a bit of a quandary. The BiB looks like a really good design for the 166ES-Rs, but I realize now why I wasn't in a hurry to build them - they would simply be too physically imposing in my small apartment, dominating the space and making the room feel claustrophobic (presently, I'm recalling scenes from Space Odyssey 2001...). The Met's offered the possibility of a slender cabinet which wouldn't crowd the room, despite being tall. So, for the ES-R's, I think I'm back to square one: the folded-horn plans on the Fostex datasheet. Not terribly small either, and a bigger challenge for me to build.
Soo... I guess that means I'll need to buy some other drivers, so I can build metronomes!
(Can you tell, I'm really taken with this design?). The F200As are tantalizing, but ... *ker-ching* $$$. 
OTOH, lousymusician has a point: might as well spring for good drivers, given the investment in building the cabinet. Which driver, though... hmmm.... JX92S, perhaps? Not sure the F120A or FX120 would go low enough for me, setting aside fit issues with the F120A's magnet.