Hello all,
I am planning to build this enclosure recommended for the FE168ez Fostex driver, however I am also interested in trying the FE166en and FE2016en. Does anyone know if these other two drivers would be a good fit for that enclosure? I'm a total newb when it comes to rear loaded horns... Thanks for any help!
I am planning to build this enclosure recommended for the FE168ez Fostex driver, however I am also interested in trying the FE166en and FE2016en. Does anyone know if these other two drivers would be a good fit for that enclosure? I'm a total newb when it comes to rear loaded horns... Thanks for any help!
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Not an ideal match. The 166 will work (to a point) but you'll have less bass gain than with the 168. The 206 really wants a larger cabinet. For reference, it works quite well in the 208 enclosure (better than the design that is published on the 206 datasheet as it happens).
Thank you. I'll stick with either the 166 or 168 then. The ragged upper end of the 168 scares me a little though.
Any reason why you've chosen that BLH? Probably not a good idea to stuff a different driver in there only to be unhappy with the sound after a lot of effort and expense.
If you like the 166 how about a BIB? Simple to build, lots of bass gain (in corners), and designed for the actual specs of your driver. More complex but I believe I remember a horn designed by Ron for this driver a while back.
Good luck!
If you like the 166 how about a BIB? Simple to build, lots of bass gain (in corners), and designed for the actual specs of your driver. More complex but I believe I remember a horn designed by Ron for this driver a while back.
Good luck!
Honestly I'm looking for an enclosure that I can use with many different drivers until I find a driver that I like the most. I would like to eventually end up with some lowthers but I will work up to that kind of expense. I'll take a look at the BIB again.
Well, if you want a horn that you can try a variety of drivers in: bigger is better. To a point anyway. Aim for the largest you can manage, and damp out any excess gain when necessary. Obviously this has issues if you start trying to stuff 3in drivers into something designed for an 8in unit, since the expansion path, throat etc. will be a long way off what the driver needed, so if you want to take this route you should avoid excessively dissimilar driver sizes.
If you want one of the Fostex cabinets, the 206 in the 208ESigma enclosure works well. The FExx6En cabinets (they were actually designed for their FExx6E predecessors) aren't great IMO, but you can get reasonable results from them in the equivalently sized FExx8ESigma horns. The BIB tapped pipe-horn is also a good route -as simple as it gets, so build one with the largest volume / cross sectional area you can manage for a given length if you want to try a few units and again, damp out any excess.
If you want one of the Fostex cabinets, the 206 in the 208ESigma enclosure works well. The FExx6En cabinets (they were actually designed for their FExx6E predecessors) aren't great IMO, but you can get reasonable results from them in the equivalently sized FExx8ESigma horns. The BIB tapped pipe-horn is also a good route -as simple as it gets, so build one with the largest volume / cross sectional area you can manage for a given length if you want to try a few units and again, damp out any excess.
Thank you for that advice. When you say the largest cross-sectional area that I can manage, you mean the largest depth. Correct?
Width multiplied by depth for a cross section, otherwise it'd be awfully thin. 😉 You've got the idea though.
bmwtubed,
If you are looking for a cabinet that can accommodate different makes and models of drivers, you might consider the FH-XL.
The Frugel-Horn
The BiB is also a very good design and fairly simple to build.
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Do a search for the BIB calculator, can't remember which version, and you have the dims for a large number of drivers. Choose the dims of one of the drivers that interests you or input the specs of a specific driver if it's not there.
What height ceiling (so the cab gets some reinforcement) and what amp are you using? With the Fostex and most likely the Lowthers I would consider (IME) corners mandatory, or at the least right up against the back wall and not too far from the ceiling.
By the way, I am far from an expert but have built 4 BIB cabs for different drivers. 🙂
Hello !
For example, but it's not your size:
That's what I did with my bibs. I calculated the dimensions to suit up 4 different speakers: fe108ez, fe103sol, fe103s, ff125 ant i tuned them at 71 hz. For fe108ez and fe103s I considered a qts of 0.35 instead of 0.3 and I added a resistance of 1 ohm. I am happy with the result with a preference for fe108ez and 103s ( The 103sol is not good in bib). The internal dimensions are:
Depth – internal 7,50
Width – internal 5,30
Corrected Height (int.) 47,95
regards
Guillaume
Thank you everyone for the advice. I have pulled the trigger on a pair of Fostex fe166en in the FHXL. I am now curious if anyone would recommend a Zobel or other correction net work for these drivers?
Hello .
I recommend you to listen to your speakers a few hours before planning a correction circuit. It also depends on the amp you use, the speaker cables, and the speaker placement.
What I can advise you is to add a resistance of 1 ohm to increase the QTS. It will give you a better headroom in the low frequency at the expense of only 1db loss of efficiency. This will be helpful especially if you have a solid state amplifier. Zobel can be a good idea if you have the feel of too much treble or a harsh sound in high frequencies. But the better filter is no filter, just amp, cable and speaker if you can !
Guillaume
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BIB calculators here.
https://speakerprojects.wordpress.com/cabinet-types/bib-loudspeakers/bib-calculator/
https://speakerprojects.wordpress.com/cabinet-types/bib-loudspeakers/bib-calculator/
Not sure if you've ordered wood or not, but this box doesn't seem to be what you're looking for, according to your earlier posts. While flexible for Mark Audio Alpair 10 drivers and the FF165wk, the fe166en may not work well and a Lowther probably less so. Of course you could always ask the guys who designed them. 🙂
+1
If you want to be assured of a good result, you might choose Bibs. You can't go wrong with them !
If you want to be assured of a good result, you might choose Bibs. You can't go wrong with them !
influence of NFB
The influence of NFB seems important with full range drivers.
From my listening place pink noise recording at 7OdB (my normal listening level) using 1/6 octave, for a Fe168e∑ in Fostex back loaded recommended enclosure
Purple curve is without NFB and green one with 10dB NFB. The red correspond to my taste.
The influence of NFB seems important with full range drivers.
From my listening place pink noise recording at 7OdB (my normal listening level) using 1/6 octave, for a Fe168e∑ in Fostex back loaded recommended enclosure
Purple curve is without NFB and green one with 10dB NFB. The red correspond to my taste.
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