The Frugel-Horn Family

[planet10]

The 1st Frugel-Horn debuted in 2006. 4 years later in 2010 a much improved revision, the Frugel-Horn Mk3, was released. In 2013 a larger Frugel-Horn XL, and in 2015 a smaller Frugel-Horn Lite became a reality.

Today i took the 1st pics of all 3 together.

One of the design goals has been to be able to easily support many drivers in each design. The results have exceeded all expectations. The use of a tapped hypex horn with internal choke, after Olson, with the judious use of damping allows for all these different drivers -- adjust the damping for the driver, the room (& placement in the room), as well as your taste in bass quantity and away you go.

Scott Lindgren gets credit for the design of the current horns, Ron Clarke deserves mention for coming up with the curved mouth which allows a rectangular mouth to act more like an ideal circle, David Dlugos (me) for drawings & web-site, Chris Bobiak for blasting out prototypes, and the legions of diyers who have made these horns a huge hit. Cottage-industry commercial manufacturers & makers of flat-pak makers have popped up in diverse locations.

Website: The Frugel-Horn (i am working thru a revision as we speak to bring it up-to-date)

There are lots of threads but here are the main ones:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/172605-frugel-horn-mk3.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/172937-frugel-horn-mk3-builds-build-questions.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/199849-frugel-horn-mk3-picture-gallery.html
Frugal Horn Mk3 builds - audio-talk
Driver preference for Frugal horns

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/246248-frugel-horn-xl-alpair-10-3-10p.html

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/planet-10-hifi/275897-frugel-horn-lite-3-drivers.html

dave

 

[sideways]

Love them!!! Thanks to all 🙂

 

[monty78pig]

Those look fantastic. Especially that curved edge walnut(?) finish on the XL!

Must take up quite a bit of floor space 😀 .

 

[PJN]

Great work that I have followed with much interest over the years. Thanks to all involved for such a generous gift to the community.

PJN

 

[chrisb]

Those look fantastic. Especially that curved edge walnut(?) finish on the XL!

Must take up quite a bit of floor space 😀 .

Monty - yes that's Walnut on the XL,s quarter cut Sapele on the FH3s, and raw BB ply on the lites - rough sizes* are as follows:

FH Lite - 387mm D x 126mm W x 767mm H (15.25" x 5" x 30.25") shown with FF858WK
FH3 - 450mm D x 170mm W x 900mm H ( 17.75" x 6.75" x 35.5") shown with FE126E
FHXL -543mm D x 223mm W x 967mm H (21.375" x 8.75" x 38") shown with Alpair 10.3



* our builds / kits have standardized at 15mm ply for all panels except for 18mm for front baffles
-DIYers have used different thicknesses of materials, so adjust accordingly
- the first pair of FH lite prototypes were done in 12mm (1/2" ) ply, because there was sufficient offcuts on hand, so would grow a bit in each dimension with thicker material

Now is as good an opportunity as any to invite builders who've not already done so to forward a picture or two of their builds to Dave for inclusion in a gallery at the FH website. As the plans for these are "freeware", I for one am curious as to how many have been built - with our own builds, and kits shipped domestically in NA, our own count must be close to 100.

 

[chrisb]

addendum;

Note that the test mule of the "lite" has a removable mounting panel for testing different drivers - so far we'd tried the FF85Wk, and a couple of others, I think - I have trouble keeping track these days.

 

[jjcarr]

I really like my FH3, but lately I've fallen in love with the TB W8-1808 driver in my OB design. I'm really tempted (some day) to put that driver in a scaled up FH design, as that does amazing things with the little 4" driver.

 

[chrisb]

"scaling-up" is not always that simple - or even possible - but if it was for this driver, the enclosure would be freaking huge

FWIW, I've heard the 1772 in several systems built for a non-member of these forums - including as OB midrange in 3-way with JBL 2225 and Dayton AMT tweeter - and if this series of TB bear as much family resemblance as the numerous Fostex and Alpairs that I've heard in very wide range of enclosures, I'd be inclined to stick with what works. IOW, if you're in love with the OB's, anything else might be underwhelming.

 

[freddi]

really cool accomplishments and gifts to the community

 

[gioz]

Wich is the best for classical (symphony) and jazz music?
...I have a 2A3 set or 2A3 PP

 

[chrisb]

I'd say the XL with Fostex FF165WK - not pictured (just so much room on Dave's deck), but that has been built and proven to work. Try them with the PP

 

[planet10]

A PP 2A3 is sufficient power over an SE 2A3 to bring a lot more drivers into the fold (and an amp on my bucket list).

As Chris suggested, FF165wk in FHXL. I'd add Alpair 10p. Others have tried drivers that might work, particularily if it is an SE 2A3, the Fostex FE166En, FE168eS. Bass will be sacrificed for midrange efficieny. I am sure there are others that have not yet been tried yet.

Chris has veneered these, but i don't yet have pictures.

With the Frugel-Horn Mk3, the usual candidate for a low power SET is the FE126En, a PP would open things up considerably. I'd personally give up some ultimate level and choose Alpair 7.3 (my personal favorite) or Fostex FF105wk or FE103 SOL.

Some people complain of some specific resonances in some of these drivers (particularily the Fostex). Around here we invariably use treated drivers, where the drivers end up more controlled.

dave

 

[vinylkid58]

Hey those blue drivers look really sharp.

jeff

 

[chrisb]

FWIW, the current veneer livery on the FF165WK is Maple with clear coat finish, so it hardly looks much different from the raw BB - of course, I've heard them both ways, and that doesn't affect the sound an iota - not even a smidgeon

honest

 

[luigi]

I just came upon a pair of FH3s with Mark Audio CHR-70s and they work really well with my 300b amp. Surprising the output of these things, especially in the bass area. So musical too, and unfatiguing. I'm used to BIBs with ff125wks and these are about as good but only 90cm tall. They need a bit more driving but not a whole lot. Apparently not a difficult build but sure don't look that easy to me. And quite a few drivers seem to work with them.

 

[stewartwasserfall]

Frugal Horn XL - new build

I am looking to build a pair of Frugal Horn XL cabinets which will be used with a newly ordered pair of Fostaex FE166 EN drivers.
Where and how do I go about getting a copy of the3 plans and drawings for the XL?

 

[chrisb]

Contact Dave at Planet10 email address